Europe Wine Adventures: More day 4

A couple footnotes to our adventure yesterday. As Amanda and I were driving along the route, we spied a castle up in the hills and, feeling adventurous, we took a diversion in search of the castle. As we wound our way up the hill we saw multiple parking spots and signs for a birding area. Turns out that was an eagle rehabilitation center. We finally arrived at a T with signs – to the right, Monkey Mountain; to the left, Haut Koenigsbourg. All my life I’ve been infatuated with monkeys, so we headed right, not knowing what to expect.

Monkey Mountain turns out to be a chimpanzee sanctuary. They have a large wooded area, surrounded by a fence, where multiple chimp families live and thrive. They eventually reintroduce these into the wilds of Africa and also use the area for behavioral research. Upon entry, they provide you with a small handful of popcorn and instruct you how to feed them and not to touch them… they take it as a sign of aggression.

Unfortunately, I can’t download the pictures I took until I get home. But, needless to say, it was very cool. The monkey’s are completely uninterested in humans – sometimes they’d eat, other times they’d care less. But, they were all over and we were able to observe babies, teenagers playing, moms and dads protecting their family… it was a very neat experience.

Then, upon departing, we went to the castle. The castle had originally been built in the 12th century but was in ruins. In 1900, the Germans commissioned a massive restoration project that took 8 years and completely restored it so that now it is a museum. We got some incredible views and it is impressive to be able to walk through living history. I took some good pictures of the armory to show my boys, as well.

Here are a couple pics of the castle and the cute little town we’re staying in.