Friday, May 27th 2011

Friday morning we got up and packed the cars for our weekend trip. First stop, Heidelberg Castle. Heidelberg is pretty much where Chris and Lisa live. We had already gone to eat at their favorite restaurant there on Wednesday night, but wanted to come back and experience more. It was a cloudy, rainy day and was perfect to do. We hiked up to the castle and took lots and lots of pictures, then toured the inside. 

The earliest part of this castle was built before AD 1214, later expanded into 2 castles in 1294. In 1537, a lightening-bolt destroyed the upper castle. It was again expanded in 1650, before more damages by wars and fires. In 1764, another lightening-bolt destroyed the rebuilt sections. Good thing there wasn't thunder and lightening that day. This castle has a thing for being struck!

This was a lot of fun to do and a perfect day to do it. I can't believe Chris and Lisa live so close to SO many castles. Pretty amazing. Their children go on school field trips to these sights!

Here is a model of what it used to look like. Not bad huh!

Inside the dance floor. Could you imagine having your wedding reception here?

They had a few rooms we were allowed in and allowed to take pictures. A lot of places wouldn't let inside photography.

This is the GINORMOUS wine barrel inside the castle. Water was pretty contaminated back then, so their main source of fluid intake was wine. I found that pretty amusing. You can see the scale of this barrel compared to the people standing by it. This barrel was built in 1751 and holds more than 58,000 gallons. 

The Hauptstrasse

After touring the castle, we walked to the Hauptstrasse (main street) of Heidelberg. We weren't in any major hurry since our plans had changed slightly and the only thing left was to drive to Garmisch and check into the hotel. So we strolled, grabbed some yummy lunch and a Schneeballen and then were on our way.

This is spargel.  The white asparagus. So yummy!

Chris and Lisa said these wouldn't be worth it, but we just HAD to try one. They were displayed in so many store windows. So on our way out of the main street, we decided to split one between the 4 of us. I'm glad we tried it. It wasn't the best dessert I'd had, but it was tasty. They are a pastry with different insides. Ours was a caramel filled one. Not really filled....more like flavored. They don't use a lot of sugar but it satisfied a sweet tooth craving.