#lost frequency

I specifically wanted to visit Hohenzollern castle which is around 2 hours from Stuttgart with a train. This is how the whole trip turned out to be:

Night 1

After work, I took a train to Stuttgart from Frankfurt. It takes around 2 hours to reach Stuttgart. I started around 18:00 after work and was already at Stuttgart around 19:40 with an IC train (Intercity) which is as not fast as ICE (Intercity Express) but the tickets are much cheaper than ICE. The public transport and the train network in Germany is ridiculously good. I can sympathize with my fellow Americans where without a car you can’t usually travel to other places that easily. At least that’s what my sister tells me, who lives in Indianapolis.

I visited my friend in Stuttgart and went out to have our dinner. Even though I am trying for a low/no carb diet at night, I ended up having an amazing noodle broth in a Chinese restaurant nearby known as Sichuan.

  It tasted good and my guilt of eating carbs at night subdued.

Day 2 (Morning)

Today I wanted to visit Hohenzollern castle.  I took a Stuttgart Metropolis ticket which was the best and cheapest option to get to this castle along with my friend. This ticket costs 21 euros and addition persons need to pay only 6 euros. We took the train around 08:30, reached Tübingen around 09:30 am and then from there we changed to another train which took around 20 min to take us to Hechingen. This is the train station closest to the castle.

Now this is where things got a bit interesting. The bus which takes you to the castle starts around 09:25. If you miss this then the next one is around 2 hours later. We didn’t feel like waiting for the next bus since there was nothing to do in Hechingen. It is a very small village and all you can do is roam around the streets.

We found a subway restaurant not far from the bahnhof (Train Station). I was reluctant to eat in McDonalds or any other similar fast food restaurant. But since the subway was closed, I decided to eat something at the nearby Bäckerei (Backery). An amazing Schnitzel Brötchen (Bread Roll). Schnitzel for me is the best German invention ever. Better than the cars they make or the football players they produce. Ok maybe they have amazing football players too even though they got knocked out of world cup embarrassingly by S.Korea.

Anyway, I decided to spontaneously hike to this castle instead of waiting for the bus. It was around 6kms from the train station thus it was not even a long hike. And I would recommend this hike because you go through the beautiful country side of the Hessen region.

Outside the Castle

And the whole scenery is amazing along with the whole hike through the mountain. The path shown is the one which we took which went through gorgeous fields and through the mountain. We could already see the castle from this path.

As we got closer to the mountain the view was just getting better and better. It might not be as breathtaking as Neuschwanstein castle, but it had its own charm. From the top of the castle you can view the entire village.

Inside the Castle

After spending some time outside the castle, we had to wait for the entry inside. I am really not fond of architectural stuff, but my friend forced me to go inside with him.

https://diariodoindiano.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/VID_20180623_115533.mp4

I just sat around listening to an old man talk about the entire castle while I was talking to a German kid who seemed to be fascinated by my skin color.

We came out and had some food in the restaurant which is part of the castle. The atmosphere was nice, and the weather was amazing. By the time we finished it was already 17:00 in the evening. In addition, I wanted to get back to Stuttgart earlier because I did not want to miss the PSG match against Saint-Etienne. I follow most of the PSG matches but also nowadays I am following Tottenham, Barcelona and Bayern matches. Champions League is starting soon, and I am quite excited for it.

DAY 3

I visited first the Grabkapelle auf dem Württemberg (Shrine on the Württemberg) or mausoleum in Württemberg. It was a bit away from the city and the location looked beautiful. The slanting fields in Hessen are famous for wine cultivation and I guess the pic might be actually that of a vineyard. We looked around this place and spend some time here.

Apparently, the memorial was built for wife of king William 1 (I think that’s what I remember. If I am wrong don’t jump on me).

https://diariodoindiano.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/VID_20180624_131549.mp4

After that we had an ice cream in the good weather and returned to the center. Next, we took a bus and reached the place nearby the Neckar river. We walked around and reached the Mercedes Benz museum. Besides, I had already been there once so did not go inside. But I would recommend it. I still think the BMW museum in Munich is better than this one though. If you are in Stuttgart I would definitely recommend Ludwigsburg park and the surrounding since it is very beautiful and maybe a bit romantic.

The evening we spent drinking beer nearby a BierGarten (Beer Garden) and enjoying the last few days of summer sunshine. As they say, Winter is fast approaching and is here.

As it got colder we went to a bar nearby the center and had few drinks. We watched the Real Madrid match against Athletic club which was quite close and scary. Overall a great day and it was fun, and we called it a day.

Day 4 (Departure)

Sunday, we had a small barbeque. Later in the evening I returned back to Frankfurt. Learned guitar, some Portuguese and relaxed at home.

In two weeks I will be in Croatia for a longer vacation and hopefully until then burn all those calories I gained during this trip. I would recommend Hohenzollern castle for those who are planning to visit Stuttgart considering the city itself doesn’t offer much to see and visit.

Overall Rating

Here is my rating for Hohenzollern Castle and Stuttgart Region :

your lost frequency is dancing in my ear 

sweet lullaby screams of children playing far away 

dancing the waltz across my strained bloodshot eyes

symphony lifting my heart to another place

ragged heavy hard shallow lovely days

your lost frequency inside my brain 

fingertips melting away 

trying to grasp something that was never there 

softly softly gentle piano 

tip tapping across my skull