![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarz
We drove 360 kilometres into the deep heart of the province Westerwald, Germany, for Dettie's 50th birthday. We arrived around three in the afternoon, and checked into the Burghotel. A nice, clean, luxourious-less hotel, and drank tea in the ancient Gasthaus before scaling the hills for the first time.
The weather wasn't great, so we skipped dressing up in costume, and scaled the hill. The road up the (steep) hill sloped at a 40 degree angle at times, and I was panting heavily soon. I'm so not used to that kind of exercise (though I wish I were). In the first bend of the road we found this sign, pointing to a path. The Raubritterpfad was a path on the steep slopes, and a big branch of a tree hung over the path at about chestheight/shoulderheight. I can not imagine any (plundering) knight on any horse driving underneath it, and it would take a better rider to jump the branch. 
This is the road we took up the hill. It curved around a small chapel, and in the big bend, is the Raubritterpfad. Then, it curved around the cemetary, bent slightly left, and in the next big curve was the road to the ruins. This was taken with our back to the ruins of the Burg.
The old gates. In the stone there were gaps where I suspect the hinges were. On the stones are images of men working the fields.
The doors to the ruin were closed and though there was a car parked, nobody was in sight. I shot a picture through the gap between de the doors, and we carried on exploring. From the road we could see old defense walls, and there was a small stairs going in the general direction. We carefully descended the staircase and found an (animal) path. It eventually led to the old defense walls. 
The ground was muddy and slippery, with fallen leaves littering the floor. From above, it looked like it would be impossible to reach the wall and look around. The path through the undergrowth I had been following went down underneath the brambles that thrived there, and I think it was mostly used by rabbits. NoKey found an acceptable though muddy path down, and we could peek around the wall. The 'windows' were wide enough so one or two people could crouch in them, and the tower featured arrowslits. Behind the wall the slope was steep, and I could imagine defenders of the Burg throw down rocks, tar, boiling oil etc. while offending soldiers down below on the slope tried to find cover on between the sparse trees.
It got rather dark, and seeing that we saw what we came to see, we clambered on up, back to the ruins and then took the road down again. We rejoined my family in the old Gasthaus, from the 17th century. The walls are 1 meter thick, and most of the original furniture and architecture was maintained. A lot of feet stepped on that doorstep! My cousins Johan and Gea wanted to see the ruins (they had arrived earlier, when we were still up exploring), so we got up again after a cup of tea, and then scaled the hill once more.
The party that night was fun. NoKey and I dressed up in our high-elves outfits, he in his Elrod tunic, me in my new green dress. My father didn't really approve of our choice of outfits, his face going dark as he saw us in our cloaks. We did get a lot of compliments though from the rest of the family. I was told my cousin Linda who is getting married in January, also is pregnant and will have offspring in June or July.
The food was greasy, but there was a lot of choice in salad and bread. NoKey and I abused the salads and maimed the bread. The family, especially Detties side of the family, had prepared some surprises, a box with 'creepy' things, as well as a sketch of "roodkapje" (lil' red riding hood). The latter involved the main characters who were dressed accordingly, to drink a Schnapps every time their name was mentioned. Lucky for Roodkapje (Jack), the Wolf (Werner), and Grandma (Jacco), not all the small cups were filled with booze.
We left the party at twelve, and enjoyed sleep. The next morning we would have a big family breakfast at nine. Jack was early, though continuing partying until four in the morning. We were the next ones in, and the rest of the family was late. My brother Jos, who is renowned for his always being late, was just in time, the breakfast buffet closed at ten.
Jack (who had hitched us a ride), agreed on going up to the ruins. Because the weather was good I dressed up before checking out. We walked up the hill, and shot about 50 more pictures, portraits for Xantara and Dolle Griet. The best are below.
After clambering back up the slope from the wall, we found a guide at the ruins, telling interested people about the ruins. He invited us in, and after paying a nominal fee of 2 eurii per person, we could enter the ruins. The family who owns them now, the Spiegel family, had restored the Burg bit by bit. Sad thing is that the also made it into a museum, and that they built a wing to the old ruins, adding glass windows in various sections. Where the old buildings were, above the old cellars, they made a garden, and inside the tower, which used to be a prison which could only be entered from the second story, they actually tiled a bit of the floor and made a "study" out of it. 
We climbed the tower, all the way up cramped staircases (and my dress dusting every corner of them, ofcourse), to the top. The view was great, and though NoKey's vertigo played up, he did go all the way on top, let the records show this! Climbing down the cramped stairs was very hard, with high but narrow steps and a half-circle dress being a pain in the royal butt, so to speak. We got downstairs in one piece again, shot some more pictures, and then jumped into the car to drive back. 
We treated Jack to some Chinese food after we got home, and he might be interested in coming to a larp to shoot some pictures with his camera.
Grenzau is beautiful, but the trip is Nasty. It's a fucking long way away from home.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 12:28 pm (UTC)Great photos and I love your dress and cloak!
no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 12:32 pm (UTC)The pin of the cloak is the one I bought from the Czech smithy. It's very pointy, but very nice.
And well, the Burg has so much charm...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 12:58 pm (UTC)Cute pics though ;-)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-08 05:19 pm (UTC)Those are really beautiful pictures. Modern day clothing would have looked so wrong. ;) (And I wish I had long, wavy hair.)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-09 02:45 pm (UTC)The waviness came because of braiding it really tight after showering.