Benzenberg

The following day, we made our way towards Nico's grandma's house in Ruetlingen. We chose to combine this visit with a stop at a nearby castle, Schloß Lichtenstein. This castle sits 250 meters above the valley and has incredible views of the Swabian Alp mountains. We paid 8€ each to take a guided tour of the 1st and 2nd levels.

The tour was mostly in German with brief highlights in English. An original medieval castle was built in the 1300s and replaced with a hunting castle in the early 1800s, and then replaced again with the current castle in 1840. The final castle was built at the direction of Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg who got inspiration from a fairy tale written at the time.

The castle, which is considered to be a relatively new castle, was built more as a vacation home. The Duke had a collection of armor (including some for himself), a chapel with a 550 year old original painting, and even a drinking room. It was definitely worth a visit.

The rest of the day was spent visiting with O, Nico's grandma. She made some vegetarian maltauschen with potato salad for lunch - a Swabian specialty. It was a delicious. Brittany will work a little harder at learning German so she can converse with more of Nico's family.Read more