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Today, my friend's son was having his second birthday party in Heidelberg. We went and had a fun time playing with the boys, jumping in the bouncy house, and eating cake. We had to leave a little early though because they cranky and it was past nap time. As soon as we got in the car, both of them passed out. About a half an hour later they woke up and didn't want to be in the car anymore. Lucky for us there was a castle nearby to make a pit stop.
Schloss Aurbach was built as a stronghold for securing the possessions of the Southern Katzenelnbogen dynasty, including the duties (tolls) collected from travelers using the well-known North-South trading route along the Roman 'mountain road' (Bergstrasse in German). The first mention of the town of Aurbach was in 784 A.D. Experts think that construction of the current castle began around 1222 by order of earl Diether IV von Katzenelnbogen, at the site of the original castle The castle lost much of its strategic importance during the 16th Century until, by the time of the Thirty Years Wary, it was no longer in military use.In 1674 during the Franco Dutch War the castle was conquered and set on fire by an army, killing the local people who had sought protection within the ruin's walls. The abandoned castle became a ruin over the next few hundred years. Today there is a restaurant inside and it also hosts Knight's Tournaments and dinner event (which they were having while we were there - we totally crashed a castle party).
When we got in the car the boys had so much energy that we decided to visit the neighboring Alsbach Castle before heading the rest of the way home. Schloss Alsbach, formerly Schloss Bickenbach was a fortress castle. It was built by the Lords of Bickenbach in the 1200's. I can't find much information on it and what I do find is in German. Through rough translating I know that it was once owned by six people. It was robbed and burned. At one point it was owned by the Count of Diez in the 1500's (yes, the same Diez where my family is from). It eventually fell into disrepair and is now in ruin, however, there is still a beer garden in the castle.
We were practically the only people at the castle, so the boys had a great time running around this one.
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