Kastl, Germany

Last month Hyrum was at a training exercise two hours south of Vilseck.  On their drive home they passed through a town called Kastle, and he kept telling me we should drive the 40 minutes back there to check it out.  Last weekend we did some exploring.

I checked Wikipedia beforehand to see what to expect, and it seemed like the main attraction was Kastl Abbey--a monastery up on the hillside.  I'm not sure if you can call it a main attraction even; this was a small town, and the only people we saw while exploring were some local Germans eating outside a restaurant.

We started in the main square, where Tiago entertained himself with this fountain.  (I'm guessing they put this pole up for May Day.)  Then we found a small road to walk up to the monastery.  Of course I mentioned the possibility of driving, but Hyrum is super ambitious and offered to push the stroller so I just walked alongside.  It was a workout! But it was worth it for the beautiful view at the top.

If you look close, there's a cute little boy along the wall!

The monastery dates back to 1105.  There were a few buildings up there to walk around, and the church doors were open so we checked out the inside.

Wikipedia mentioned that a princess died at the monastery at age 3 (back in the 1300's) and her body was entombed there.  Later they mummified her and put up a shrine at the entrance.  And it reported that recently they put the body back in the tomb and had a picture on display in stead.  But... when I walked in I thought, "That's no picture of Princess Anna!  I'm pretty sure that's her."  Kind of gross.  I would have preferred a picture.

The way down was a little easier.

The surroundings reminded me a bit of the Inca Train in Peru, with livestock wandering around on rocky drop-offs and houses nestled into the valley.  [The white dots in the middle are sheep/goats --can't tell the difference]