A Trip to Heidelberg, Germany

Everyone who visited mentioned that they would like to take a trip to Germany if possible, so we took a day trip to Heidelberg. We had been there with the students, but it was a little rushed, so we didn't get to wander around that trip. This time, we braved the chilly weather and wandered quite a bit, in addition to a trip on the funicular, a visit to the castle, and lunch in the tasty Ritterstub in the Hotel zum Ritter St. Georg.

It took a little while to get to Heidelberg, so we started off with lunch. The Ritterstub is located in the peaked building at the end of this street:



The first time we visited Heidelberg, we walked up the mountain on what seemed like a thousand steps. This time we were smart and took the funicular:


A view of the castle from below when we first arrived in Heidelberg:


Luckily, it mostly cleared up, but there was still a haze left by the time we got to the top.





We were fascinated the first time we visited with the free-standing ruins, and we were again this time too!


A couple of group shots:



And sunset from the castle:

A couple of interesting structures on our walk around town:

There was a strange monkey sculpture near the bridge. Here, Sophie and I are posing in it:




Ian has a picture with him in front of this tower in 1988, so we recreated the shot 20 years later:


And decided to make it a family tradition with Sophie posing there too:


Sophie on the bridge with the castle in the background:


All of us in front of the castle:


We had a little time to wait until the train came, so we enjoyed some refreshments in the market--Glühwein (mulled wine), potato pancakes fresh from the fryer with apple sauce and/or garlic sauce, and candied nuts...yum!