Cora’s Adventures at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe Holiday Event in Hanau, Part 2: The Con as well as Hanau and Langenselbold

Following some holiday interruptions, I return to my adventure at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe holiday event in Hanau, which I attended on the third advent weekend. For the long trip to get there, see this post.

Into Eternia

The Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe holiday event took place in a business and retail park on the outskirts of Hanau, so getting there would have been an issue, had I decided to take the train, since the train station is in the city center, so I would have to find a bus – in a city I’m not familiar with.

I had programmed my GPS for the address of the con venue, but as I was about to drive into the target street, as Else my GPS always phrases it, I spotted a mannequin dressed like an Eternian Royal Guard pointing the way to the parking lot of some adjacent business – I think it was a garage – which was closed for the weekend and had a bigger parking lot than the actual venue.

Mannequin dressed as an Eternian Royal Guard pointing to a traffic lot.

The Eternian Royal Guard has been deployed for traffic control. I wonder about those boots though. Did this particular guard take a detour through the tar swamps?

The venue itself turned out to be a paintball arena called Color Area. It has hosted Masters of the Universe events before such as the Los Amigos convention before it moved to Neuss, because the owner is a fan.

The premises were festively decorated with a Masters of the Universe theme. I’m not sure which of the decorations were part of the regular interior and which had been specifically set up for the holiday event, but whole thing looked good – especially considering the place normally operates as a paintball arena.

Once I got my ticket, I found myself in the outdoor part of the venue, where a stall selling sausages – charmingly named “Grill-at-Arms” – and a stall selling hot beverages ranging from coffee and tea to mulled wine and alcohol-free holiday punch, basically mulled fruit juice, had been set up. There were also a few tables and seating and outdoor heaters, since it was pretty cold, barely above freezing.

Church of Eternia entrance area.

The area just outside the venue. Note the Castle Grayskull entrance and the Spider-Man mural.

Grill-at-Arms

I have to admit I chuckled at “Grill-at-Arms”, though it makes total sense that Duncan would be the Eternian barbecue master. I now also want to find an action figure sized grill for him.

The outdoor patio with the grill and some tables and seating are a regular part of the venue according to the website and were not just set up for the con. The idea is that people can relax and grill some burgers and sausages after a round of paintball.

Because I had gotten up very early in the morning, was exhausted from driving and the coffee I’d had in Kirchheim had worn off by now, I went to the drinks stall and got myself another coffee. I wouldn’t have minded mulled wine at all, but I still had to drive to my hotel later, so coffee it was.

After I finished my coffee I ventured inside through an entrance way shaped like Castle Grayskull wearing a Santa hat. Next to the entrance, there was also a Sky Sled replica driven by a mannequin in a Santa outfit wearing a Skeletor mask.

Castle Grayskull entrance way at the Church of Eternia con

Castle Grayskull is decked out festively.

Santa Skeletor on his Sky Sled

“You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout, I’m telling you why. Santa Skeletor is coming to town.”

In the entrance area, there was a Christmas tree as well as a beautiful diorama of the throne room from the 1987 live action movie, staffed with a mix of Masterverse and Classics movie figures as well as custom versions of characters that never had an action figure in their movie forms such as the Sorceress, Man-at-Arms, Teela and Detective Lubic.

Masters of the Universe movie diorama front view

Front view of the Castle Grayskull throne room diorama from the 1987 live action movie. There’s even a camera operator included.

1987 Masters of the Universe movie diorama

Side view of the Castle Grayskull throne room diorama from the 1987 live action movie. This inspired me to get myself a Classics Karg, especially since he’s fairly affordable. I also hope that Mattel eventually makes the missing movie characters in the Masterverse line.

Batman Rocks

The next room after the entrance area housed a stall selling seasonal sweets and candy, a human-sized Road Ripper replica as well as tombola. The tombola was intended as a sort of fundraiser for the event. The prizes had been donated by various vendors and every ticket was supposed to win you something.

Tombola at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe holiday event.

The tombola at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe holiday event. Note the Man-e-Faces banner and the relief of the Central Tower of the Eternia playset in the background.

I purchased a ticket, opened the little plastic ball and found a piece of paper inside which said, “Batman guitar”.  I handed the paper to the tombola attendant and said, a tad puzzled, “Apparently, I won a Batman guitar.”

Well, it turns out that what I won was not a Batman guitar but a McFarlane Toys Batman action figure with a guitar.

McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Batman action figure with guitar

And here is the Batman action figure I won photographed on my kitchen table at home.

Why does Batman, a character not normally known for his musical abilities, have a guitar? I guess only Todd McFarlane knows for sure. Though this is a very cool Batman figure. I couldn’t find this particular figure on Amazon, but a quick look shows that McFarlane Batman figures normally go for around 30 Euros, which is a lot more than I paid for the ticket.

As for why Batman has a guitar, personally I believe that Bruce Wayne occasionally feels the need to play a few chords and belt out songs to relax. Alfred isn’t overly impressed by Bruce’s musical skills, but knows that he needs to unwind. Catwoman pretends to enjoy it and sometimes joins in and Damian makes fun of his Dad. As for which songs Bruce likes to play, this one is an obvious candidate as is this one. Sometimes, Bruce also stands around on roofs in full costume and belts out “Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who, because for years I misheard the lyrics as “No one knows what it’s like to be the Batman, to be the sad man, behind blue eyes.” And yes, my version of the lyrics totally fits, except that I always assumed Bruce Wayne had brown eyes.

An Eternian Christmas Market

The rest of the venue – both the indoor part and also a small backyard – had been given over to stalls of vendors – both commercial and private – selling vintage and modern toys and merchandise. Masters of the Universe was strongly represented, of course, but also Star Wars, Marvel and DC, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wrestling figures, various retro games and even Barbie. The whole thing was billed as an Eternian Christmas market.

There were some true rarities as well, such as the first ever vintage Tytus figure I saw in the flesh (the two giant figures Tytus and Megator came out at the tail end of the original Masters of the Universe line and are among the rarest figures – I have the Classics versions, but not the originals), a loose Bionatops, missing his gun, but otherwise in very good condition (and I really wish Mattel would make the Preternia dinosaurs again one day), a vintage Dragon Walker in box, which I duly admired, but did not buy, because if I ever get a Dragon Walker, I want to play with it and not keep it in a box, as well as pretty much the entire range of the mini-statues (called “stactions”, because these are statues that look like action figures) that continued the 200X toyline after Mattel cancelled it. The stactions are quite rare for something that isn’t that old – though they are coming up on twenty years by now. At any rate, I almost never see them anywhere.

There are a few videos on YouTube about the Church of Eternia event by Stamm der SABINErinnen (I’m pretty sure I spotted this lady at the event), bumo.tv, who couldn’t attend himself, but hosts a video a friend of his made, and The Ulti-Mate Player, all of which give you some idea of what the whole thing looked like. One of the most positive effects of attending German Masters of the Universe and toy conventions this year is finding so many German geek, retro and toy YouTube channels I had no idea existed.

Phantom covers framed on a wall

This wall of framed Phantom comic covers is part of the regular interior of the venue, as I learned when I commented upon them, since The Phantom was my Mom’s favourite superhero.

The event was smaller than Toyplosion or the Los Amigos con, but both the offerings and the crowd were still pretty good. One thing I really liked was that there were a lot of families with kids in attendance. There even was a guy dressed as Santa who handed out little gifts to kid attendants. I saw a couple of cosplayers – not just Masters of the Universe, but also several Star Wars cosplayers (I think they’re a club). In fact, I initially mistook a Star Wars cosplayer in Jedi robes for a monk, when I saw him getting out of a car. Finally, I also met the guy again who told me about the event in the first place. “Cool, so you made it after all. Though I’m afraid I still don’t have a Classics Rattlor.”

My Haul and Fun with Action Figures

Chatting with other fans is fun, but of course you also attend such events to buy stuff, so here’s my haul:

McFarlane Toys Batman, Masters of the Universe 200X Serpent Claw Man-at-Arms, Princess of Power Scratchin' Sound Catra and Masters of the Universe Classics Ninjor

My Church of Eternia haul: In addition to the Batman figure, there’s also a 200X Serpent Claw Man-at-Arms, a Princess of Power Scratchin’ Sound Catra and Masters of the Universe Classics Ninjor.

And since I had them all set up already, I also took a photo of Catra getting up close and personal with Man-at-Arms.

The Vintage Princess of Power Catra is getting up close and personal with the 200X Serpent Claw Man-at-Arms, while Batman and Ninjor look on.

Catra is getting up close and personal with Man-at-Arms, much to the amusement of Batman and Ninjor.

“Meow, what big strong muscles you have. Why don’t we go somewhere more comfortable?”

“Unhand me, girl. I’m in a committed relationship and besides, you could be my daughter.”

“Just enjoy the ride. Catwomen are chaotic and will drive you crazy, but they’re also a lot of fun. Trust me, I have experience in that regard.”

“Meow. Just listen to Batman and relax.”

“I most certainly will not. Like I said, I’m spoken for and you’re lesbian.”

“Oh, my Catwoman kisses girls, too, on occasion. It’s very hot.”

“Yes, but is she in a troubled relationship with the daughter of your King?”

“The USA are a republic, so we don’t have a king.”

***

After a bit of fun with action figures, let’s get back to my actual haul.

For starters, I found a loose Masters of the Universe Classics Ninjor for a good price. Ninjor is one of the more absurd Masters of the Universe characters, for why would Eternia have ninjas? The answer is of course that ninjas were cool in the 1980s and rival toylines like G.I. Joe or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who were just getting started around this time, all had ninjas, so Masters of the Universe felt the need to have one or rather two ninjas (cause there also was a white good guy ninja planned, who never made it into production in the original toyline, but was released later on) as well.

Besides, Ninjor is the only Evil Warrior (okay, there’s also Twistoid, but almost no one cares about Twistoid) I was still missing in 6/7 inch scale. What is more, I have his good guy counterpart Slamurai, so of course I needed the villainous Eternian ninja as well. Plus, Ninjor is actually awesome. Just look at those demonic red eyes and monster feet. Whatever this guy is, he’s not fully human. The Classics Ninjor also has an unmasked head, though I’m setting mine up in full ninja get-up for now.

Masters of the Universe Classics Ninjor

Behold the Masters of the Universe Classics Ninjor: Note his clawed feet and glowing red eyes, indicating that this is not your average Earthly ninja.

Besides, now I have Ninjor, I can also recreate “The Search for Keldor” mini-comic with my action figures, since I have every character I need for it.

I also found a loose Serpent Claw Man-at-Arms figure from the 200X toyline. Now I don’t officially collect 200X figures, but I picked up a few, whenever I found them for a good price. And fifteen Euros is certainly a good price. Besides, Man-at-Arms is a crucial character I’m still missing. Now I really need to find a 200X Teela to complete the family, but she’s very expensive for some reason.

Masters of the Universe 200X figures

My small collection of Masters of the Universe 200X figures: Two-Bad with reversed sides, Beast-Man, Mer-Man, Blood Armour Skeletor (who’s apparently quite rare), Keldor, Serpent Claw Man-at-Arms and Prince Adam. I don’t have a He-Man yet, because so far I’ve only found weird variants I don’t want.

Finally – and this was an unexpected highlight – I found a vintage Princess of Power Scratchin’ Sound Catra in a really great condition and for a very good price. Now I normally don’t buy vintage Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power figures from the 1980s, because either the condition isn’t great or they’re really expensive. And in almost all cases, there is a nicer more recent version of the character.

Scratchin Sound Catra

Vintage Princess of Power Scratchin’ Sound Catra. Isn’t she gorgeous?

But when I found this utterly gorgeous Scratchin’ Sound Catra for a great price, I just had to buy her. She’s missing her cat mask and the comb all the Princess of Power figures had, but otherwise she’s complete and in great condition.

Of course, we have had several Catra figures since the vintage era. However, they were all based on her appearance in the Filmation She-Ra cartoon (and in one case on her appearance in the 2018 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power cartoon). But as with many of the Princess of Power characters, Catra looked quite different in her toy form from her cartoon counterpart (this is apparently due to Filmation basing the designs on early prototypes). And none of Catra’s three variants in the vintage Princess of Power toyline – regular Catra, Scratchin’ Sound Catra and Shower Power Catra – have ever been made again in any toyline. Which is a pity, because I’ve always loved Catra’s toy look with the furry skirt and patterned tights. She looks very much like a 1980s pop star. Indeed, check out this 1984 music video of Nena, where she looks almost exactly like Catra.

But there’s also another reason why I bought this Catra figure and that’s because I always wanted a Catra figure back in the day and never got one. Because my parents – bless them – accidentally bought me a Vultura figure from the Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstone toyline instead. From an adult POV, it’s an easy mistake to make – pink and gold packaging, 5.5 inch doll with dark hair and skimpy black and red clothes – but as a kid I was annoyed that my parents had gotten me the wrong toy again (this happened a few times). I still have the Vultura figure BTW and she is in great condition for a forty-year-old toy, but she just isn’t Catra. For that matter, please someone bring Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstone back, because that was an awesome toyline.

So now, almost forty years later, I finally have a proper Catra figure. So of course, I had to introduce her to her frenemy She-Ra. Unfortunately, my vintage She-Ra got lost – in addition to Vultura, all I still have from back in the day is a mangled Flutterina – but the Origins She-Ra figure works very well.

Masters of the Universe Origins She-Ra and vintage Princess of Power Scratchin Sound Catra

I wasn’t in love with the Masters of the Universe Origins She-Ra, but she fit remarkably well with the vintage Catra

“Hey Adora…”

“Go away, Catra. I don’t want to fight you. Not today.”

Catra gets cozy with Adora and strokes her cheek

Scratchin’ Sound Catra’s scratching action feature looks more like she’s trying to stroke someone’s cheek. Though it’s better than some of the 200X figures, who look like they’re doing a “Heil Hitler” salute. Besides, it’s amazing that Scratchin’ Sound Catra’s action feature still works after almost forty years.

“Who said anything about fighting, meow?”

“What… what are you doing, Catra?”

“What’s it look like, Adora?”

Catra and Adora kiss.“This is wrong, Catra.”

“But it feels so right…”

Smooch.

***

In Hanau on the Trail of the Brothers Grimm:

Okay, after that little interlude, let’s return to my adventures at the Church of Eternia holiday event in Hanau.

At noon, I went to a retail park across the road from the con venue. Since I didn’t fancy sausages, I had lunch at an Asian buffet restaurant, which was pretty much the only place where you could get something to eat in the area.

Then I went to a Rewe supermarket to buy some sparkling water for the trip back home. Now supermarkets and retail in general is a lot less regionalised than it used to be with the same chains operating all over Germany. That said, there still are regional differences. For example, I couldn’t find my usual brand of sparkling water and had to resort to buying a different brand. I chose one that’s nationally available, so I wouldn’t have problems returning the bottle.

Another thing I noticed was that this Rewe market had a whole shelf of Äppelwoi (apple wine), a type of cider popular in the region around Frankfurt on Main.  My local Rewe in North Germany doesn’t carry Äppelwoi at all. If I want it – and there is a recipe which requires it – I have to go to a specialty store. But Hanau is Äppelwoi country and so even a suburban Rewe market has several brands.  I was tempted to look for Frankfurt Green Sauce herb bundles – another regional specialty I can’t get in my part of Germany at all – but it was the wrong time of the year for that.

The con started to wrap up around three PM. I made a brief pit stop at a gas station in the retail park – after all, I’d driven 471 kilometers and my tank hadn’t been completely full, when I left Bremen – so it was time to refuel and besides, the gas price was good. I chatted briefly with the young man behind the counter to ask him for directions to the city center. “There really isn’t much of interest in Hanau,” he replied. “Well, there’s at least one thing of interest,” I said, “And since I’m here already, I at least want to see it.”

Now there are a few things that Hanau is known for: Two of them are negative The first is that Hanau was home to a manufacturer of fuel rods for nuclear power stations that was embroiled in a scandal about improperly stored nuclear waste in the 1980s. Indeed, in the 1980s, I mainly knew Hanau as “that place where they make nuclear fuel rods” and probably would have refused to visit the town at all. The fuel rod factories and storage facilities are all gone now and I wasn’t even in the part of the city where the nuclear factories once were.

The other negative thing Hanau is infamous for is a mass shooting in February 2020, where a far right arsehole killed nine people, all of them members of various ethnic minorities, and wounded several others in and outside three different shisha bars in Hanau. He also murdered his disabled mother (who is often forgotten in memorials, even though she’s as much of a victim as the other nine) and finally shot himself.

However, Hanau is also famous for a positive reason, namely that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the famous Brothers Grimm, were born here. Though they only lived in Hanau for the first few years of their lives before the family moved to nearby Steinau an der Straße (Steinau on the Street, which refers the medieval trade route Via Regia). The brothers attended a grammar school in Kassel, university in Marburg, both were professors at the University of Göttingen, before getting kicked out for co-signing a petition against the suspension of the constitution of the Kingdom of Hannover (modern Hannover is very embarassed about this) and finally moved to Berlin. In fact, I passed by several places where the Brothers Grimm lived and worked – Hannover, Göttingen, Kassel and Steinau an der Straße – on my trip to Hanau. Coincidentally, Hanau is also the starting point of the German fairytale route, while Bremen is its endpoint. Though I did not drive along the actual German fairytale route, much of which follows smaller country roads. That said, I have visited many of the sights along the German fairytale route in the past and may well visit again in the future.

I found a parking garage at the edge of the city center of Hanau (the actual city center is largely pedestrianised) and started exploring. I wanted to visit the Brothers Grimm National Monument on the market place and see what else I could find along the way. Like many German cities, Hanau was badly bombed in WWII and much of the historic city center (not remotely a target of strategic value, unlike the factories and train line on the edge of the city) was completely destroyed. So there were fewer historic buildings than you’d assume and much of the city center was drab post-WWII buildings.

First, I came across the former residence of the Prince Electors of Hesse and the Counts of Hanau-Münzenberg. Not that there is much left. The medieval castle was torn down and rebuilt in the 18th and 19th century and their successor was destroyed by two massive air raids in early 1945. It would have been possible to rebuild the palace, but most of it wasn’t rebuilt in an attempt to erase the feudalist past. This was sadly quite common in post-WWWII Germany both East and West, though only the East gets flak for it.

So let’s take a look at what’s left of Hanau castle:

Water tower Hanau castle

The sole surviving tower of Hanau’s medieval city wall, built in the 14th century, and part of the former residence of the Prince Elector of Hesse. The building behind it is the former chancellery of the castle, which was restored.

Hanau chancellery

The former chancellery of Hanau castle, built in the 17th century, has been lit up after sunset. Since the 19th century, the chancellery building has housed the Hanau city library, the city archive and other cultural institutions, which is why it was lucky enough to be rebuilt after WWII. The parking lot right outside the historical, literally where the castle courtyard would have been, is another postwar city planning mistake.

Hanau Stadthalle

The former mews of Hanau castle were turned into a Stadthalle (literally city hall, but Stadthallen are events venues not administrative buildings) in 1928. The neo-classical facade was added in 1928, the rough stone walls behind it are part of the former mews.

The Stadthalle events venue is now named Paul Hindemith Halle for the famous composer and pioneer of free tonality, who was born in Hanau in 1895 and is the third most famous son of the city after Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm. I first encountered Hindemith’s work in high school music class, when a teacher valiantly tried to introduce us to free tonality and atonality and painstakingly explained Hindemith’s alternative system of tonality, whereupon my classmate Gerthild, who came from a musical family and earned some money for herself as a church organist, dismissed the whole thing as nonsense. “This was Hindemith’s life’s work,” the teacher said. “It’s still nonsense,” Gerthild declared, “It’s not my fault that he wasted his life on nonsense.”

But even though my classmate Gerthild declared Paul Hindemith’s life’s work nonsense, his hometown Hanau still named their Stadthalle after him.

Hanau Castle tower

The former tower of Hanau castle looms above some residential buildings. The top of the tower was destroyed in WWII and its former outline is represented by a steel structure.

The sad fate of Hanau castle once more illustrates that postwar city planners were as much of a danger to historical buildings as WWII. Buildings that were salvagable were town down because they no longer fit someone’s vision of what the city should look like, only a handful of buildings were restored and weird half ruins were left standing as monuments to WWII bombing victims. And it didn’t just happen to 19th century buildings which were considered hopelessly old-fashioned at the time, but also to much older buildings you’d assume would have historical merit.

There are plans to restore Hanau castle to something closer to what it was before WWII, which includes restoring the tower with the weird steel skeleton outline to its former glory. You can see more about that here.

As I ventured further into the city center of Hanau, the next sight of interest I came across was a beautiful timbered house. This striking building, erected in 1543, had been Hanau’s townhall until the 18th century, when a new townhall was built and this one became obsolete. Nowadays, it houses the German Goldsmith Museum, since Hanau was once a center of jewellery making.

German goldsmith museum in Hanau

The German Goldsmith Museum in Hanau, built in 1543, with fountain of justice and Christmas decorations.

Justice fountain

A closer look at the fountain of justice in front of the Goldsmith Museum. The fountain was set up in 1608 and is decorated with a statue of Justicia.

German Goldsmith Museum after dark

The German Goldsmiith Museum after sunset with all the Christmas decorations lit up.

Once I came across the Goldsmith Museum, I thought I’d reached the historical city center, but instead I walked past more drab postwar buildings and finally a modern shopping mall, built in 2015.

Lit up tree at the Forum Hanau shopping mall

A lit up tree with hearts decorates the Forum Hanau shopping mall.

By now I was in the pedestrian shopping district Hanau, which was quite busy and bustling, since it was a Saturday afternoon a week before Christmas. Though I didn’t pay much attention to the stores, since it was basically the same chains we have at home.

And then, at last, I found the market place and the Brothers Grimm.

The Brothers Grimm National Monument

The Brothers Grimm National Monument in front of Hanau’s new townhall.

Since it was a week before Christmas, Hanau’s market place had been transformed into a Christmas market and Hanau’s new townhall, built in 1733, had been transformed into Hesse’s largest advent calendar, an idea I found very charming.

Unfortunately – since it was a Saturday a week before Christmas – the Christmas market was also packed. Even getting a decent photo of the Brothers Grimm was difficult, because people had settled down at their feet to eat Christmas market treats

Brothers Grimm National Monument

The Brothers Grimm National Monument in front of Hanau townhall with Christmas market.

Hanau also has other monuments devoted to its two most famous sons (sorry, Paul Hindemith), including a Fairy Tale Path of statues representing various fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm that are scattered around the city. Apparently, there are eleven fairy tale sculptures altogether, though I only came across two of them, largely because I didn’t know that this Fairy Tale Path existed.

Indeed, when I came across the first fairy tale statue, representing “King Thrushbeard”, I didn’t make the connection to the fairy tale at all, but just thought it was a neat piece of art, which is why I took a photo. Regarding “King Thrushbeard”, there is a delightful East German movie version from 1965 with interesting minimalistic set design and starring a very young and handsome Manfred Krug, who even plays the hurdy gurdy at one point.

King Thrushbeard statue in Hanau

King Thrushbeard by Dr. Hatto und Christoph Zeidler

The second fairy tale statue I came across represents “The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs” and this time around, I realised exactly what it was, because the scene of the evil king forced to spend the rest of his days as a ferryman is very memorable.

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs statue in Hanau

The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs by Wilhelm Zimmer

For even though fairy tales, whether the ones collected by the Brothers Grimm or the ones penned by Hans Christian Andersen or Wilhelm Hauff, were considered old-fashioned, too violent and possibly harmful for children, my parents didn’t care and read or told (cause note that these were original stories to be told) me the Grimm and Andersen fairy tales in all their bloody and gruesome glory.

Indeed, when I first came in contact with the watered down US versions of those classic fairy tales as a young kid in the US, I even asked my Mom why the American fairy tales were all wrong and left out all of the good parts, Mom replied that American kids get scared more easily than German kids, so the fairy tales had to be tone down, so American kids wouldn’t be scared. Of course, Mom just wanted to keep me from blurting “This is all wrong and this is how the story really”, followed by a detailed description of the gruesome fate of Cinderella’s stepsisters or the Evil Queen from Snow White, in kindergarten in the US, but it’s still a remarkably accurate description, except that it’s parents and teachers who would get upset by the gruesome originals rather than the kids.

Should I ever come back to Hanau, I will definitely visit all of the fairy tale sculptures. But that day had already been very long as well as cold and drab. And though it was only ten past four PM, the sun was already about to set. So a hot drink would have been nice to warm me up again. However, the Christmas market was too crowded and besides, mulled wine was out because I still had to drive to my hotel. And since I had passed several cafés along the way, which were cozier and considerably less crowded than the Christmas market, I went to the Henri & Leo bakery café to have a coffee instead.

Afterwards, I made my way back to the parking garage where I’d left my car. By now, it was almost completely dark again, though it was barely five PM. But then daylight is brief and fleeting in mid December.

In Bed with Napoleon: A Night in Langenselbold

After my excursion into the city center of Hanau to pay a visit to the Brothers Grimm, I hopped into my car again and returned onto Autobahn A66 to drive approximately twenty kilometers to the town of Langenselbold, where I’d booked a hotel for the night.

Now I’d never heard of Langenselbold before in my life. However, the town had a hotel with free parking and rooms that were cheaper than what I would have paid in Hanau and it lies next to the Autobahn on the way home, so it was the perfect place to spend the night.

Since it was completely dark, I had to rely on my GPS to guide me through the narrow streets of a town I’d never even heard of to my hotel. The GPS finally led me to an archway, which seemed to lead to some kind of courtyard or quad with two lit up buildings. There were signs informing me that parking was not allowed in the courtyard/quad, so I parked on what turned out to be the parking lot of a church, picked up my luggage and headed for the two lit up buildings, one of which turned out to be my hotel.

Turned out that my hotel and all the other buildings around the courtyard were part of the former residence of the Counts of Isenburg-Birstein. Note that the photos below were taken the following morning, because it was dark by the time I arrived. That said, the photos still look gloomy, because it was another gloomy day.

Langenselbold Palace was built in the 18th century in the grounds of a former monastery. In the 20th century, the city of Langenselbold purchased palace as well as the grounds from the Count of Isenburg-Birstein and turned the two main buildings into the townhall and the city library, though some members of the Count’s family continued to live on the premises.

Langenselbold Palace: A look across the garden with well

A look across the garden of Langenselbold Palace with a well in the foreground. The two buildings at the far end of the garden/courtyard were a former storage building as well as the former resident of the Count of Isenburg-Birstein and his family. Nowadays, they house the townhall and city library of Langenselbold. The two buildings on the side are the former stables.

Langenselbold Palace stables and well

Another look across the garden/courtyard of Langenselbold Palace. The large building at the far end are the former stables, which now house an events venue. There’s an identical stable on the other side.

Meanwhile, the building that housed the former servants’ quarters and military barracks had been turned into a hotel and restaurant called Dragonerbau (Dragoon Building in reference to the time it served as military barracks during the Napoleonic Wars).  This was the hotel where I was staying.

Dragonerbau building in Langenselbold.

The “Dragonerbau” (Dragoon building), former military barracks and servants’ quarter turned hotel and restaurant.

When I made my booking, I assumed the hotel was some kind of country inn with a weird name. The fact that it turned out to be a historical building that once housed dragoons  and other soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars made it a lot cooler.

And it’s not just the dragoons, no, Napoleon Bonaparte himself spent the night at Langenselbold Palace in 1813, fleeing the united Prussian and Russian forces through the Kinzig Valley towards Frankfurt (so nope, Cold War strategists did not come up with the idea to use the Kinzig Valley as a route to attack/conquer Frankfurt). For the Count of Isenburg-Birstein was a supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte and invited Napoleon and his forces to spend the himself the night at Langenselbold Palace. Though I strongly suspect that Napoleon slept in the actual palace on the other side of the garden/courtyard and not with his soldiers at the barracks. So I probably did not spend the night in the same building as Napoleon Bonaparte 211 years before, though on the same premises.

I went to the reception, registered, got my room key and went up to my room on the first floor to refresh myself. The furnishings were somewhat rustic, but nice enough. There was also – uncommon for Germany – a kettle and a tea tray as well as a water bottle.

Hotel room interior

The interior of my room at the Dragonerbau Hotel in Langenselbold.

My room was at the rear of the building, overlooking the garden of the hotel and a public swimming pool. Autobahn A66 was very nearby, only 500 meters or so away – which I didn’t realise until morning – but nonetheless it was pretty quiet. I was a bit surprised at how many airplanes I heard passing by overhead both in the evening and the following morning, until I realised that I was very close to Frankfurt on Main and Germany’s biggest and most important airport.

Hotel room window view

The obligatory view from the hotel room window, taken the following morning. You can see a playground behind the hotel, a public swimming pool, Autobahn A66 and the Spessart Mountains in the distance.

Since the hotel had a restaurant, I planned to have dinner there, so I wouldn’t have to venture out again. However, it turned out that the restaurant was already full booked for the evening. At was a Saturday a week before Christmas, after all, so you had both date nights and Christmas parties taking up space. I probably should have reserved a table beforehand, but I almost do that, because things like date nights rarely cross my mind.

So I had to venture back into town after all. I probably could have walked – Langenselbold isn’t that big. However, I was both completely unfamiliar with the town and exhausted, so I took the car and headed into town. I found an Italian restaurant named La Contessa, where I had dinner.

Caprese Salad

As a starter, I had caprese salad.

Ravioli filled with cheese and pear, served with sage butter

As a main course, I had fiorelli filled with cheese and pear, served with sage butter and parmesan.

The food was very good and probably cheaper than at the hotel. The only downside was that I couldn’t order wine with my dinner, because I still had to drive back to the hotel.

Because I was exhausted, I had dinner relatively early – at half past six PM or so – and then returned to the hotel, foregoing the kind of after dinner walk I normally like to take in situation like this.

This time around, I also found the right parking – because the church parking lot was not the one I was supposed to take – only to find it pretty full, because the hotel shares a parking lot with the adjacent event venue Klosterberghalle, where there was some kind of event going on. What is more, the hotel restaurant was also full, so I had to squeeze my car into a fairly narrow parking space.

Then, once I was back at the hotel, I went straight to bed, figuring I would fall asleep almost instantly, since I had been up since 4:30 AM, had driven 471 kilometers (more like 500 kilometers, if you factor in driving around Hanau and driving to Langenselbold), and walked five or six kilometers, too. Besides, I was dead tired.

However, there was one problem. I couldn’t sleep. I guess the six or seven cups of coffee I had over the day – normally, I have one or two cups – were just too much caffeine.

Of course, I did fall asleep eventually after all and had a good night’s rest. Which was important, because I still had the long drive back ahead of me. But more about that in my next post.

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One Response to Cora’s Adventures at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe Holiday Event in Hanau, Part 2: The Con as well as Hanau and Langenselbold

  1. Pingback: Cora’s Adventures at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe Holiday Event in Hanau, Part 3: The Road Home… and Offensen | Cora Buhlert

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