Heidelberg

So we had the pleasure of our friends coming over from Belgium and visiting with us for the weekend.  They haven't done any exploring in our area before so I decided to take them to Heidelberg.  It is in the top 100 things to see in Europe.  :-)

I couldn't help myself with this one, AJ is singing in the rain!!  Just singing in the rain!!!

I thought this was a neat shot of the town of Heidelberg - looking down on the river.

So something new that I found out, there is a train you can ride to the castle and beyond.  It is called Heidelberger Berghanen.  It is a funicular railway.   

It is the longest one in Germany today and at the steepest point the railway has a 43% gradient.

Here we are heading into the castle.  It was a little bit rainy that day, but we toughed it out!!!

This is the first time that that this arch has not been covered in scaffolding.  It is quite beautiful without all that in front of it.  It is called Elisabeth's Gate, it is a triumphal arch.  Tradition says the gate was built in a single night by Prince Elector Friedrich Vin in 1615 as a birthday present for his English princess.

My handsome boy!!  Love that smile!!!

Michael was dancing for me in front of the castle!!!  He loves to dance!!!

I still think this is one of the most beautiful places in Germany - so picturesque.

These statues are above the front gate - guarding all who enter.

 

This is the door to the wine cellar.  They have never had the curtain up before and I thought it was really pretty.  I think it is to keep the cold out as much as possible.

AJ and Michael were so excited to show them the clock.  They wanted to scare them.  :-)

This is the spiral staircase, I thought Kellee took a really cool picture of it!

The boys on top of the HUGE wine barrel!!!

One of the walls of the castle, they had over two dozen of these statues on just this wall.

In Germany they have so many cool things, including doors!  This is a neat one!

Michael was using his sniffer to figure out what is in each bucket.

Michael and Joey being Pharmacists!

Jack and AJ's turn!

They added the new interactive computer - thankfully some of it was in English.

Michael was yelling at me to take a picture because he couldn't hold it much longer.  :-)  Then AJ and Joey got in on the fun!

Michael and Joey were being silly and said they were scared to go down!

Here is the grade heading down.

After that we headed into town to find some food.  But on the way we saw a beautiful view of the castle.

Lunch at the Coyote café.  It was really, really good food and a good price also!!  The service was excellent as well!!  It was a nice break to get out of the weather and get warmer.

We walked down through the town and the boys found a Swatch store.  They thought it was the coolest!!  Kellee and I talked about how we remembered these as kids.  Brings back old memories.

And of course we had to go down to the bridge.  It is a beautiful sight with a great view of the castle!  It was a great day with great friends!!!  After that we headed back home and a basketball game for AJ.  He did great in the game!