An Afternoon In History

We found out that in Germany most everything closes down on Sunday. However, that doesn't mean there's nothing to do. The first Sunday we were there, we spent afternoon seeing the historic city of Landshut.The historic look of the city is maintained so well do to the celebration of the Landshut Wedding every four years. In German it would be called Landshuter Hochzeit. This celebration and reenactment is to commemorate the marriage of 1475 wedding of The Duke of Landshut's son, George, to the Polish King's daughter, Hedwig Jagiellon.
From the city's center you could see Trausnitz Castle. The view was marvelous no matter what direction you turned.


All of the main section of the city is required to maintain the outer shell of the buildings so that the historic look remains. Every four years in preparation for the wedding, the buildings get a fresh coat of paint and any needed repairs.


I do not remember what this building was. There were just too many things to remember it all. It was just too beautiful not to share.


I'm sure we've all seen the cobble stone that is bricks laid in a pretty pattern. This is a much older type of cobble stone made of actual stones. It's just so beautiful. I now want all my pathways through my herb garden (the one I don't have yet) to be like this.


Now back to the castle. As I stated earlier, most everything is closed in Germany on Sunday. So when we made the trek up that steep hill to see the castle we were fully expecting to just take pictures of the outside portions. We were pleasantly surprised to find a tour available when we got to the top.


Now my husband is very tall. 6 foot 5 inches tall to be exact. The castle was built in the 13th century. The average height of a man was much shorter then than it is now. So that really makes doors short for a man of above average height today.


Here is a view of Landshut from the outer walls. The tall tower you see is St. Martin's Cathedral that I showed you in my previous post.


And here you can see the inner court yard of the castle. If my memory serves, we were told that only the Duke was allowed to ride his horse into the inner court yard.


The outer walls of a castle were usually considered a castles first and main defense. Here you can see the path way between the outer wall (on the left) and the inner wall. The inner wall provides one more layer of defense to protect the castle in case the fortifications the outer wall were breached.

Even though we weren't here for the wedding there was plenty to see and enjoy in Landshut. I'm glad that we visited on a Sunday when the shops were closed. I think if the shops had been open I would have been too distracted by them to really take in the beauty around me.