Heidelberg

We visited Heidelberg* on Sunday and enjoyed a really fun visit with Brian's cousin, Verena! (*sidenote: watch that video twice - once to soak in the jazz flute and the hilarity of Joystick and then mute the music and enjoy the stunning pictures of the city)


Verena took us on the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Walk) on one side of the valley where we had a great view of the city. Verena was an excellent tour guide - she pointed out many interesting buildings and taught us a lot of history about Heidelberg.

Tour guide Verena on the Philospher's Walk

It was a really windy day, so Verena got something in her contact while we were on the Philosopher's Walk. When she took it out to clean it, the lens blew into the leaves on the side of the path! We were so afraid that we would never find it, but I found it! Brian has better eyes than me, so he usually can see/find anything - we were quite surprised when I won the "contact lens hunt". A reenactment of the search...
We ate lunch at the Essighaus restaurant, which was one of the best traditional German restaurants we've been to - everything we ate was delicious! Then we walked up the other side of the valley to the Heidelberg Schloss (castle). 315 stairs to the top, but it was worth it!

As Verena described it, at sunset all of the houses on the other side of the river looked like little windows of an Advent Calendar

Inside the castle

The castle at sunset - beautifully lit!

Heidelberg

Verena is such a busy woman - she is studying to be a doctor, she is extremely dedicated to her work at Mannheim Hospital, and she is moving to Switzerland this week! She was so nice to make time in her busy schedule for us, and we really appreciated her generous and educational hospitality! We can't wait to visit her in Switzerland!