Germany, part wherever I am

Whatever day it was, maybe Saturday, we went for a visit to what seemed to be a cutlery museum. It was full of knives and (mostly) swords. It was pretty impressive.

Following that, we travelled to another castle (this one was called Schloßburg, which translates "castle castle"). Nice. We first shared the Original "Bergische Kaffee Tafel" which translates "tons of food, mostly breads and sweet stuff to eat with it." It was quite enjoyable, and the view from the restaurant was fantastic as well. The castle was way up in the mountain and was a beautiful setting. We pretty much had the run of the place once our entry fee was paid (it is now a museum). I have always enjoyed walking along the tops of castle walls and looking out the arrow slits. I always pretended that I was looking out for enemies who might be on the prowl and who might at any time attack the castle. Of course, my archery skills leave a lot to the imagination.

In the castle, there were all sorts of cool collections to look at, including suits of armor and pole arms. I played enough Dungeons and Dragons as a kid to know what a lot of these sorts of things are, but I kind of wish I'd actually seen some of them before I played (or back in my playing days). Then we might have been a little more realistic about what we allowed. For example, a two-handed sword is huge and really couldn't be swung in a tight passageway, especially not when the heroes were standing two or three abreast and attempting to fight with multiple opponents at the same time. Some of the swords were so ornate, it was hard to imagine that someone would actually fight with them. I suppose some were ornamental.

After the castle, we went to the home of someone from the Wuppertal church, an artist who happens to have a spa in her home. I loved it. Mitch thought it was torturous (too hot for him). Then, however, we agreed about the meal. Fantastic. It was called "Raclette" -- or maybe that's just the name of the grill (or the special cheese; I was never quite clear about that. I think it's both). Anyway, it was a special grill that sat in the middle of the table. We grilled meat on the top and other stuff inside (including pineapple and mushrooms -- obviously I didn't eat any mushrooms). You melted the special raclette cheese on whatever you were eating, too. Or you fried almonds (in goose fat, which was also used as a spread for toast) and ate them on your meat. Very tasty!

We did get lost on the way back to the flat, but it wasn't our fault (this time)!