Wir haben nach Heidelberg gefahren. (We went to Heidelberg)

We went to Heidelberg (city and castle), which was AWESOME.

It's a super old castle...(I don't know all the details) but it was massive and incredible and had an amazing view of the city, river, and mountains.
We walked up a long staircase/foot path to get to the castle from where we parked, which by itself is pretty dang cool. Everything here is mossy and green and just looks ancient and magical at the same time.
the stair steps to the castle could have been 15 or 1500 years old. who knows. They are awesome either way.
The view at the top is just breathtaking. It felt like time travel. Large squares, churches, rivers and bridges could be seen and it was just so surreal that we LIVE here! People visit here from all over the world and it took us about an hour to get there. Just ...amazing!

So the castle. It had so many carvings and was simply a beautiful piece of history and architecture.
The outer area was free but we did pay to go inside...like 10 or 15 Euro for the family. Not much and totally worth it.

The courtyard was very cool and dozens of statues were part of the castle wall.
And there were these cool picture frame things on the wall. so of course we all posed in front of them :)

Over one of the castle walls we could see cannons and Bryton thought that was pretty cool.
Then we took a peek inside the kitchen area which was well stocked with wines, meats, cheeses, cakes, coffees, and sodas (we had this apple strudel with vanilla sauce.......'Nuff Said am I right?)
Also inside were enormous....and I mean ENORMOUS! Wine barrells. So big infact that this specific part of the castle was built to house the wine barrel. Pretty danged cool.

Sadly a lot of graffiti was just about everywhere. On the walls, barrels, stairs, handrails, and on the castle and doors. Not cool People!

Next we walked through the Apotheke (Apothecary or Pharmacy) museum. It was very interesting. Lots of neat science beakers, puffer fish, small little alligators, etc.

It was a very nice day especially for late February but the castles were freezing.....soooo cold!

After our fabulous tour of the castle we took a cute little train (like a trax train) up to the "top" of the mountain for the "view" See our tickets for the inside of the castle included these train tickets and the information desk said we had to go to the top. Well, the train only goes to a hotel at the top, and another (older) train takes you the rest of the way. But the red train was either under maintenance or hadn't opened yet. So the ride up was kind of a waste. On the plus side we were able to ride the train all the way down to the town. This track I'd say, was at a 65 degree angle. If not steeper. It was a lot of fun to ride it from the top and we sat in the very front which was nearly entirely glass.
The train ride as well as the the view of the town reminded me very much of the old Willy Wonka movie.

The town was so amazing <that word I'm sure is going to get old fast. But really...truly...amazing.
The buildings are so tall, and the cobble stone streets are so narrow. Each square had a fountain or statue, and all the little shops, and restaurants were....well...AMAZING.

I loved it and I bought a cute little pull string clown at the first shop I saw.
It was all very touristy and I loved it.

We found our way to the river and followed it up to the large bridge that could be seen from the castle.
The bridge was beautiful with cobble stone on the ground, and beautiful stone walls. There were a ton of people and even some musicians with an accordion and a violin to set the mood.

I think we walked about a 9 hours (probably exaggerating ) but near the end our feet were tired.

We found our way back to the train, rode it on up and walked back to our car.

When we first arrived we stopped at a little food truck before going in the castle grounds and had some brats and pretzels. Well we were starving by now so we found a parking garage near the busier part of the city and walked for what seemed like forever before stopping at a little Italian shop.
Bryton had a slice of pizza the size of 5 slices, while the rest of us had some yummy pasta. Gavin was totally out. Jason picked him up and carried him the entire time we looked for the restaurant and that boy slept like log.  We finally woke him up to get some noodles in his belly.

It was really a great place, and we had a great time.

BTW there was a giant IKEA on the way there so I'm looking forward to that little adventure.....
*Side note, neither Jason nor I have ever been to an IKEA and my kitchen in in desperate need of some type of portable kitchen island.. (super excited!)