A Man’s home...

...is his castle, and this one (right) is mine. For a night anyway. There are so many castles and churches and cathedrals each with their own history and stories and scandals. These castles some built just 500 years ago and many restored are impressive to behold. The structures are much more impressively built with artistic as well as cannon and rifle defence in mind as well as the traditional pike and sword. I was amazed to see their selection of hand cannons (a gun that fires 2-4 inch shot) that needed to be ramed against the castle walls because of the recoil. As you travel down the banks of the rine and mosel nearly every major hill top is crowned with a castle or with ruins and every bend in the river harbours a small town of beautiful old buildings. The Köln Dom built in 1248 it is impressive in not only the grand scale and the intense detail covering every available space but also because it is Nestled in the centre of the city right there at the main train station.





The castles certainly rival anything built in the near east at that time. And it’s not like there aren’t roman ruins here too. But the style is very different, uniquely European (german), as you can see in the images of castles and churches above.