Some months ago I read an article in a local newspaper online about the hidden gardens of the Grand Hotel Karel V in Utrecht. I totally forgot about it, until I passed the place during my latest visit to the city. I was quite curious, so I decided to have a look. The gardens were […]
Last weekend my parents took me to a place I hadn’t been anymore for nearly 30 years, but which we visited several times when I was a child. A place with a royal history. We have to go back to the year 1676 when Albertine Agnes – daughter of Frederik Prince of Orange and his […]
A few years ago when I visited Saxony I had some time left one afternoon and decided to pay a visit to a castle called Schloss Wackerbarth – also known in the past as Wackerbarth’s Ruh – in Radebeul. I never got into the castle, but I did enjoy my visit anyway, despite of the […]
Last week Winter visited the Netherlands. Temperature just around 0°C during the day, and just below at night here in the north of the country. Some snow, mainly wet, thus slippery roads in the night and early morning. It must have been somewhat colder in the middle part of the country, as they had more […]
Early May I spent some days in London, Great Britain. I met with one of my royalty friends on one of these days for a visit to Hever Castle and Penshurst Place. Unfortunately we had really British weather. In between the rain showers however we even managed to see the gardens. Hever Castle in Hever, […]
In Germany, just about three kilometres across the Dutch border the Fürsten zu Salm-Salm have their main residence: Wasserburg Anholt (moated castle). For years this castle has been on my list of castles I once wanted to visit. Some weeks ago I had another look how to get there. Well, you either go by train […]
Palace of Herrenhausen
If you ever visit Hannover you shouldn’t miss the Herrenhäuser Gärten, especially not in the Spring and Summer. The place where Prince Ernst August von Hannover Jr and Ekaterina Malysheva today will hold a reception after their wedding in the Marktkirche in Hannover is a beautiful place. I have no idea where in the gardens […]
This year we are commemorating the 20th death anniversary of Diana, Princess of Wales. At the Kensington Palace in London you can’t only see an exhibition with some of her iconic dresses (more about that later), but there is also a new temporary garden in the grounds of the palace, dedicated to Diana. The gardeners […]
My first foreign castle visit took place in July 1984. During our vacation on a camping in Hardenberg, The Netherlands, we for the first time really crossed the border. A very special event for us. In April we had been in Weerselo for a few days celebrating my parents 12 1/2 wedding anniversary and couldn’t […]
Some royal mausoleums are open regularly, some once in a while and others are never open. The Welfenmausoleum in the Berggarten of Hannover, opposite the Herrenhausen Palace, used to be open in the past. But who would like to visit it now, will hear it is not open. Really a pity for people like me […]
