We left our flat at 6 am and quickly walked to the train station- well as quickly as you can walk after getting only 3 hours of sleep pushing a buggy, pulling a rolling suitcase, carrying a tote bag and encouraging a 6 year old with a rucksack to keep up with the family.
We took the 6:45 train to London where we took the tube (Waterloo + City Line then Central Line) to Liverpool Street and hopped on a train again to head to Stansted airport. After a morning snack of a banana and breakfast calzone we rushed to the gate (we always seem to be rushing) and waited in the long boarding line for 35 minutes. Even though the plane was late, the short hour and fifteen minute flight arrived in Germany just after 2 pm (they are an hour ahead of us in the UK). After going through immigration (always a pleasure) we struggled to pick up our rental car and head toward Heidelberg.
In true Top Gear style, we had the best there was... An Alpha Romeo (nothing else will do besides an Alpha). It was a small car but would work for the weekend.
We stopped in true Sparkman style at McDonald's for a late lunch and then continued the hour drive to Heidelberg. (It was rather interesting to order McDonald's in German and to struggle to be understood).
Our first evening in Germany we enjoyed visiting with our friends Stefan and Eva (who were so kind to allow us to stay with them during our holiday). We enjoyed a traditional German dinner of handkase, rostbraten, sauerbraten, and knoblauchschwein.
(I speak absolutely no German and therefore can't translate the actual food names I can say that our appetizer was a cheese platter with German bread, and our main courses were beef and pork in different sauces served with bread dumplings, fried potatoes, and salad and vinegar dressing)
For pudding we enjoyed 3 dessert samplers (1 was complementary because they forgot to bring out one of our main courses) chocolate mousse, white chocolate mousse, home-made cinnamon ice cream, and a custard dish with fresh berries.
We returned to the flat for traditional German beer and an evening of games together.
Friday morning we enjoyed a variety of breads (including baked pretzels) and cheese for breakfast before heading out into the town to explore.
We rode the train into the center of town and walked along the Pedestrian path toward Heidelberg Castle. We stopped in several of the specialty shops along the way and picked up a few souvenirs and enjoyed triple scooped ice cream cones before heading to the castle.
We climbed the 315 stone steps to the Castle and joined the queue for the tour. There is a lot of history within the falling stone walls as was shared with us by our guide.
The castle was destroyed twice. Once during the 30 days war in the 17th century and later by a thunder storm where lightening struck the tower where the gun powder was kept.
Highlights of our tour included Queen Elizabeth's gate/courtyard, the large barrel where they collected wine from the common people for payment of taxes, and the Court Dwarf.
After our tour inside the castle, we roamed the gardens around the perimeter and took in the beautiful picturesque view of Heidelberg below before descending down the stone path back to town.
Lunch was at another German restaurant-complete with a stone table. We each enjoyed new dishes. Rob had pork knuckle and fried potatoes, I had a flame cake (thin pizza) with prawns, and Madison had fish sticks and german potato salad. Again it was a delicious meal.
That evening Rob, Stefan and Eva saw Batman- The Dark Knight and the girls enjoyed an early bedtime.
Saturday dawned raining and overcast which put a damper in our explorations. We stayed around the flat and ventured out after a late breakfast/early lunch of bakery rolls, gourmet german cheese, and liverwurst followed by a variety of eight different cakes.
(Entertainment included watching Stefan and Rob trying to kill a wasp with a wooden spoon and an oven mitt- which they did in true hunter killer fashion).
It was another day of shopping and wandering the town (our plans to climb the mountain to see the ruins and a boat ride down the river were thwarted by the rain). Dinner was take out from an Indian/Italian restaurant.
We saw the festival fireworks from a bridge near Stefan's office. The fireworks were shot off of the North Bridge and over the castle (which looked strangely like it was on fire). Then it was home to bed because the Big Game was on soon...
The Florida Gators were playing Miami at 2 am German time and Stefan, Rob, and Eva wanted a bit of sleep before watching the game (sadly the satellite feed was not working and they were only able to watch the first quarter) the girls and I just slept. Fortunately (even though we weren't able to cheer) the Gators won the game with a stunning 4th quarter performance.
Sunday was another early morning as we prepared to leave by 7 am for our trek home. Nine hours later after riding in a car, flying on a plane, loading on a bus, commuting by tube, and zooming by train we returned to good old Godalming.
We all agreed that we would enjoy returning to Germany one day soon.
