Cochem

About a week ago we went to Cochem, a nice and fairly big town along the Mosel river.

It is really neat to see all the old buildings. And in Germany there is tons of old architecture! It's fun just to walk around anywhere you go in Germany.

The reason we came to Cochem is the huge castle on top a steep hill in the middle of town, Reichsburg Cochem.

Seeing remains of red paint on some parts of the castle suggests that in the middle ages it used to be very colorful. When you first walk in the gate, after the long steep cimb up, you see the beautiful 4 by 8 meter mosaic of St. Christopher carrying baby Jesus, a reminder of the colorful age.

Here is the dining room. The person who last lived in the castle, Louis Ravene, had a special liking for wood-carving, which in this room mainly consists of scenes from the Holy Bible. The most interesting part, though, was the fake door that was only put in to maintain symetry with the real door on the other side of the fireplace.

This is the Gothic Room named ater the ceiling, with it's pointed Gothic arches. The room is also called Caminata, meaning a chamber reserved for the ladies, because the room was heated by a fireplace. (how this made it reserved for ladies, I don't know...)This light fixture is called a mermaid lamp, it is a symbolic figure to keep evil out of the house. It is also supposed to bring luck to anyone who rubs the red heart on it's stomach. the tour guide turned her head so she wouldn't see when we rubbed it for luck! (Sorry the picture is blurry, with everyone touching the mermaid it was swinging!!)

There was another room, but we only spent a few seconds in there, because it was so small, and didn't get any pictures. But, it had some interesting things in it. It seemed like an ordinary hall, there was a small chair, some paintingas and an old cabinet. Then, the tour guide showed us a secret door, she said it leads down below the castle but someone built a wall about 30 feet down. It probably was a secret escape route to a nearby monastery. She also said we won't go down because the last person who went down there was never seen again! *wink* On the other side of the cabinet was another secret door, it was an alternate route to the bedrooms. She said we shouldn't go up there either because the ladies are not so pretty anymore, "They're all old and dusty!"This was in the Weapons Room, it was the armor of an Austrian in the middle ages who was over 7 feet tall! Peanut was afraid to go up to it alone so I had to take a picture with her!






Out of the Weapon's Room was the balcony, the view was spectacular! She said that, over 1000 years ago, this castle was the only link between France and Germany.




This is the Witches' tower! Women convicted of witchcraft were dropped from the tower, if she lived she must be a witch and was hanged, if she died, oops! She was innocent...