Schloss Marienburg

On weekends, we try to make the most of our life in Germany and see as many sites as we can. In early March, we went to see a beautiful castle, Schloss Marienburg that is very close to our home in Hildesheim. It is only about 10 miles away from our town. It was a summer residence of the royal family of Hanover. It was once given as a birthday present by King George V of Hanover (reigned 1851–1866) to his wife, Marie. The house of Hanover ruled over the area as well as Great Britian in the 1700s.

We didn't tell Ainsley where we were going. We had been told that the drive up to the castle is magnificent. It is high up on a hill and you get an excellent view of it as you drive on the road in the valley. When we get closer, we told Ainsley to look at the window. We kept asking, "What is that? Where are we going?" When she finally saw the castle, she got pretty excited. We told her it was a real-live castle where real princesses used to live. She couldn't wait to go inside.

This is the view of the castles as you drive up the road from Hildesheim. It is gorgeous but can't wait for it to be greener!

It still serves as the official seat of the royal house of Hanover but parts of it are open to the public. We went on a tour of the interior but unfortunately they did not allow pictures inside. The tour was given in German, but luckily they had an English audio guide for us to listen. We saw main hallway, dining room, the Queen's parlor and sitting rooms, the Queens apartments and library, the two young Princesses apartments, the chapel, and the kitchen. We were amazed by the intricate woodwork of the bookcases in the library. When asked what her favorite part of the castle was, Ainsley replied, "The kitchen." I guess she is more of a Cinderella princess.We could have paid a little more and gone up to the top of the tower. It would have a great view of the valley. But since the trees are so bare, we decided to come back when it was a little greener. It's so close, we can come by anytime.

Ainsley took all of the following pictures while we waited for our tour:
Daddy loves to take panorama pictures with his iphone-one day I'll do a blog post with all the ones he has taken. He's got some good ones.