Coburg and schloss Rosenau 9-3-11

Oldest fachwerk house in Coburg, the Munzmeistershaus. 

tourist on train to the Veste

Inner wall of Veste

Moat

Bulgarian tower

Wall with The high house built in 14th or early 15th century as an armoury

Moat between inner and outer walls.  Moat leveled by 1838

covered wall and tower

cabinet in museum

One of many sleds in museum

Wedding carriage used once.  Had another for the 2nd marriage.

The prince's wing.  Built in late 15th century and remodeled in fachwerk in 1906-20

covered wall deviding courtyards

Main gate exit

gate that can be lowered inside main exit gate

Inner walls

Oldest stone building in Coburg.

Schloss Rosenau, summer residence of the Dukes of Saxon-Coburg-Gotha.  Prince Albert was born there.

Back of Schloss Rosenau

Fountain at schloss rosenau

Today we are going to spend the whole day in the Coburg area going to the Veste and Schloss Rosenau.  There's a little train that takes people up to the Veste if they don't drive or walk.  We took that train. 
The veste is a huge castle(135 by 260metres) on the hill over Coburg.  The way it looks now is more or less the way it looked in 1500 although there has been fortifications there since around the late 11 century. 
In the 12th century it belonged to the Dukes of Merania.  In 1353 the Veste was bequeathed to the house of Wettin.  In 1423 the title Saxony was imposed on the House of Wettin.  Coburg became the Saxon dominion within Franconia.  In 1530 Martin Luther was at the Veste for 5 months during the Diet of Augsburg.  The pope would not allow him to attend the Diet so from the Veste he played an active role in the negotiations at Augsburg.  From 1638 to 1672 the Veste belonged to the Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg.  In 1735 it was united as the Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld.  In 1826 it became the duchy of Saxe-coburg-gotha.  When the last duke abdicated in 1918 the free state of Bavaria took over the castle.  The duke lived in the castle till his death. 
Because of it's size it is hard to get a good pictue of the castle.  There are better pictures on the web or thru google Earth.  If all possible look for pics of the "Hunting Room".  The woodwork is incredible.
After going thru the Veste we got our gear and rode to Rodental and the Rosenau Castle about 10k away.  Rosenau was the summer residence of the Dukes of Saxe-coburg-Gotha.  It's situated in a beautiful park NE of Coburg.  The architecture is  Neogothic.  Prince Albert of Saxe-coburg-gotha was born at the castle in 1819.  In 1840 Albert marries Queen Victoria of England.  Oddly enough Victoria's mother is a Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld which makes Victoria Albert's cousin.   It turned out to be a happy marriage and after Albert's death she never wore anything but black.  She visited Rosenau 8 times and said she would have made it her permanent residence if she wasn't Queen of England.
After a tour thru the castle we rode thru the park and the town of Rodental and got a room at the gasthaus Grosch.  They brew their own beer on the premises.  There happened to be a wedding there and they had set up a venue nearby and had music until 3AM.