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I woke up at 7:30AM, although I closed the window at 5:30AM when a truck thundered past and woke me up. It was raining outside while I updated my diary just like yesterday morning. Then Renée awoke and we chatted quietly while we waited for Dagmar to wake up. At 11AM Dagmar was still asleep and I was getting rather bored and hungry. Soon afterwards Dagmar emerged and was apologetic and embarrassed for sleeping so late. Never mind as the canoeing yesterday in the heat was exhausting. A late breakfast ensued while the rain was stopping outside.
We headed off around 12:45PM and got to the cave, Kristallhöhle Kubach at 1:10PM after a nice drive back past Weilburg. The next tour was to start at 1:30PM. They charged an extra euro for photography which I thought was cheeky! But I paid anyway. I looked at a rock museum and the views from the hill while waiting. Freienfels Castle was prominent above Freienfels across the valley.
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| 360 degree panorama of the rock garden by Kubach Crystal Cave. | Renée and I couldn't resist a rock garden selfie. | Freienfels Castle. |
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| The visitor centre and cave entrance buildings. | 180 degree panorama as Dagmar takex pictures of the view across the valley towards Freienfels. | Freienfels with its castle on the left. |
The cave tour got underway at 1:30PM. We donned yellow hard hats and had a briefing. Then we descended lots of steps down a diagonal access shaft. The drop in temperature (15-17C inside) was lovely as it was hot outside. Soon we arrived at the first caverns with a nice pool and small crystals on the walls and ceiling. The ground had been laid with a concrete path and metal steps and railings. The next cavern had the original small camera shaft that was how they discovered these caves, and a larger shaft that the first person to enter the system came through. We descended to a couple of other caverns below through some entertainingly tight corridors. The bottom cavern had excavation work going on as more caverns were being discovered beyond through other small openings. Then we ascended via a steep staircase from the camera cavern back to the top cavern and back up the access shaft. The heat from outside soon hit us again as we emerged at the surface at 2:20PM.
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| Donning the hard hats. Renée, Renée and Mike, Dagmar. | Many caves I understand have a statue like this to protect those going inside. | A steep staircase between the top two caverns. | |||
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| Looking through a hole in the top cavern. | Renée looking like a miner. (Sorry Dagmar you were just off shot.) | The access tunnel below the hole will be our way out. | Down that staircase, a pretty pool is found. | The small crystals that give the cave its name. | The ceiling of the cavern just past the pool is quite high. |
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| Looking to the other side of the cavern where our exit stairs are. | A lower cavern. The lighting resembles a giant question mark. | The camera and the hole it was sent through to discover this cavern. | The shaft dug to get the first explorer into the cavern. | Some drip stone calcite formations. | Dagmar and Renée looking around the cavern. |
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| Close up of some phallic stalagmites. | More crystals and calcite. | The stairs through a narrow tunnel to the bottom cavern. Crystals and other formations line the walls and ceiling on the way down. | |||
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| Looking back at the stairs from the bottom cavern. The zoom shot showing where Renée is gives a sense of scale in the full size shot. | The bottom of the bottom cavern. Apparently there was a pool here. But it got drained and excavation work is going on as there may be a further cavern beyond this point. | Ascending the steep stairs to return to the entrance. | A view of the lion statue and the visitor centre buildings as we leave in the car. | ||
After a 10 minute drive we parked up in a car park and walked a short distance to Weilburg Castle for a quick look. We wandered around the central courtyard that was set up with seats and a stage for a concert, and around the baroque style geometrical grounds and gardens. It sure was pretty. We decided not to go inside and had a look around the picturesque town centre before returning to the car.
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| Driving down into Weilburg. | An arch way leading to Weilburg Castle. | Looking up at the Baroque style Garden from underneath (see later for view from above). | Nice 180 degree panoramic view from the car park. | Nice Weilburg architecture. | A large evangelical church close to the castle. |
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| 360 degree panorama of the market place square outside the church and castle. | Renée outside the church and in front of the Poseidon themed fountain. | A closer look at the fountain. | The organ inside the church. | |
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| The church ceiling. | 180 degree panorama inside the church. | The entrance doorway. | Heading for the castle itself. |
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| Dagmar and Renée by the stand of trees just outside the castle entrance. | Looking West along Neugasse from the castle entrance. | The courtyard inside the caste set up for a concert. | Looking up at the towers and walls inside the courtyard. | Exploring the baroque style geometrical gardens of the castle. | |
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| The castle gardens. | I think the castle owner's dog once jumped down over the edge into the water below and swam to its owner to join him on a hunting expedition. (TODO: Check this.) | Looking over the railings onto Weilburg below the rock wall in both panoramas and also around the gardens in the 360 degree panorama. Admittedly it made Renée look all arms! | |
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| Mike enjoying the gardens and the view. | Dagmar and Mike in front of a stand of trees in the garden. | Walking under the stand of trees. | The baroque style garden from above that we saw from below as we arrived in the car. | Looking back across the garden that we just walked through. |
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| Walking along a Weilburg street and looking at the architecture as we go. | Renée and Dagmar in Weilburg as we descend back towards the car. | Statues and sculptures near the car park. | |||
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| Views of Weilburg castle as we leave in the car. | ||
At 3:15PM we drove off and headed back via Rewe supermarket where we bought more groceries, and bread and nosh. We got home at 4PM where a nice tea break was enjoyed before we headed out again at 4:45PM to meet Silvia at Braunfels castle. Thunderstorm activity had thrown a veil of high cloud over us which was nice as the temperature was more pleasant now. We parked up at 5PM and had a short walk up the hill to a spectacular gothic fairytale castle. We met up with Silvia who took us on a private tour. The central courtyard was lovely with chequerboard cobbles and a lion in the centre like a big mosaic. Silvia then took us inside and up to the top of the gothic tower. The view from the top, albeit through dirty windows, was spectacular. Most tours don't access this tower so we felt rather priveleged. Then we had a tour of the main rooms on display. Two Israelis joined us as their main tour was German only and they spoke English just like us. The rooms were full of big paintings, tapestries, big furniture and so on. The hunting room was full of antlers. Once the room tour finished we headed outside to some cannons and ramparts before heading round past a garage of very old cars into a church. Then we exited through a gorgeous market square at 6:15PM.
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| A classic thunderstorm with an anvil top building behind us. | Arriving at Braunfels Castle. | Walking into the castle. | Meeting Silvia in the passageways. | ||
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| Looking around as we head to the central courtyard. | The gothic tower. | The cobbled ground of the courtyard looked like a chequerboard. | |
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| The lion at the centre of the courtyard. | Silvia, Dagmar and Renée. | More views as we head to the entrance by the older tower (with the scaffolding). | |
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| Half way up the gothic tower. | Dagmar, Silvia and Renée half way up the gothic tower. | A wooden spiral staircase takes us to the top. | 360 degree panorama from the top of the gothic tower. The whole of Braunfels and the surrounding countryside are laid out before us. |
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| Looking down at other parts of the castle from the top of the gothic tower. | Philippstein to the South has its own castle. | Time to go back down the stairs. | After the tour of the inside rooms (no pictures), looking back at the exit we came out of. | |
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| Renée, Dagmar and Silvia at the cannons. | The view from the gun emplacement. | A hut and a bell at the gun emplacement. | Closeup of one of the cannons. | Walking on towards the car garage. | |
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| Three very old cars in the garage. | Looking up at the castle from the car garage. | Nice gothic castle windows. | Exiting towards the market square. | ||
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| Exiting Eastwards towards the market square. | Nice weather vane. | More Runkel architecture. | |||
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| The final tunnel leading to the market square. | ||
After exiting the castle we headed downhill through the market square and along nice streets with lovely buildings (cool architecture).
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| The view of the market square from the tunnel which we walked down from the castle. | 360 degree panorama of Braunfels market place. The castle is to the West of the square. | The Eastern entrance into the castle with Renée, Dagmar and Silvia in front. | Dagmar, Silvia and Mike at Braunfels market place. |
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| Dagmar, Silvia and Mike. | Walking down through Braunfels looking at the architecture on the way. | Slightly different residential architecture as we get towards the Northeastern outskirts of Braunfels. | |||
At the bottom of Braunfels was a nice Chinese restaurant called Tong Tong which we arrived at for 6:35PM. It was a nice meal and cheap at only 50 euros. I paid to say thanks for the hospitality and thanks to Silvia for castle tour. I am glad they let me treat them.
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| Arriving at Tong Tong chinese reataurant. | A golden laughing buddha at the entrance. | A quick photoshoot when the food arrives before we tuck in. | ||
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| Panorama of the restaurant while it is momentarily quiet. | Silvia and Renée. |
At 7:50PM we walked slowly back to the car via a nice park below the South side of the castle. At one fork in the path Silvia left us as her car was elsewhere. We waved as she drove past us as we approached Dagmar's car. A 15 minute drive got us back to Dagmar's place for 8:30PM.
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| A nice cake shop if I remember right. | Looking back up to the castle from near the restaurant. | A classic German beer garden by the entrance to the park. | A very tall tree in the park. | |
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| Looking at the flower beds and nice greenery as we walk along. | Golden hour as we depart from Braunfels. | |||
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| The roads back were lovely to drive along. | Another view of Golden Hour. | Driving through Leun just before we get back to Stockhausen. | |||
Dagmar had a bit of work to do so Renée and I shared photos and I played games. We then played and Renée won the Takenoko panda game. That was good fun. We retired for the night at 11:30PM. Tomorrow the car was in use by Dagmar's mum so we planned to catch the train to nearby towns with shopping areas and malls.
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