Visiting Hohenzollern Castle (15-01-05)

It’s 13h44 and a group of us have just arrived at ISP, out of breath thinking we were late. I had visions of Reiner pacing the floor, mopping at the sweat that was about to appear on his brow, tearing at his hair, anxiously awaiting our arrival. Fashionably late is not a term the Germans find particularly endearing. “Schnell, schnell, macht schnell”, is undeniably the most recognisable German phrase to us all (poor Barbara used it often). Fortunately, Reiner looked quite relaxed for once as we were scheduled to meet at 14h00.

It was a beautiful sunny day, but when we arrived at the foot of the hill on which the castle is situated, it was freezing and patches of snow were on the ground (the first snow to be seen since our arrival). We spotted a shuttle bus and eagerly waited to climb aboard, but we sadly passed the bus and started the ‘short hike’ up the hill. It was short, but it was also very steep. I for one was desperately trying to hide that I was huffing and puffing by momentarily stopping to admire the beautiful view, to avoid collapsing in a heap.

As expected, the view from the top was amazing and well worth the aching limbs and breathlessness. The castle is reminiscent of those found in fairytales and one could almost expect a princess locked in one of the towers to wave a hanky, angrily imploring us to hurry up and save her.

The castle is the ancestral home of the Hohenzollern family – a family of great significance as they were kings and emperors of Germany before and after its unification. The Hohenzollern heritage was divided between two brothers who each formed a family line – the Brandenburg-Prussian line and the Swabian line, which exists to this day.

The castle was first built in the 11th century, later rebuilt in the 15th century and reconstructed for a third time in 1850. The castle was then modelled in the English Gothic style and the Loire Valley castles. The castle was rebuilt as a family memorial and therefore the family only took up residence in 1945, but the family no longer occupies it.

We waited until sunset before venturing down the hill and were supplied with torches to light the way – whilst singing and chatting and generally scaring the Germans. It was a wonderful excursion, but we were most grateful to enter the confines of the heated bus and ready to return home (to Tubingen, that is).

(Report by Anwyn Davidse, Peninsula Technikon)