My European Adventure: Part 3

July 6- Concert in Zurich
We had to get up early this morning for our concert in Zurich. Since we were also permanently leaving Munich, we had to pack everything out of our hotel. Our bus ride to Zurich was rather uneventful, although long. I went to Switzerland 11 years ago with the BYU-Idaho chamber orchestra. I remember Switzerland being lush and green, with several lakes around. However, the countryside we drove past was farmland, and looked rather dry and brown. It must have been a different part of Switzerland that I went to last time.
We arrived at our venue for our concert that afternoon, where we went to lunch. We ate lunch rather quickly, and still had about an hour and a half before our sound check began. So the bass section decided to wander around Zurich.
Our first stop was a church that was near our venue. The outside looked magnificent. So, we thought the inside would look as amazing. However, we discovered that inside, although still beautiful, was rather plain and modern. It was nice to see a non-touristy church where regular people came to worship. We didn't stay long, and decided to move on.
As we were walking along, we saw a grocery store. Since I knew this would be our only opportunity to buy Swiss Chocolate, I insisted that we went in. I ended up buying three bars of chocolate. One of those, I promptly ate, since I was feeling rather in the mood for chocolate. I was excited to find a Toblerone bar, since they are made in Switzerland. I know that we have them readily accessible in the US, but I wanted an authentic Swiss Toblerone bar.
When we returned, we had our sound check. The venue for our concert that evening was different than what we have experienced during this tour, but very similar to all of our venues from past tours. We were in an arena, call Hallenstadion. This is the home to the Swiss Hockey Team. It took a little while to get used to the sound, since it was so different than what we were used to, but I felt confident for our concert.
After our sound check, we went to dinner, then had some time to chat with other people before our concert. Our concert that night was wonderful. I was starting to get a little tired of our repertoire, but I had to keep on reminding myself that the people who came to our concert were experiencing it for the first time. Several also traveled very far to make it. That was what motivated me to perform my best during our concerts.
After the concert, we loaded the busses and began a 5 hour journey to Frankfurt, Germany. We finally arrived very tired at our hotel at 3:00 in the morning.
July 7- Frankfurt
Kate and I decided to sleep in as much as we could this morning to recover from the day before. Late night bus rides are really not that much fun. We went out attempting to find breakfast, but for some reason, could not find a place to eat near our hotel. We finally stopped just trying to walk and see where it took us, and instead, googled a place near us to go. We found a restaurant close by that served delicious food. We made it just in time for the lunch rush.
We then decided to return to the hotel and see if we could find a group to tag along with to explore Frankfurt, since we had the entire day there. When we entered the lobby, we found that there was a group waiting there to be shown Frankfurt by a member of the choir who grew up in that city. Kate and I decided to join that group.
We left, and rode the subway to the old part of Frankfurt. Our first stop was right as soon as we got off the subway. This was one of the oldest and biggest churches in Frankfurt.



One of the oldest and biggest churches in Frankfurt. I didn't get that great of a picture, but the outside was beautiful.

It was a beautiful church, but we didn't linger there for long. We then went into the old town square of Frankfurt. It is such a charming town square, and the architecture there is in the style of traditional Frankfurt.

In the old town square of Franfurt

Another view of the old town square in Frankfurt

I was really happy that we went with someone who knew this city very well. Our tour guide, Sonja, who is also a member of the choir, was able to give us lots of information about this town square. Once building there is still being used as a courthouse, where one the main things they do is perform wedding ceremonies. The law in Germany requires people to be married civilly before having a religious ceremony performed, and this was the main place for those marriages to take place. There was even a wedding getting out the same time we were there.
There is also a building that before soccer was big, after the German soccer team won a game, they would stand on the balcony of this building and be greeted by the fans below cheering them on.
We spent enough time for us to grab some gelato and move on. We then crossed a bridge into the museum part of Frankfurt.


On the "Love Lock" bridge, overlooking a beautiful church.

The bridge that we crossed over is called the "Love Lock" bridge. Couples come and place a lock with their names carved on it, on the bridge. They then lock it up, and throw the key into the water, meaning their love will never be broken, or "unlocked."
We only made it halfway across the bridge, before we turned around and headed to pass by the new opera house, the old opera house, and into the modern town square of Frankfurt.

The skyline of Frankfurt

The Euro statue in Frankfurt

In front of the beautiful old opera house of Frankfurt



A bear and a bull. Apparently if you touch them, it will bring you good luck.

We then ended our tour by going into the Gummy Bear shop. Gummies were invented in Germany, and so even though I am not a huge fan of gummies, I had to buy some. Kate and I then wandered around on our own. We went to the mall where the longest escalator was, which was 7 stories. Kate and I also wanted to knock some food off of our "German Food bucket list." So, we found a berliner, which is a jelly filled pastry donut with powdered sugar. We also found a doner kebab, which is very similar to a Greek Gyro. We ended the day by getting more gelato, and stopping by the Frankfurt Christmas Shop, where I was able to buy another Christmas ornament.

Eating a berliner

My doner kebab



The Christmas ornament that I found in Frankfurt

July 8- Heidelburg Castle
Kate and I woke up this morning and went searching for breakfast. We started walking, then Kate had the brilliant idea to google a bakery close by. We found a charming bakery in a neighborhood of Frankfurt where no one spoke English. We ordered some pastries and delicious hot chocolate (which was steamed milk, and a chunk of chocolate on a stick, that we stirred into the steamed milk to melt). I found it rather interesting that this bakery was on Mendelsohn street, which was right next to Beethoven street.


The corner of Beethoven Street and Mendelsohn Street

We then loaded the busses to Heidelburg. The Heidelburg castle is a Renaissance era castle that portions were built in the 1200s. It was destroyed by fire three different times, either due to war or lightning, and was rebuilt, and added onto several times, up through the 18th century. There is only one portion of the castle that is in its original form, and was never rebuilt or restored. This portion was built in the 1500s. I don't remember much about the history of this castle, but our tour guide was a charming Dutch lady named Hagar, who had quite the sense of humor explaining the history of the castle, including making a point when we were right under the drainage system to the toilets. The castle was amazing, although in ruins in some places. It was wonderful to think that I was touring around something so old.

The main courtyard of the Heidelburg Castle

A different view of the main courtyard of the Heidelburg castle

An old wall on the castle that had several famous people carved into statues.

Overlooking the town of Heidelburg from the high point of the castle



Behind me is the tower where they kept prisoners as well as the mote. They kept animals in the mote for hunting. Our tour guide called it lazy hunting.

After our tour, we had a little bit of time to explore the town of Heidelburg and get some lunch. Heidelburg is a somewhat touristy town, and we found a cute Italian restaurant. Everyone ordered something different, and everything we ordered was delicious. We also found a grocery store, where there was "Milka" chocolate on sale for a really good price. I decided that since I was gone so long, I would buy my coworkers chocolate to give them when I got home, and bought that chocolate here. Because it was a warm day, and the chocolate was in my hands all day, it melted. Hope my coworkers don't mind melted European chocolate.
We then headed to the main bridge of Heidelburg, where you are greeted by a monkey and some mice (statues of course). Legend is that if you touch the monkey, you will have a great chance of returning to the town, and if you touch the mice, you will be blessed with either fertility or posterity, whichever stage of life you are in. The monkey also has it's rear end facing the street, and is built in the face of a mask, mocking tourists of their silliness. I still got a picture of me in the monkey mask.

The tram ride down to the city. I was lucky enough to get a front row seat.



With the monkey in the town of Heidelburg

July 9- Frankfurt concert
Kate and I decided to take it rather easy today. We went back to that yummy bakery for breakfast, then just wandered around our hotel for the morning, before heading to our venue for our concert.
Our concert was held in Jarhundenthalle in Frankfurt. Nothing too significant happened with this concert, it was just very hot. I don't believe the air was running at all, and I was sweating during this entire concert. People loved this concert, and were very happy to have Sonja (my Frankfurt tour guide from a couple days ago) be there for the concert. I think she was more the star of the show than we were. But, they were a very appreciative audience. We also got some very comfy stools for that concert. They looked like stirrup chairs that you see in a gynecology office, but they were so comfortable. The only downside was that they were extremely tall, so I had to put my endpin out almost all the way to accommodate.


My funny looking, yet very comfy stool.

July 10- Church in Frankfurt
Today would be our last day in Frankfurt. We started the day out with church in our hotel. One of the best parts of being on tour with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is that when we have church, it is amazing. The music is always beautiful, and the talks are so inspiring. We heard from Elder Kearon, who was our visiting General Authority. He is also the area authority of the Europe area. He mentioned how we were such a blessing to the saints in Europe, who are going through such difficult and scary times. There have been several terrorist attacks in Europe in the past few months, and he told us that our music brought peace to a troubled nation. It was very touching to hear how our presence there was helping people find peace.
After church, Kate and I headed to our rooms for a much needed nap. We then met up with other members of the bass section for a boat tour down the Main River. This was a relaxing way to spend our Sunday evening, since we didn't really want to walk around anymore. We then finished our time in Frankfurt with a delicious meal. Today just also happened to be the hottest day in Europe that year. Good thing our boat was covered so we could sit in the shade.
As we were heading back to our hotel, we found some choir members in the old town square of Frankfurt, and these members pointed out a memorial for a famous book burning that happened during Nazi Germany. It was a beautiful, yet harsh reminder of the terror of Germany during World War II.

A view of the Frankfurt skyline from the Main River

Kate and I on our river cruise of the Main River



The Frankfurt book burning memorial




My European Adventure: Part 2

July 2: Munich

Today was supposed to be a recovery day with "minimal sightseeing." We got back to our hotel rather late the last night, but Kate and I were doing pretty good with our energy. So, after sleeping in a bit, and grabbing breakfast, we decided to navigate the subway system of Munich and see what it had to offer us. We made it to Marienplatz just in time for the Glockenspiel to start.
In Marienplatz, which is the main tourist hub of Munich, they have a beautiful building with a wonderful Glockenspiel bell tower. Each day at 11:00 (also a few other times during the day during the summer) the bell tower comes alive with music. There are also life sized carved figurines that are mechanized to do a little show. I got a video of this, but I am unable to upload it. However, it is a super charming thing to see.
Once the Glockenspiel was finished, we decided to wander around and see where our footsteps took us. Neither of us really knew anything about Munich, but we wanted to just find things on our own, so we just picked a direction and saw where it took us. We came across a tiny little church that was part of the block of shops, nestled right between two shops. This church is called Asam Church. It wasn't much on the outside. It just looked like a simple place. But inside was breathtaking. It had beautiful baroque architectural design.

An inside view of Asam Church



Me in Asam Church



We didn't have much option for exploring the church because of the gate, but this is a better view of me inside Asam Church.

It didn't take us too long to explore the church, as there was only about 50 square feet we could explore. But it was well worth a stop inside.
We then continued to explore around, and saw some beautiful buildings. We didn't know the significance of these buildings at the time, but they were so beautiful and charming we had to get a picture in front of them.

Me at Odeonplatz



Me at the Gardens in the Residenzplatz

Later on in the day, we found out that Odeonplatz is a square, and in the building behind me, there is a statue of the king with his wife. Odeonplatz is just outside of Residenzplatz, which is where the monarchs of Germany lived on a regular basis.
As we continued along our walk, we came across the English Gardens. I absolutely love walking through gardens. On our way there, we passed a street musician playing the French Horn. He was playing "Time to say Goodbye." I was really impressed by the talent of street musicians in Europe. It made me wonder if either they couldn't make it as a musician because competition is so stiff, or if they actually make a great living being a street musician.
After roaming through the gardens for a bit, we saw some people in wetsuits in the canal chasing after surfboards. After going a little further, we realized that people were actually surfing in the canal. At the mouth of a bridge, there must be a concrete slab or something that creates a huge wave. People take advantage of this wave by surfing. Each surfer takes turns, and once they fall, they just float down the canal while another person starts surfing. This was something we were not expecting to find, yet very entertaining to watch.

In front of the Japanese House in the English Gardens

A view of the surfers in the English Gardens



Someone surfing in the English Gardens

Munich isn't too close to an ocean, so I wondered where all of these surfers actually learned to surf. There is a sign close to here that says that only experienced surfers are allowed. It just made me wonder how they became experienced. Each surfer that I saw had some pretty great skills.
By this time, Kate and I had walked probably a good 2 or 3 miles. We still wanted to explore, but we were tired of walking. So, we found a guy who was giving bike tours. He was on a bike, and there was a little seat behind him for 2 passengers. So, we decided to take him up on the bike tour. This guy was super sweet. He was from Costa Rica. He came to Germany hoping to train for the Tour De France by biking around. He said he wasn't quite ready yet, but this job was helping him train. This bike tour was informative, and we learned all about all of the cool buildings that we saw, but didn't know what they were. He also took us back to the canal, so we could watch the surfers for a little bit longer.
After our bike tour, we were rather hungry, so we found a restaurant called the Ratskelar. It was a really touristy place, but it looked delicious. I decided to order Wienerschnitzel. I found that Wienerschnitzel is not a hot dog or a bratwurst, like I thought it was. It is actually breaded and fried veal, kind of like a country fried steak without the gravy. It was delicious, but really heavy. It seems like all of the food in Germany is really heavy.


My Wienerschnitzel that I had, along with fries and a salad

Once we finished eating, we headed back to our hotel. We were just relaxing, with the curtains open, not really focused on outside. However, we looked up, and were blessed to see an absolutely gorgeous sunset, which was the perfect ending to such a wonderful, but tiring day.

View of the sunset from our hotel room



Another view of the sunset with different lighting.

July 3: Vienna
Today started very early, as we had a long bus ride and a concert to Vienna. It was Sunday, but we did not have any church services. It was kind of a "do your own church on the bus" kind of Sunday. I have got to say that Austria is beautiful!!!! We passed beautiful mountains and lakes. After being away from Utah for a week without seeing many mountains, it was refreshing to see them. They are also taller than our Utah mountains. But of course, the Alps are bigger than the Rocky Mountains.


A view from the bus right outside of Salzburg Austria

It was rather disappointing when we drove right past Salzburg without even stopping. I love the "Sound of Music." The musical is amazing. However, the real story of the Von Trapp family is also a wonderful story. Hopefully someday I will be able to return and explore Salzburg.
Once we drove into Vienna, everywhere your head turned, there was a beautiful, gorgeous building. Kate's fiancée served his mission for 6 months in Vienna. Kate was texting him, and he was telling her all of the places she needed to go visit. However, we were there for a concert, and not for sightseeing.
We arrived to the place where we would have lunch before our sound check about 20 minutes before lunch was ready. This gave Kate and I a bit of a chance to walk around the block and see more of the beautiful buildings of Vienna.
After lunch, we had about another half hour before we had to be at our sound check, so we decided to explore a little more. We passed lots of gorgeous buildings that I have no clue what the significance of them are, as well as a lovely rose garden, where the scent of roses is very strong. I really wish we had more time in this beautiful city.

In the Rose Garden

In front of a building that I do not know the significance of



In front of another building. I think this was a government building. However, all of Vienna looks like the building behind me.

While out walking, we came across a protest that police were making sure didn't get out of hand. Because of this protest, we decided it was time to turn around and start making our way back to the sound check. It was a good thing that we turned around at that point, because we were a little late getting to the busses to load.
Our concert was in Musikverein in Vienna. This is a very significant and historic concert hall. This was the concert hall that Brahms and Mahler were the principal conductors at different times. Also, this was also the concert hall that the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Brahms Symphony 2 and 3, Mahler's 9th symphony, and many other important works were premiered. It was amazing being on the same stage as many of these significant people from Music History that I spent years studying and performing.

Me in front of Musikverein

There were Hollywood like stars right outside. The one on the right has Anton Brukner's name on it.



Another star. The one on the left is the name of Franz Schubert. Go ahead and call me a geek, but I thought these were pretty cool.
 

After our sound check, we went back to our original stopping place in Vienna for dinner. They fed us dinner in a gorgeous hall with beautiful chandeliers. 

This is where we had dinner

After dinner we headed back to Musikverein for our concert. Since this was a Sunday, the choir organization wanted to make our concert as appropriate for the Sabbath as possible. They still charged money for the tickets, but they ended up donating all the proceeds from that particular concert to a fund in Austria that helps the refugees. This concert was probably the most squished and uncomfortable concert that I played. Our stools were very skinny, and not much room to sit on, but were also very tall. The screws in the stool that I had that allowed you to adjust the height were stuck, so the entire concert I was playing on a too tall stool. This makes for a very sore back. However, the sound was amazing in this concert hall. We were also seated very close to audience members. During intermission, we talked with a man and his wife who were from Salzburg. They were so excited to come hear us, and they told us that probably the entire Salzburg stake was at that concert that evening. I think talking with the audience members was the best part of this concert. Our concert was awarded with a standing ovation again. Again, probably not as rare as they originally told us they were. 

A view from the back balcony of our concert

After our concert, we needed to load on the busses as quickly as possible, as we had a 6 hour bus ride ahead of us. We arrived at our hotel in Munich at 4:00am. We quickly went to bed with no set time for us to wake up the next morning.

July 4: Munich
We woke up this morning at around 10:30am. We wish that we could have slept longer, but we also realized that we were in Munich and wanted to go out and explore. We felt that our first day in Marienplatz gave us a good feel for Munich, but we wanted to see something outside of Marienplatz. So, we decided to visit the Nymphenburg Palace, which is the summer home of the monarchs of Germany, when they still were under monarch rule. Although it was quite a ways from our hotel, it was really easy to get to. We just hopped on the subway, and then on a bus.
The Nymphenburg palace reminds me a bit of Versailles, but on a much smaller scale. There is a beautiful palace, and massive gardens to walk around in. Kate and I decided just to take a tour of the palace, and then wander around the gardens.

On the balcony of the palace, looking out into the gardens

The Nymphenburg Palace Gardens

This was above a door in the Grand Hall inside the Nymphenburg Palace

Another photo inside Nymphenburg Palace

Me inside the Grand Hall of Nymphenburg Palace

The ceiling of Nymphenburg Palace



Right outside Nymphenburg Palace

While touring this palace, we learned about the history of the Monarchs in Germany. This was also the palace where King Ludwig, who is the owner of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, was born. The palace is very ornate, decorated in the baroque architectural style. As beautiful as the palace was, the gardens were even more exquisite.
It was very relaxing walking around the gardens. Around the gardens, they had several small buildings, houses and churches. We didn't pay for a ticket to go in those, but we were able to walk up to the doors and have a quick peek inside.

Another just outside of the palace

The gardens were massive, and this was a little further into the gardens, which offers a better view of the palace in regards to its size.

There were several statues of Greek Gods in the gardens. This is just one of many.

We were well into the gardens at this point, but there was a clearing in the bushes that we could see that palace from where we were.

A beautiful fountain in the furthest spot of the gardens

Another view of the palace, even further away



A beautiful view of a gazebo in the gardens

After wandering around the gardens, Kate and I realized we were hungry. There was a cute little café just a block away from the palace that we passed on the way there, so we decided to go there. When we got there, we realized that the cute waitress did not speak any English, and we did not speak any German. The entire menu was also in German. So, instead of ordering a lunch, we just ordered chocolate milkshakes, which satisfied us until we found something of more substance. The milkshakes were just a scoop of ice cream, with some milk and chocolate shaken up. It really was a literal milk shake. However, it was delicious. The setting was also charming. The neighborhood just outside of the palace is super cute. We also saw a group of school kids (probably around the age of 5 or 6) singing and walking to their field trip destination. If I lived in Germany, I could see myself living in that neighborhood.
After that, we headed back to Marienplatz to find a more substantial dinner. We found a pizzeria, and as we were sitting down, we ran into our fellow bass player, Daniel with his wife Emily, so we decided to join them for dinner. I decided to order bruschetta and pasta. The bruschetta was the most delicious I ever tasted. After dinner, we wanted to climb to the top of St. Paul's cathedral to get a view of the city, but we got there just as they were closing, so instead we just went back to our hotel. We were very tired from our long day yesterday. I think this day has been one of my favorite non-concert days thus far. Also, Happy 4th of July America!!!!

July 5- Neuschwanstein Castle
In order to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, we had to sign up for it beforehand. Kate was so busy, that she never got around to signing up. However, the first bus left at 5:00am, so she got up early hoping to get on the bus, and hoping that someone didn't want to get up that early to go. She lucked out and got on the bus. My bus didn't leave until noon. So, I had all morning to relax. We were on our own for breakfast that day. By this time on tour, I had a love hate relationship with food. The food is delicious, but I felt I was eating too much. So, I wanted to find something light for breakfast. Just a block away from our hotel, there was a café, so I decided to see what they had. It really was the perfect breakfast, but they way it was presented was so picture worthy, that I had to take a picture of my food.


My breakfast of Museli, Yogurt, Orange Juice and Hot Chocolate

I caught my bus to go to Neuschwanstein Castle. The drive was a couple of hours. I went to the grocery store beforehand and bought stuff for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Once again, I'm sick of being constantly full. I needed something light for lunch. The castle is in the middle of the Black Forest in the Bavarian Alps, so the drive there was absolutely beautiful. As you drive down the road that takes you to the city, you can see the castle from a distance.

A view from the bus on the way to Neuschwantstein Castle



Neuschwanstein Castle from the distance

We walked off the bus and were handed tickets for our tour. We were told to be at the front of the castle on the time indicated on our ticket for our tour. We had about an hour and a half, and they told us that it takes about a half hour to walk up to the castle. A member of the viola section, Jules, wanted to go hiking around. I wanted to do the same thing, so we set off trying to find the longest route to the castle. First, we wanted to take a few pictures from the bottom of the hill, since it was absolutely beautiful.

There was a beautiful lake at the bottom of the hill. I really wished I had my kayak so I could kayak around. Later, I found out that we could have taken a boat around the lake.

There was another castle just across the way from Neuschwanstein. I do not know the significance of this castle, but it was still beautiful.

A further look of the other castle (not Neuschwanstein)



A view from the bottom of the hill looking up at Neuschwanstein

I heard about a bridge that takes you up to a beautiful lookout spot of the castle. On our quest to find an alternate route to the castle, we found the trailhead for the bridge. Unfortunately, a couple years ago they had a rock slide, and the trail was closed. I have never been more tempted to be an annoying tourist that does not follow rules. But, I decided to be good, and not go on the trail. We eventually found a route up to the castle. It was a little crowded, but not too bad. The hike up to the castle took us just under 20 minutes. It was rather steep, but we were going at a good pace, and both of us were in decent hiking shape. It also felt nice to hike around a bit after an entire week and a half of heavy eating and mild exercise. Once we made it to the top, the views were breathtaking. I was already jealous of this king who got to live in a place as beautiful as this.

A view from the top of the hill

Another view from the top of the hill



I like being in the pictures with my view

Once we got up to the top, we still had about a half hour before we had to be there for our tour, so we decided to explore a little more. There were lots of places for us to hike around and explore just around the castle. We also found a hiking trail that we didn't have time to explore at that time, but we could go back after our castle tour.

Me with the castle in the background

Looking right up at the castle

A close up view of the castle

Another view from the top of the hill



I think this is my favorite view of the castle. I felt so luck I was able to snap this photo without any people in the background

We finally made it for our tour of the castle. The castle is absolutely beautiful inside, but I think the grounds of the castle are really the highlight. Neuschwanstein Castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was also built in a tribute to Richard Wagner. I learned at the Nymphenburg Palace that King Ludwig was an outcast to the Royal family. He built this palace as a personal refuge. However, King Ludwig was not able to enjoy this castle for very long, as no more than 6 months after he moved in, he died. The circumstances surrounding his death are to this day considered mysterious. The castle has themed rooms, mostly centered around several of Wagner's operas. One of my favorite places in the castle was called "The Grotto." This is a hallway that had the look of a cave. Unfortunately, we could not take photos inside this castle.


Jules and I right outside the gate of the castle

After we got out of the castle, Jules and I decided to go explore the trail that we found before our tour of the castle. This trail was extremely steep, and we were only able to go up for 20 minutes, due to time constraints. However, we were able to hike above the famous bridge that was closed. I was hoping for a breathtaking view of the castle, but unfortunately, there were too many trees. But it was well worth the extra hike.

Another view from the castle

At the top of the hike we took. You can kind of see the castle through the trees in the background.



Another similar picture. This is harder to see the views of the castle

We then made our way down, and had about 45 minutes to grab some dinner before we had to get back on the bus to return to our hotel. By that time, all the restaurants were closed except for one. However, it was a good one. I ordered kasespatzl, which is a German mac and cheese. It was very delicious, but I always love mac and cheese. Overall, this was such a beautiful, wonderful trip. Even though I loved Nymphenburg Palace, this has taken place of my favorite day so far.

A picture of me by the sign letting tourists know the bridge was closed. I was really sad.

A panoramic view of the castle

The view coming down from the castle



Back at the bottom of the hill, with the castle in the background.