Hohenzollern Castle

When Heinrich arrived at the Air Base in Spangdahlem he saw a picture that has been very popular in the area. It is a picture with F-16s and an A-10 flying over one of the famous castles in Germany. Since the castle looked like a very nice one, Heinrich decided to drive down and see the castle for himself.

Unfortunately the day he choose to go down was a stormy winter day that was very overcast with some big snow flakes. The castle is way up on a hill and the road was pretty slushy.

There was a shuttle bus that would drive people up the hill to see the castle. Heinrich thought that it was worth the 1.80 Euros to ride the shuttle up to the top of the hill.

When he got to the top of the hill, the towers of the castle were looming high into the snowy sky.

At the entrance to the gate was a stone tower with the Emperor's crest above it and a carved knight on a horse. Heinrich had already grown a snow mustache. There was also a draw bridge over a very small rectangular moat. It didn't seem very impressive for such a large castle.

 

But as Heinrich started up, he found that the road to the castle made a circular curve until it came to a second gate over a second moat.

 

After that was a second winding curve up to a third gate with another small moat.

Looking back Heinrich realized that attackers would have to fight up to the first gate, Then fight along the first curve to the second gate, all the while with people shooting at them. Then around another curve to yet another gate, again being shot at the whole time. It was clear that the defenses to enter the castles were actually pretty impressive.

When he finally got to the top of the spiral ramps there was a family crest for the people who built the castle. This castle was a summer home for the German Emperor's family. Even though they had this big beautiful castle, they never really lived in it. It was mainly built just for show. Some people waste way too much money.