"What is this castle called that stands hard by?"

They call it Burg Lichtenberg. (Points to those who know where I got the title...I had to look it up- it's been awhile) The 3.6 members of our family decided to get out today and went down near Kusel (in Thallictenberg) to check out the castle ruins of Burg Lichtenberg, which was built in the 1200's and whose apparent claim to fame was that Ulrich Zwingli slept there in 1529. I tried to find something else a little cooler, like a battle or treaty, but I guess a Reformist theologian's nap will have to do.

We took a bunch of pictures, but I trimmed it down to a few hundred here for everyone. I'm just going to comment on each one- you know you guys love it when I get to throw out witty one-liners. Click on them to see the bigger versions...especially recommended for the landscape pics.


This is the view coming in to Thallichtenberg. The castle is up on a big hill overlooking the whole valley.


Luke storming the walls. These holes (you know, the technical term) were around the battery right as you come in and park. Invading armies would park their Audis right outside and head on in for some medieval fun.


A map of the castle complex as you come in the east gate (left is east here). The four columns underneath are supposed to give you an idea of what each part is in a different language, but the English one was obviously written by someone from Germany. It was one of those "all your base are belong to us" translations.


Looking inside the gate. The arch up ahead protects the beer stand just inside. Woe to the invader who gets thirsty and carries no Euro.


Luke taking on the steps to the top of the gate. He pretty much got tired out a few steps after this picture was taken.


Mommy and Luke on top of the gate. She had just taunted an Englishman for the second time.


Yours truly with Luke. Since taking a stroller around ruins is not a good idea, I ended up carrying him most of the time...and let me tell you, the boy is not getting lighter as he gets older.


Looking out on the valley from right above the gate. If my geography is correct, that's Kusel in the distance on the left.


The infamous castle keep, looking up from the base of it. One of the cool things about this castle was how confusing the layout was...I assume this was to help defend it from folks who got in and were unfamiliar with it all. Or they just hired a bad architect.


Luke once again scaling the wall of the keep.


Still walking around the base of the keep to get to the entry point. As you can see, we are but gnats against such a structure.


Another landscape view from the base of the keep. The building right in front is a hostel. The castle also has a restaurant, museum, and geology museum. Why geology? No idea.


Mommy and Luke playing on the rocks. Luke loved this thing, but he would only sit on it. I tried to get him to stand, but he refused. He did this to several other rocks. He gets his weirdness from his mommy.



Two different views of the town below. In case you're wondering, this is pretty much what every town around here looks like.


This is the top floor of the keep. I guess it caught fire a hundred years ago, but they rebuilt it and made windows around the entire thing. It's a great view, but I would love to know how many people fall out of this thing every year. I had a death grip on Luke the whole time.


But obviously not on Mindy. This is her Rapunzel pose.


The family portrait. We convinced the peasants to take this for us.


The view from the west end looking east.


Mindy and Luke. He was starting to get fussy, and had fallen on his hands and knees on the rocks earlier. Mommy was tending to him while Daddy climbed around the castle.


Up in one of the portholes.


There was a weird well-like section with embrasures along the bottom, and a set of stairs leading down to it. Mindy was brave enough to climb down and take this picture looking back up at us.


This is the church that tells us that Zwingli crashed here one night. Other than that, I got nothing.


My son, looking cute and cuddly.


Luke checked out the big board as we left. He seemed to really like it, but he was so tired when we got done. Of course, Mommy is pregnant and Daddy carried him all day, so we were pretty beat too...especially after climbing to the top of the keep.

Mindy is scheduled to take the driver's class and test tomorrow, so wish her luck. She's studied a lot more than I did, so I think she'll be fine. Luke will be staying in day care all day while she does it, so pray everything goes well. He had a rough morning in the nursery Sunday- he just doesn't like being away from Mommy and Daddy (one or the other is ok). So tomorrow should be interesting...we'll probably get back a kid who cried the whole time he was there.

Hope everyone had a good (or good enough) weekend. Happy Columbus Day!