Kris has been very busy at work, doing a lot of last minute things on the weekends and staying late during the weeknights. So this weekend we decided to put it all aside to get away from the house for a while.
After seeing all the yummy pictures of Fat Tuesday pancakes and doing a lot of wishing we could go to IHOP, I decided to make some pancakes. Kris and I were lucky enough to sit down and actually eat all alone like back in the days before kids. It was a very quiet morning. It was so worth waking up at 6 am on a Saturday for!
So fast forward to the trip. Heidelberg is about an hour and a half from Baumholder. Our mission was to get to the castle but it was about lunch time when we got there and the girls were hungry. Let me remind some of you that we are in the All American Chevrolet "Ice Ice Baby" pick up truck that Kris just couldn't leave behind. If you don't know, all the Germans drive these little bitty cars that fit into little bitty parking spots. In Heidelberg there are also lots of bike riders and walkers. Parking seemed available in some parking garages but there was no way that the truck would have cleared the top. So we decided to forgo the stop to the doner shop so we could get easily accessible parking at the McDonalds. Ah! So very un-German! Sigh!
See the happy kids? This stop may have been the better choice with kids in tow. Don't worry. We were parked waiting for Daddy. Seat belts are defiantly a must with that crazy driver!
We finally found some good parking near the castle at 3 Euro an hour. From here we went up to the castle.
This bridge is called the Karl-Theodore bridge or the Old Town Bridge built in 1788 over the Neckar River. The next time we come (without the truck) we'll have to walk over the bridge. There were a lot of people picnicking and sitting along the river on the grassy area. It looked to be a nice place to sit and eat lunch.
Grumpy face Kara. Before we got here I told them that we would be doing lots of activities today and to be prepared. Well, by lots of activities they assumed I meant arts and crafts. So they were disappointed. To help that, we pretended that we were princesses living there and were taking a garden stroll through the castle.
The French took over the castle and destroyed most of it. This is The Powder Tower that was split in 1689 by a mine from the French right before they left the castle.
The "Father Rhine" fountain
The Grotto
After we viewed the castle, we decided to walk down towards the church we had seen from up above. We ended up finding a lot more!
I'll have to come back and get a cup of coffee.
Little shops in the town square.
There were musicians along the streets and little shops everywhere. Of course we ended up going into a gummy shop and getting the girls a bag of princess gummies. Kris and I will have to come back and spend more time down here. It was the best way to spend this Saturday. It was just what I imagined when we found out we were coming to Germany.
