Brom goes royal

Coocoo

Our last full day in Germany and Mara decided to take it easy. No point in driving all over the place seeing this and doing that she said. It was after all a holiday! But she did want to do something so she got some ideas from some cards about what there was to do in the neighbourhood. 

She asked me what I wanted to do and my choice was easy: Schloss Bad Arolsen. A castle. I love castles you know. So, we got to the car and Mara drove for a bit and then a bit longer and then she didn't listen to the lady telling her where to go and then we had to do a U-turn and then we finally found a parking place. 

I wonder what was in this chest

We had ended up in a lovely town called Bad Arolsen, with plenty of old buildings and hardly any people. In the courtyard of the castle there were some cars and some people: a wedding party, but they soon disappeared inside. We got our ticket to a guided tour, including the right to take photos inside (Mara had to pay for that). 

First however, there was some time left to go get a tea and some Apfelstrudel. Which was really nice. When Mara wanted to pay, she couldn't even pay contactless! Only from an amount over 15 euros! In this time with Corona and stuff, I felt that was really stupid but fortunately Mara had some money in her purse, so could pay and didn't need to do the dishes. 

The tour finally started and our guide knew a lot. She told us about the family and how they came to be royal. And once they were royal they needed a place to live that fit royalty, so they built this Schloss. We started in the ballroom with beautiful chandeliers (original) and some costumes that were used by the family to make their own entertainment.

She told us all about who painted what painting, gave us more information about the family and then we moved upstairs. Where we had to put on slippers to protect the original wooden floors. They were very slippery, which made me think they might also be used to clean the floors?

One of the many beautifully decorated heating stoves

There was beautiful furniture which Mara loved and then there was a room that was used by a lady called Emma. She was the third of four daughters and after both her elder sisters had turned the old gentleman down, she said yes. He was after all the King of the Netherlands! He was in his sixties, she was 21. 

They married at the castle and then she moved with her new husband. They had one daughter: Wilhelmina who in turn had one daughter: Juliana who had four daughters including Beatrix who had three sons including our current King Willem Alexander who has three daughters including Crown Princess Amalia. 

The best room in the house though was the room next to Emma's room. It was a child's play room and there were toys everywhere. Dolls and trains and all sorts. I wouldn't have minded staying there a bit, but we had to move on as the guided tour was nearly over. 

The family still live in the house although they don't own it anymore (the state or province or some such do), but they get the right to use. And one of the things they still use is the cradle that was in the nursery or child's play room. 

After the tour had ended we made our way outside to take a walk through the little town and perhaps a bit to eat. But it being Saturday most was already closed and some had never opened at all. So, instead we went back to the car and got our dinner somewhere else before heading back to the hotel. It was a lovely visit.