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we went for a fun trek in the forests of ardennes. well, they call them forests though they're more like woods, just like they call the rolling hills there 'mountains'. so i should've guessed, that when they said 'castle', it wouldn't be like the many rhine castles that i'd marvelled at recently. but the trek itself was very enjoyable. for once, god decided not to play party-pooper, and refrained from covering the sky with his favourite grey blanket. the sun was out and shining, and it was a lovely day. we had a map, and made our way through pretty patches of trees and budding flowers and gurgling brooks.

the amusing bit was the castle. someone pointed towards it, and i turned to look. a ruined fort (more like a baby fort) stared back at me vacantly. it was probably one-tenth the size of the fort in jhansi, but it obviously took itself very seriously. it had a formal entrance, where a sombre looking chap charged us for entering the premises and for visiting the museum below. We were each handed a leaflet with a plan of the 'castle', and we began with the museum. down we trooped, along a narrow spiral staircase, to find ourselves in a dark room about 5m by 5m. proudly displayed encased in glass were a few bones, a model of the origianl fort, and some broken pottery. that was the "museum". then we walked around the castle, which had certain parts of the structure neatly numbered from 1-16. each part was explained in the leaflet. typically, it would read something like this: "1 - door to private room', '2 - keep'. '3-kitchen area'. it was meticulous though not detailed, and as one found one's way around the place, it helped imagine what the place must have been like in its glory days.

i came away amazed at how, in europe, the smallest bit of history/culture is preserved, amplified and marketed. and how when one visits these places, there really is nothing great about them, but they still draw tourists and even appreciation. i think back to the palace and bhool-bhulaiya in lucknow, and the smells of urine in the corners makes me recoil even now. of course, there are enough places in india that ARE well-maintained and visited and admired (eg. the main palaces, wild-life parks, monuments etc), but there are SO many more pieces of heritage that have been lost or lie rotting, unknown . thankfully, though, i believe that efforts are on to preserve, clean and beautify at least some of our cultural and historical architechture. here's hoping that we do half a good job as the europeans have.