Exploring Castles: Germany Edition!

So, a friend of mine once lived in Germany for about a year or two, and she blogged about it.

She said Germany was really beautiful, and although she didn't know much German, she still enjoyed the place, and...

She lived next door to a castle.

A castle, my friends. That's like saying you live next door to a celebrity or have goats as pets.

But she talked about it in pretty much the most nonchalant way ever, saying, "Oh, yeah, castles are pretty common around here in Germany."

Which led me to a round of Wikipedia-ing. And excessive Google Image-ing.

And...my goodness. For being a country smaller than the state of Texas, Germany has a LOT of beautiful, swoon-worthy castles.

And not only are the castles pretty, the land surrounding them is always the lush blend of hazy mountain peaks on vivid green hilltops, against the expanse of an impossibly blue sky.

...I'm not actually obsessed. Once you see them, you'll understand me.

So, without further ado, here are my top FOUR stunners, not in any particular order (it was a hard choice.)

1. Schloss Drachenburg

Look. Just look. And faint a little.
Photo creds: www.deviantart.net

The Schloss Drachenburg (or the "Dragon Palace") is something one would expect to appear out of dreams...or folklore, that is. Legend says that Siegfried, a hero of both German and Norse mythology, slayed his dragon somewhere up in those very mountains of Rhine.Wealthy eccentrics had held parties, a Hitler school was founded there, and it has been everything from a museum to a mini war-zone.

2. Schloss Schwerin

I mean, this castle even has its own island!
Photo creds: Google Images

This little beauty rests in the area of Mecklenburg, in the reserve of parks and lakes. Built between 1845 and 1857, it (and the castle above) were built during the fervor of medieval/historic reverance. Today it serves as an art museum.

3. Burg Hohenzollern

The view. My goodness, the view.
Photo creds: Google Images

This castle has a royal history. It stands as a tribute to the House of Hohenzollern, whose existence dates back to as early as the 13th century. The Prussian king Frederick William IV was a Hohenzollern, and decided to have a castle constructed in their name. Today. it stands as a museum to the great dynasty.

And when it's foggy, this happens:

There is a castle on a cloud.....
Photo credits

4. Schloss Neuschwanstein

I have no words.
Source

There is a reason why they call this Germany's "Fairytale Castle", Surrounded by the soft, blue-ridged mountains of Bavaria, a pure, white beauty against the the lake and the green hillsides--no wonder this was the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle!

This was built under the instruction of Ludwig II, Duke of Bavaria. It was built for his throne but after two years of power, he had to give in to the Prussians. He eventually receded further and further into his own world of fantasies and fairytales, The castle holds the beautiful remains of what some call a bitter, tragic tale.

And...another one, in the winter:

Look at that! It's like it came straight out of a Christmas book!
Source

Scientific conclusion, after extensive observation: I want my own castle.

...And I'll go sing some more Les Mis now.

And wow, this post was really long.

Which is your guys' favorite? Leave answers below in the comments!


Sources:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/a-rhineland-legend-reborn-fairy-tale-comes-true-for-germany-s-dragon-castle-a-725306.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/543238/Siegfried

http://www.museum-schwerin.com/schwerin-state-museum-art-collections-castles-and-gardens/schwerin-castle/

http://www.preussen.de/en/today/hohenzollern_castle/history.html

http://www.germany.travel/en/leisure-and-recreation/palaces-parks-gardens/neuschwanstein-castle.html

I couldn't resist.

This completely made my day. I learned 10 new German insults that do not have an English equivalent.

It is awesome and mind-blowing and may or may not be a tiny bit vulgar.

Enjoy, and forgive me.

The Art of Trash

So this summer, I was in Germany for two hours.

I was in this Frankfurt airport for a layover, and in my brief cultural immersion, if you will, I noticed one stellar thing:
very precise trash cans.

The thing about trash cans was really a stark contrast between say, America and Germany. In America, trash is sort of a neglected thing; we often see weary, graffitied, misshapen bins leaning against the wall, with everything from candy wrappers to discarded coffee cups to fragments of a mushed sandwich, or even broken mirrors. In Germany, however, trash cans are a piece of delectable detail in the smooth, minimalist aestheticism of Germany.

Ha--I'm not your average tourist, am I?

There are two basic trash systems in US: Paper and cans and bottles and things you can imagine being ground up in a machine and magically reverted into its original state again go to recycle. All the other rubbish* goes in the aforementioned sad, neglected trash bin.

But here's Germany.

Dilemmas. So many dilemmas.

And the above?

The two on the left are pretty straightforward: paper and glass. The yellow one, or the Gelbetonne, is for packaging. The one on the right is Restmuüll, "the rest."

And that's only a simplified version of the trash system in Germany. Sometimes, there's another bin, called Biomüll--for the biowaste such as food scraps. There also can be a Sperrmüll, for special cases such as furniture and things like broken mirrors.

So sometimes, the trash system looks like this:

See? Even the kids take classes on it.

So what do you guys think about the trash system? Efficient and stylish? Or plain too nitpicky?

*I realize I just said rubbish, which is a very UK word. I would imagine this would be the basic system in England too.

Sources:
http://www.noordinaryhomestead.com/the-world-of-trash-in-germany/ 
http://www.aliadventures.com/2013/02/how-to-throw-out-your-garbage-in-germany/

Hans Zimmer

Many of you have grown up listening to his music.

We hum them when we're bored in class.

We cry, and sometimes laugh, at the sheer power his powerful harmonies add to the films of the greats.

From The Lion King to Pirates of the Caribbean to Inception to The Dark Knight Rises, this musical genius has left his touch on many of the movies that we hold dear. Awards and accolades have piled up at his feet, including numerous Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe awards, and he has achieved world renown for his powerful, moving movie soundtracks.

The music of Hans Zimmer always stirs up something special in me, whether I'm watching movies that he has composed for or listening to his music alone on YouTube, and I when I finally realized that he was a German composer (his last name means "room" in German), I was thrilled to blog about him.

He was born September 12th, 1957, in Frankfurt. His musical career first started in London, where he worked for a time with fellow composer and mentor Stanley Myers. His first music breakthrough came in 1988 when his soundtrack for Rain Man, an Oscar-winning film that gave Zimmer his first Academy Award. Another turning point came in 1994, when he was asked to compose the score for the Disney film, The Lion King, which won a slew of awards and secured Zimmer's reputation as a household name.

Since then, Zimmer has gone on to compose hundreds of soundtracks for dozens of award-winning movies. He is known for his innovative style of combining classical orchestral music with electronic instrumentals. He lives in Los Angeles, with his wife and four children.

I will leave you with one of my favorite Zimmer sountracks, from the movie The DaVinci Code. 

What is your favorite Zimmer sountrack? Answer in the comments below!

Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/