Heidelberg!

Today we went to Heidelberg, Germany.  It's a very picturesque town with lots of shopping on cobblestone streets, a famous bridge, and of course, the Heidelberg Castle.

This was our first view of the castle on the mountain as we were driving into town.

The architecture was absolutely stunning...  especially with the fountains and statues that are found randomly on the streets.

The cathedral with the outdoor markets set up outside of it.  

Every restaurant has lots of outside tables.

Close up of the cathedral.

Absinthe, anyone? ...

Stopped for a quick snack.

We hiked up the mountain to get to the castle!

View from inside the castle wall.

The castle was built and rebuilt many times, so the architecture ranges from Gothic to Renaissance.  Beautiful.  

Heidelberg... you can see the bridge, too.

Awesome view of the town.

HUGE wine vats in the castle!

An even bigger vat!

View from the top of the huge vat.

Sundial

Courtyard

The crumbling walls..

Part of the castle fell off. Or was blasted off in one of the several wars it endured.

After an interesting trek down off of the mountain through a forest, we found the bridge that crosses the Neckar River.  Built in the 1700s, it's gorgeous, with lots of statues on the sides of it.

The entrance to the bridge.

View of the castle from the bridge.

Neckar River.

We stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant.

Pizza Salame! So Good.

Yes, this couple actually let their dog have a seat.

The shopping went on for at least a couple kilometers.  Lots of stores, lots of people.  

We mostly window shopped, but we found delicious elderflower liqueur, some souvenirs, and ice cream. The ice cream is fantastic... I tried a Nutella flavor, and it actually tasted just like Nutella.

Walking up and down mountains and up and down cobblestone roads gets tiring.  At four, we decided to head back to the car.  Brooke and I promptly fell asleep for the whole hour car ride home.... sorry, Nate! We've had a quiet evening; we have to be up early tomorrow as well.  We're heading to the base early to help out with the Wounded Warriors Project all morning.  More about that tomorrow! 

Annie

Being Good Germans

There's a lot that goes with living in Germany that one might not be prepared for.  For instance, good German women do laundry every day.  When the clothes are washed, they hang them up to dry outside on clotheslines.  We have observed our good German neighbor doing this every morning.  Good Germans also observe the rules of garbage.  Germans have three trash cans inside.  One has a gelb sack (a yellow bag) for plastic and metal.  Another is blue, and it's for paper and cardboard.  The white one is for organic trash that can be burned.  Germans take separating their garbage very seriously.  Good Germans also open their windows for at least two hours twice a day.  They don't believe in central air conditioning (superstition says it causes sickness).  Therefore, it get's extremely stuffy in the summertime, and mold can form from shower steam if it isn't aired out properly.

Being a good German is harder that it sounds, mainly because in America we take things like trash cans and air conditioning for granted.  I'm learning, though.  I hardly have to ask Brooke or Nate what trash goes where anymore, and I've taken to just keeping my windows open all the time.  We'll see how this goes for the rest of the summer when it gets even hotter outside.

Brooke and I painted the guest room (where I'm staying) yesterday.  The walls were stark white, and now we are proud to say that they are Sienna 5A.

Brooke choosing music to get our paint groove on to!

Stark white walls!

We ran out of paint!  Oops...

Eh, oh well. We had Nate take us to Praktiker (like a Home Depot) to get us some more.

Painting was yesterday.  Today, Brooke and Nate's friend Tawnay dropped her kids off for us to babysit.  That was an adventure... Josh is four and adorable, and the twins, Gabrielle and Amariah, are 18 months.  So cute!

Gabrielle! (also known as "Tiny")

Amariah! ("Cheeks")

We went to dinner at this amazing German restaurant tonight!  I still can't get over how delicious schnitzel is!

The Wooden Spoon

Wine and jewelry.  No wonder we love it.

Kind of dark.  Nate and I.

Nate's dinner.  Turkey schnitzel with mushrooms and spargel (white asparagus).

Drinking ketchup?

My dinner:  Turkey schnitzel with garlic and lots of sauteed onions and kroketten (fried mashed potato balls).

Brooke's dinner:  Turkey schnitzel with broccoli and hollandaise sauce and pommes (french fries).

Awkward, Nate...

That's better!

Big brother!

The restaurant from the outside.

We've had a lot of fun these past couple days.... and tomorrow is Friday, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of more adventures this weekend that I'll tell you about.  Til then!

Annie