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*Chapter 40*
Castellated

 
 
We had a look in a couple of grockle shops but unless you want Ansichtskarte, schnapps glasses or tea towels there wasn’t much of interest to teenagers of any persuasion. Dad on the other hand left with a couple of books – I didn’t want to ask too much, he might get the idea that I was interested. We headed back to the main square where, yep, you guessed it; Dad spotted a board directing us to the ‘Daniel Turm’.

“Fancy a look?” he proposed.

“What is it, Dave?” Gran enquired.

“I’m guessing, the tower,” he indicated the church’s tall appendage.

“What? Go up it?” Mand qualified.

“Really?” I added.

“Oh come on, you’ve neither of you done much riding over Christmas, it’s only a few steps.”

“Well I’m game, “Gran told us.

What can you do, I’m not being shown up by an old lady!

“How much further?” I puffed, pausing to catch my breath before tackling the next set of steep wooden steps.

It had started off okay, wide stone steps taking us up but then we moved into the tower proper and the almost random arrangement of timbers took us through level upon level. It felt like we’d been climbing for hours.

“We’re at level seven,” Dad called back down.

Thank God!

I climbed up as quickly as my little legs would allow emerging into a surprisingly large area where I was surprised to find a sort of shop and a sign for a toilet. It turns out that this is where you pay, it’s not the absolute top but it’s as far as you get for free. Dad paid, I explored the toilet then we reconvened to make the final assault.

The last ten metres of climbing eventually threw us out onto a balcony high above the town.

“Some view,” Mand allowed.

“Looks a lot more than seventy metres to the ground,” I mentioned after peeking over the parapet.
Whilst cold, the afternoon was ending on a clear, sunny note and the views were impressive.

“Glad you came?” Gran asked after taking a snap of Mand and me.

“Glad might be a bit strong.”

“It’s amazing eh?” Dad suggested.

“What is?” I queried.

“This,” he indicated the vista, “we’re sat smack in the middle of a meteor crater.”

“Really?” Mand asked.

“It’s called the Ries,” Dad informed us.

“Ah, so that’s what was on those posters.” The penny finally dropped.

“Didn’t we come past that big hill over there?” Gran suggested, pointing westwards.

“There’s a hillfort on the top, Ipf or something like that.”

“How do you know all this, Mr Bond?” Mand asked.

“He bought a book,” I supplied.

“I did but I did a bit of research when I found out where we were coming.”

We made a circuit of the balcony then it was time to return to the ground. I swear, going down was no quicker than climbing up, you certainly couldn’t rush; the steps were too big and steep. By the time we emerged back into the square the light was starting to fade and my legs were like rubber.

The walk back to the bus wasn’t a long way, lengthened by a trip into Pennymarkt for some Haribo.

“You were a long time,” Mum accused as we clambered in.

“We went up the tower,” Gran supplied pulling the seatbelt around herself.

“The view was stunning,” Dad added.

“And no doubt cold,” Jules mentioned.

“So you two just sat here?”

“We had a walk over to the Bahnhof and got a coffee,” Mum told us.

Dang! I knew we should’ve done that.

It wasn’t far at all from Nordlingen to our destination but the light had faded and it was pitch black as we approached Harburg.

“That it?” Mand asked.

“Where?” I leant over to look out of her window.

“Reckon so,” Dad allowed.

Well it wasn’t the best view but high above us the schloss was lit by floodlights, whoa!

We turned off the main road and a newish road took us up towards the citadel remarkably easily before we turned off to make our entrance. The Duke had given Dad precise instructions but I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who doubted the narrow roadway we turned into was correct. By tummy was doing tricks – excitement I guess, I mean, staying in a castle!

Dad swung the bus through an archway, the roadway climbed more steeply then we were through another gate and into a fairly big courtyard. Like the outside, the courtyard, and the buildings around it were lit by spots, this is something out of – well a fairytale I guess. Pater headed across the space to where a couple of cars were already parked.

“Gaby!”

“Soph!”

Okay, I can get a bit mushy if I like. Anyhow my friend insisted on a good hug before I could get inside the building.

“Glad you could make it,” Duke Ludwig told us.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Dad replied.

“My pleasure, come on in and we can do the introductions in the warm!”

With Sophia hanging on my arm I followed the Duke further into the residence and into a surprisingly homely room with an open fire crackling away at one end. Me and the rents, have of course, met the Duchess, Marianne that is, before but Soph’s sister Serephena, call me Sara, was a new acquaintance. Dad reciprocated on the introductions at which point Ludwig suggested we get settled in before dinner.

The sleeping arrangements had become slightly more complicated with Manda’s return; she was sharing with Jules instead of me, which put me…

“Just like Bonn!” my roomy enthused.

“Er yeah.”

Maybe too much like Bonn, we’d be sharing an admittedly large bed, but what a bed. We are talking four-poster, drapes – the whole nine yards, this is the real McCoy not something from Ikea!

“The bathroom is through there, the shower can be a bit temperamental, do you need a hand unpacking?”

“Think I can manage if you tell me where to put stuff.”

“Use the right hand of the dresser, we can share the wardrobe.”

“Kay,” I allowed.

“I’ll leave you to it, come down when you’re ready.”

“Do we dress for dinner?”

“Don’t be daft, Gabs, it’s just family tonight.”

Phew! I mean I’ve got an extra frock but I’m not sure the others have.

Soph was right about the shower, I gave up and ran a bath instead. I’m sure the tub is nearly as old as the castle, it’s one of those free standing things you see in museums and stately homes – well I guess Harburg counts on that level. The water was hot and I probably dropped off for a bit but I felt a lot better and relaxed by the time I returned to the bedroom.

I didn’t bring a lot of stuff so unpacking took moments, well maybe not moments but not long. Dressed I did a quick job of hair and added the bare minimum of slap and set off for the lounge two floors below.

“There you are,” Soph mentioned meeting me on the first flight of stairs.

“Yep, it’s me.”

“We thought you were asleep, everyone else is down and dinner’s ready.”

Bum – no wonder the water was cold when I woke up.

“Did you get a shower?”

“I gave up and had a bath.”

“Ah,” she allowed.

We bypassed the lounge and instead went into a room a little further on where everyone else was already seated.

“Ah, here she is,” the Duke announced, “come on, girls, I’m hungry.”

Back in Stuttgart in the summer the Duchess did the cooking, I sort of thought she’d do it here too. Well duh! They have staff here, well a cook and helper at least. It was a bit weird having dinner served in a domestic rather than a restaurant situation, the Taxis however seemed perfectly at home with it.

Dinner wasn’t anything special – that will be tomorrow, no it wasn’t schnitzel but pork medallions do feature regularly at home. Whilst we are the only houseguests tonight there will be more tomorrow although, so Marianne told us, they are all family friends. Where does that leave the Bond clan I wonder?

“Do you stay here a lot?” Mand asked.

After eating everyone had returned to the lounge, adults at one end, the rest of us half watching the TV at the other.

“Hardly ever,” Soph admitted.

“Mama and Papa come more often,” Sara told us.

“So what happens here the rest of the time?” I asked.

“The public come to visit, its popular for weddings and parties of course,” Sara advised.

“We’ll have to give you the tour tomorrow,” Soph suggested.

“Sure,” I agreed.

There was certainly no doubting that Sara and Sophia were sisters and further, they shared their mother’s features. One good thing was that Mand has come out of her fugue – maybe she’ll tell me what went off in England at some point. Anyway we did what girls do until my sister started snoring, it was after eleven and I must admit, even having had a power nap in the bath I was feeling a bit dopey too.

“See you in the morning,” Mand proposed.

“Nite.”

“Ciao!”

“Come on, Gab, hopefully Marta put the bed blanket on otherwise it’ll be freezing.”

“Marta?”

“The housekeeper, you don’t think this place looks after itself?”

“Er no.”

Marta hadn’t visited our room; the bed was cold, the radiators struggling to keep the room in double figures.

Maddy Bell 18.03.16