Der Ort: Deutschland. Die Zeit: Das Mittelalter.

In the courtyard of our castle home for the night, waiting for me to take them on a tour of Bacharach.

Ever slept in a medieval castle?  These kids have!  Our first night in Germany was spent in Burg Stahleck Castle above a little village called Bacharach on the Rhine River.  The castle has been a youth hostel for almost 100 years, but from its origins in the 1100's it was for centuries the home to a series of Prince Electors of the Holy Roman Empire.  Briefly during WWII, the castle was changed from a youth hostel to a "re-education" facility for rebellious German teens who did not follow the tenets of the Hitler Youth, and then for a military training camp for 14-18 year olds as the war got desperate for Germany and even kids as young as the ones on our trip were being conscripted into the German army.  It is a beautiful hostel now, with great food and great views over the Rhine (better when the weather's nice).

Burg Stahleck Castle - on a sunnier day!

The group that braved the snow and walked down into town from the castle.  This is in front of the Altes (old) Haus (house) - 1368 qualifies any house as old in my books.

Mr. Marwood squeezes through the narrow medieval alleyways of Bacharach.

The skeleton of a former Gothic cathedral that was destroyed during the 30 years war.  The cathedral is down the hill from the castle, and when the French troops blew up the castle in the 1600's, the stones rained down on the town and destroyed this building.