Heidelberg, Germany

We stayed at a fantastic campground just outside of Heidelberg, Camping-Haide. Right on the Neckar River with fantastic weather - probably mid-to-high 70's (farenheit, for those international readers). Lovely city... more later including pictures.

Ciao for now!

15.October - Belatedly adding some pictures and comments from our Heidelberg experience - enjoy! According to the city web site, the town has about 150k residents and over 3.5M tourists per year. This is one of the first spots that we ran in to other Americans, making for fun dinner companions one evening and for lively conversation at the top of the church tower.

1. Family dinner in the city center ... we were caught off guard with the informality of how paying for one's food works at outdoor diners. First let's acknowledge, that to the world's tiniest tables, they bring the biggest dishes. Not sure how we did it, but we were able to fit 4 very oversized plates, 2 beers and two glasses of water on the over burdened table. After ordering and enjoying our food and beverages, the waiter asked us what we had consumed! He tallied it up in his head on the spot and we agreed on a price... we were astounded at the informality of the whole exchange.

2. Church tower & interior shot (sorry - can't find the name of it right now... it's the church in front of the Rathaus.)

3. Heidelberg Castle - yes, the kids walked up the entire way. To tired little ones, ice cream spells happiness.

4. Heidelburg Tun - Massive wine vat... Inside Heidelberg Castle, one finds a pharmaceutical museum and the largest wine vat, capable of holding about 55k gallons (I doubt even I could drink that much in a lifetime...). To give perspective on the size, I've shown the stairs you descend after climbing to the top of the vat. Whew. Hope those supports don't give way.