A kingly trip

Today I took a day trip to Hechingen, 25 km southwest of Tubingen, to visit the Hohenzollern Castle, medieval home to Prussian emperors.

More photos here

UPDATE! A short summary of the trip:

• It was a bit of a challenge getting to the castle from the closest town, Hechingen. There was absolutely no signage about what bus to take, or how to get tickets to ride it.
• I did go in the castle, but you weren't supposed to take photos. I even double checked. But of course everyone else did. The outsides were more impressive anyway, though the hall displaying the family tree of every royal connection to the place was pretty cool. You can see the insides here if you'd like.
• The tour was completely in German. It's a very strange thing to be in a quiet crowd that suddenly bursts into laughter, but not catching even a word of the joke that was just told.
• According to the map, there were walking trails down from the castle to all the nearby cities, so I decided to be adventurous. I had trouble finding my trail, so I asked the attendant at the parking lot (in broken German, as always). Against my better judgment, I trusted the teenager instead of the sign that clearly said Hechingen, 3.5km ->. So, after reaching the highway and deciding not to try to walk along it, I hiked *back up* the hill. I eventually found the right trail (with no further assistance) and yes, I *was* correct the first time.
  
• I encountered a German woman and her daughter at the train station on the way home, who needed help with the automatic ticket/timetable machines. So I, the American, helped the local German navigate the train system (she had NEVER been on a German train!). She asked me if I liked it so far, and said she hates it. She's actively trying to move to Canada next year, even if her partner won't go with her. whoa!
• It was still relatively early when I got back to Tubingen, so I tried to find the Osterberg Tower. All these impressive sounding names! but the Tower was pretty uneventful, so I just enjoyed the view of the city at dusk.
  

Hence a few more photos of pretty Tubingen, starting here. (Click the right arrow to see the few pictures from this day, or Slideshow to see all Tubingen pictures to date)