A short castle tour in Germany

As we were staying in the far east of the Netherlands, we took the opportunity to nip over the border into Germany, which was only a few kilometres away. Ruaraidh had suggested visiting Bad Bentheim which is the nearest town as it also had a famous castle built on a hill, which is are feature in these parts.

I was pleasantly surprised by our short tour of the chapel, the ramparts, the old artillery tower, with its museum devoted to Alchemy, the Knight's refectory, the more modern living quarters and finally the old deep well. I have added a range of pictures of some of these scenes to another Flickr gallery here.

My blip is of the interior of the chapel (which dates to the Romanesque and then expanded during the Gothic period) with magnificent wooden features, stonework and this oak sculpture of the two-faced madonna, hanging rather disconcertingly from the ceiling, apparently by her necks.

When hunger prevailed we left the castle and headed out of the gates through the ramparts and down the hill to the cobbled streets of the town centre and enjoyed some simple filled rolls, desserts and coffee in a small bakery. Then we just headed back to Holland, as we had a secondary plan to visit the old town of Oostmarsum where the cobbled streets are given over to pedestrians and sculptures amongst a rather too twee tourist industry setting for my liking. I did find one or two statues and art works dotted about the streets, squares and courtyards, but it all seemed to be about selling.

I managed to also stop when I saw an old windmill, which turned out to have been restored and was now incongruous amongst modern housing. So much of Holland is manicured, efficient and rather soulless, making me feel out home area is rather rough and ready and all the more real to me. Woodpeckers blipped a picture of a church in Oostmarsum and as always provides a differing perspective to me.

We got back to the house in Geesteren after the kids had returned from school and managed to play with them. Later in the evening their Mum was able to Skype them from her conference in Vienna and I got a couple of pictures of them doing so.