THE NEW GRISWALDS DISCOVER CASTLES

Entrance to Kyburg Castle

Kay in the Kitchen (it would be hard to cook and keep this one clean)

Kitchen Oven with handmade picture tiles (each tells a story)

John in the torture chamber with "Iron Maiden". Spears/Spikes inside

Forest drive up mountain to Schloss Kyburg (Castle)
Wooden covered 1 lane bridge over Toss River

Schloss Kyburg (Castle) Winterthur Switzerland
My knight in shining armour (the one with glasses on)

May 1 is a European Holiday (May Day) and they take their holidays serious. There was nothing open - not even restaurants. We decided to discover castles right here in Winterthur. We found out there were 4 castles right here under our nose. The first was SCHLOSS KYBURG. Oh , somebody forgot to tell me that castles are usually way up on top of mountains. We drove straight up the mountain and some places were drop offs on both sides. The view on the way up there was absolutely gorgeous and everything has turned so green since we arrived here 5 weeks ago. We drove through a beautiful forest and came up on an old wooden covered bridge that crossed the Toss River. Now I am talking, it was scary, but I had to see this bridge. It was one lane and even had a wooden floor. When we finally got to the top of the mountain there was a problem- no parking places. We had to drive on the other side of the mountain to park then walk back around to the castle. It was worth it because I have never seen anything like this before. Can you imagine this old castle was built in 10th century. We just kept going up stairs and through huge rooms. If I lived in there, I would never find my way around. There were little sections cut out of wall at the end of the rooms called the chat room (if it didn't have a door) and a secret room (if it did have a door) It had a washbowl in there. It was smaller than a tiny closet. Well, there you go, I found another kind of bathroom here. In the dining room the table was set and the Mother and Father got a spoon, fork and knife each. The boys got a knife and fork. The girls only got a knife. Now that is discrimination I'm telling you. We went to the basement and it was the torture chamber with this big iron thing called "Iron Maiden". They put people in it and shut it but it was full of spears and spikes all around it. In one of the upper rooms was a long table and funny looking chairs around and up above it. That was the court of justice room where the nobles and landvogts tried prisoners. The view was beautiful from the top of the high tower where the cannons sat. I was really prepared. Tried to get some really good pictures toward the end of the tour and my camera would not work. I saw on the screen that my disc was full. I had used a whole 1mb . I was so mad. We still have more castles to go to and no room left on my camera. Everything is closed today and nowhere to buy another one. We were going to stay up there on the mountain at a nice restaurant we found was open. They served fondue. Now, everyone knows how much we love to fondue and duh! fondue comes from Switzerland. We checked the bill of lading and I saw the price and said "no way". Then John S. got mad because I would not spend $45 each to fondue. Now we are both mad and still a whole day to go. Not a word was said on the way down the mountain. We came back to the condo and ate a sandwich then left to go to another castle. I just erased some pictures that didn't really mean much so I would have enough memory to get some pictures at the next castle , that is, if we get over our mad mood. I should have left him in the torture chamber and I would have, but I wasn't going to drive down that mountain by myself.