Durnstein, Austria

 On our way home from Vienna we stopped in Durnstein. It is an adorable walled village that is known for having the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned after the failed crusade.

 It was raining but they were troopers.

 "Mom why are we doing this again?" 

"Because I want too"

 There is an old way up the hill and a new way. We opted for the old way because it was closer to where we parked but it included a lot of stairs.

Kevin is telling her that she better not fall off that rock. What responsible parents we are.

Then Scott's boot kept falling off and we would know because he would start yelling "shoe, shoe, shoe" and pointing to his foot. He is so smart!

 There it is! Almost to the top.

 Maddy and King Richard

Okay so we did not make it to the absolute top but we made it far enough. We went the new way down the hill and it was a nice path with plaques and pictures and maps that explained everything. I just focused on not falling or dropping Scott or the camera. Then half way down it started raining again and then got so windy it blew Kevin's umbrella the wrong way. We made it back to the car though and it was a fun adventure.

So here is the abbrevated version of why Richard was imprisoned: He was traveling home from the 3rd crusade and his boat was shipwrecked so he had to travel through mainland Europe. Outside of Vienna he was captured by Leopold V, duke of Austria, who was mad at Richard for supposedly arranging his cousins murder and because Richard has offended him during the crusade. So in 1193 he was kept at the castle as a prisoner. It was against church policy to imprison a crusader so Leopold was excommunicated by the pope. Richard was then given to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI who wanted money and decided to hold him for ransom. So the pope also excommunicated Henry. England paid the ransom which was 65,000 pounds of silver (or 2 billion pounds by today's standards) and he was released!