Hernen Castle, Gelderland Province

The original idea was to visit this castle yesterday and Aachen today, but the weather has a way of scrambling plans.  Some housework first, and some office work (unbelievable but true), and then off I went mid-afternoon.  I actually wanted to look around Nijmegen, almost near the German border, but then, when I googled the area, I spotted this place and so that was decided almost last-minute.

As it turns out, Hernen Castle is one of the handful of old estates that never experienced a fire, never got hit by cannon, never got involved in any war or battle or skirmish, and so stayed very much itself without needing any extensive repair except for the inevitable damage caused by the passage of time.  When I arrived, the staff were busy setting up a medieval banquet.  The castle can be rented for this purpose by anyone and a family had reserved the entire estate for the evening (I didn't ask for more details about why and how), complete with live medieval music.  It would have been a pleasant thing to have been able to hang around, but of course I wasn't invited.

After that, back home to a relaxing evening.  AW and I really enjoy our new place and we're feeling content.  Finished The Forty Rules of Love and looking forward to reading the next book I have written by Elif Shafak, which is The Three Faces of Eve.