Schloss Braunfels

Today we visited Braunfels, a privately-owned castle mentioned previously in our blog.

We viewed centuries-old clothing, household items and paintings of the family. Tools from 3,500 BC found on the property were on display as well. To protect the original wooden floors, we had to shuffle along in large felt slippers in many sections of the castle.

The Knight's Room shows the evolution of armor -- beginning with medieval chain mail. By the late Middle Ages, plate armor came into vogue. The plate armor was so heavy, a knight needed to be placed on his horse via a small crane. The weight of the armored knight, plus the horse's own armor made for such a heavy load, the horse could only handle 45 minutes of fighting before needing to be pulled out of battle, exhausted. If the knight got knocked off his horse, his armor made it impossible to climb back on.

Over a hundred knights lived and trained in this room at a time. The windows had no glass which let in the frigid cold air and wind, and the fireplace was rarely lit, making the winter months less than tolerable. Being a knight was not as glamorous as we had thought.

After the tour, we made our way down to the village square for ice cream and Apfelkuchen.