The Bailey Planet : Hohenzollern Castle, Germany

We took a quick trip west to see some castles for the long Veteran's Day weekend! I love castles, particularly shiny things that are housed in castles, even if no one else in my family loves them as much as I do! Todd is the exception as he likes castles... but the kids are always whining when we go!

Hohenzollern is particularly special though! It was built on top of Mount Hohenzollern and you can see it for miles away. It's about an hour south of Stuttgart in the Swabian Alps, sitting approximately 2,805 feet above sea level, or if you're standing on the ground like I was, 768 feet above the town. You can choose to walk up to the top, park halfway and walk the rest of the way, or park in the parking lot and take the bus (for 3.30 Euro round trip) to the top. My money was (literally) on the bus.

We caught the last of the fall foliage and even got some blue skies. It wasn't even cold enough to need a coat, although I brought mine, never took it out of the car and somehow managed to LOSE my favorite coat that I have had since 2003. Ugh.

Hohenzollern was first mentioned in the early 11th century, although no one really knows anything about it with regard to shape and size. It was destroyed in 1423 and rebuilt in 1454, bigger and better than ever. During the Thirty Years War, it was captured by the Wurttembergs in 1634 and the Counts of Zollern gave up the castle to the Hapsburgs. This started a long succession of (non Hohenzollern) owners until the Austrians left in the late 1700s. After this, it fell into disrepair.

It's kind of a swirly maze in the zwinger to get to the actual castle courtyard, which helps to deter enemies from invading. Of course, the prime location on top of the steep mountain also helps!

And when I say steep, I mean STEEP!

There's a couple of drawbridges along the way, and a couple of crazies posing on one of them. Drawbridges just make this castle feel like a fortress!

In the beginning of the 1800s, the castle was in ruins, so the then-Crown Prince Frederick William IV of Prussia decided to build a new, third castle. This one was constructed on the same footprint as the second castle.

The Hohenzollern family (dynasty?) is actually made up of two branches - the Brandenburg-Prussian (Protestant) Branch and the Swabian (Catholic) Branch. The former owns 2/3 of the castle; the latter owns 1/3 of the castle.

Statues on lookout, scanning the valley for the enemy.

It's fall, so there weren't a ton of people there, which I really like. We were able to walk right up, get in line and wait only about 15 minutes for the next tour, which happened to be in English (make sure you check the website for what time the English tours are!)

My Emperor and little Duke and Duchess waiting in line at Hohenzollern Castle.

Sometimes I can't tell the story better than the official website, so here is the history behind the split of the family (it's not a bad story and the families still get along to this day.) "At the end of the 12th century Count Frederick III of Zollern got married and attained the rank Burggrave of Nuremberg. Due to the geographical distance of the ancestral seats, his two sons divided the inheritance at the beginning of the 13th century. The family split into two still existing main lines of the Hohenzollern dynasty: the Swabian line and Franconian line, later Brandenburg-Prussian line which was given the rights of election of the Mark Brandenburg in 1411/15. This line created Prussian Kings in 1701, followed by the German Emperors in 1871."

I feel like everywhere I've ever lived has skipped over fall entirely. Whether it was Florida which didn't achieve fall status until December, or Boston where fall lasts for about 1-2 weeks, I like having at least a handful of weekends that truly feel like autumn.

There are two churches on the grounds of Hohenzollern - one is Protestant (for the Prussian line) and one is Catholic (for the Swabian line.) The Catholic St. Michael's church is the only building surviving from the second castle (although it was renovated in 1853 with the construction of the third castle.) I think it's really cool that the two families seem to get along and there's a nod to both sides in many parts of this castle.

The history of the Swabian line after the split goes like this: "In 1534 the South German line was divided into Hohenzollern-Haigerloch-, Hechingen- and Sigmaringen lines. Since 1869 the Sigmaringen line still exists today. In 1623 the Swabian Hohenzollern dynasty was elevated to the rank of Princes. As a result of the 1848 revolution, they abdicated in favor of their powerful kinship in Berlin and from then on the ancestral seats appertained to Prussia. The following reconstruction of the ancestral Castle ruin was however carried out jointly and until today the Hohenzollern Castle is property of both family lines."

Obviously, like many castles in Europe, you can't take pictures in the castle. But you can steal them from the internet! You start the tour in the Ancestral Hall (not shown above) where the elaborately painted family tree covers the walls. The family tree of the post-split Prussian line is the only line included in here. After the current heir on the Prussian line has a child, there is no longer room for any more descendants on the walls because it's completely full! In this room, you have to put on little slippers over your shoes so as not to mess up the floors. You then walk into the impressive Counts Hall, which is where they still hold dinners and functions today. The chandeliers you see here are CRAZY cool. They light the room with real candles, and require two incredibly strong men to go into the attic to lower and raise them. They insert candles based on how long they expect a dinner party to last. If the candles are expected to burn out during the party, then sorry folks. Everyone has to go.

The Blue Salon was one of my favorites (mostly since blue is one of my two favorite colors.) This was the room that the women retreated to when the men had meetings and did activities without them. The wallpaper in here is painted in real gold! (Picture: ©DZT/Generalverwaltung des vormals Preussischen Königshauses (Ernst Wrba)

The highlight of the tour is the crown of Emperor Wilhelm II. This is also known as the Hohenzollern crown, and was made in 1888. What you see here are 142 rose cut diamonds, 18 larger round diamonds, 8 teardrop pearls and a big old sapphire. Interestingly, Kaiser Wilhelm II never wore this crown (not officially, anyway.)

After the tour concluded, we went down into the casemates (which I literally can't find any pictures from... how does one forget to take pictures!?) The low ceiling, bomb proof casemates have been there since the time of the second castle, and you can read the story of the Ghost of the White Lady. Legend has it that the count Albrecht von Hohenzollern had asked a younger widow to marry him, but knowing his parents were against the marriage, he told her they would marry "if it were not for four eyes between us." She had taken this to mean that her two children from her previous marriage were opposed to this marriage, so she killed her own children. The count was obviously like, "That's psycho. Engagement over." She moved to Rome searching for forgiveness, going crazy over her actions. Her ghost now apparently haunts the castle!

If you're lucky enough to visit the castle on a beautiful day, you can see for miles from the mountain.

The town of Hechingen sits right below Hohenzollern Castle, split by Route 27.

Only three Kaisers served as Emperors of Prussia: Wilhelm I (1861-1888), his son Frederick III (who, much like Prince Charles had a parent who lived into their 90s and refused to abdicate. Frederick had cancer and only reigned for 99 days in 1888); and Wilhelm II (1888 until his forced abdication on November 9, 1918, which marked the end of the Empire and the beginning of the German Republic.)

The last (and really only) person to actually consider the castle home was the Crown Prince Wilhelm, the son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. And he only lived there because he was on lock down at the end of the war!

An earthquake (yes, an earthquake!) registering 5.7 on the Richter scale damaged the castle in 1978 and it was under repair until the 1990s!

The views are beautiful. If it was another week or two earlier, the leaves would have been at peak.

The sun is lower on the horizon already. But isn't it beautiful?

Germany is still so green, even when the leaves are all changing. It kind of reminds me of Ireland.

The current Prince of Prussia is Prince George, and when he and Princess Sophie (and their four children) are in town, they do stay here. With views like this, you can't blame them!