Whit will post a blog soon about the last weekend of her parents visit. We soaked up the sun with them in Provence and tasted some of the finest cuisine in France. Here is a sneak pre-view of "le commencement" of Spring Break 2010 (a bit of a change from Spring Break 2003):
However, I wanted to get started with our Central Europe trip.
We experienced and saw so many amazing things. We started our trip with a stop in Moritzburg, Germany, which is just 7km outside of Dresden. We visited the hunting castle of August the Strong. Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Our hotel was walking distance to the castle and the owner spoke no english. This was only an issue once after I asked about good restaurants in town and she kept leading me to the empty dining room of the hotel restaurant and throwing her hands in the air.
Nonetheless, the next morning we took advantage of the beautiful weather and scenery to enjoy a dawn run around the grounds of the castle.
August the Strong was big outdoorsman and loved large game hunting as well as porceline, oddly enough. This castle, which is on island in the middle of lake, was only used for hunting excursions and the inside is filled with his trophies.
We were blessed with a clear blue day to enjoy the castle. The last 3 months in Strasbourg were quite an adjustment to european winter. However we can't wait for the spring and summer here, which are beautiful.
Augustus the Strong used this well equiped ride to travel around the region. The chariot is even equiped with hill brakes to allow the horses to rest going up-hill!
When we entered the great hall it became obvious that August the Strong was a successful hunter.
This collection of red deer antlers is considered to be the largest in the world. In an adjoining room, which is appropriately called the Monströsensaal ("montrosity room") are 39 morbidly contorted antlers. During the reign of August the Strong the more abnormal a deer's rack, the more prestigious it was for the hunter. Thus, the hunters would intentially shoot the antler of young deer so that during the following seasons these "atypical" bucks would make great trophies. Unfortunately pictures of the racks were forbidden. All the same, every wall in the castle was decorated with giant racks of the magnificent creatures that roamed the woods of saxoney in 1600s and 1700s.
Stay tuned for our weekend excursion to Provence as well as Prague and a down home Czech experience with the Miklas family.
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