Near Konigstein, Germany south of Dresden is an area with high mesas like Arizona and Utah. The Swiss call it "Saxon Switzerland" because it reminds them of their native land. On top of one of these mesas is a fort called Konigstein because of the town nearby. It is almost fifty feet high, never conquered in eight hundred years. Only one man is known to have climbed it's fissures to reach the top. An eighteen year old chimney sweep named Sebastian Abratsky in 1848. He had no money to pay for a tour so he decided to make the climb. On reaching the top he was imprisoned for twelve days.
An observation I have made, it that the largest room in a castle is its beer keller. If a king failed to pay his solders in beer, wine and food, they would leave to fight for another king.) That is why I marveled at the size of this beer barrel which is over 30 ft high. It was built in 1725 and held a whopping 238,000 liters. It was filled only twice and was dismantled in less than a hundred years.
On his way to Russia, Napoleon liked the fortress so much that he proposed building a twin fortress on the mesa across the Elbe River so that he could control all movements through the valley on the river or land. That never happened. In 1675 Heinrich Von Grunau, one of the kings pages, drank too much wine. Seeking a place to sleep it off, he slipped through a loophole and found a window ledge (he thought) laid down and fell asleep. Soldiers found him the next morning on the ledge outside the walls, fifty feet above the ground. The King had ropes tied around him to protect him from falling, called for his military band and told them to play their horns and beat their drums as loud as possible. The page upon hearing the noise, immediately awoke, paralyzed with fear to see how foolish he had been. The King and his guests were quite amused.
upon entering this fortress you are awestruck but the hugeness of it all. The only way we were able to get on top was by elevator. Nancy said if you had a fear of heights, no way would you go up as it was all made of glass. We took a tour around the entire fortress and there were lookout towers at every angle of the mountain. The landscape was so inspiring and they actually carved out the mountain to use it as the foundation for the walls. I wanted to stay here forever. I had to leave Sister Walters to have a snack as I continued the walk. This is a must see for anyone coming to Germany.
This was the end of our day and we did not get home until 2:00 AM. We are old people, what were we thinking?
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