We took the train to Heidelberg. It was fun and a learning experience. There is still details of the train and other transportation that we still need to figure out (and there are various kinds of train systems), but we bought one ticket for 20 euros that was good for 24 hours and for up to 5 people. Also if you buy the ticket on Saturday it is good till Monday. So it really can be a great deal! We didn't know that when we bought the ticket, but if we had we would have traveled somewhere on Sunday too: might as well; the ticket is already paid for. We are thinking we will be using these alot when family visits. I am also pretty sure that the tickets cover bus rides as well. There is a whole class on base on how to ride the German train system that Nick and/or I are going to take.
We missed our stop= learning experience.
We knew our stop was coming up, we gathered our things and waited by the door. BUT it. didn't. open...
hmm... (insert snickering Germans)
Yeah, we didn't realize you have to push a button for it to open and you only have a small window of time to push the button. We thought that, similar to the monorails at the airport, that the doors would just automatically open at every stop. Whoops! So we got off at the next stop and found a train back.
Everything was walking distance from the train stop and it was a beautiful walk. You could immediately see the Heidelberg castle on the hill.
We walked up to it and could tour around the outer gardens for free.
The inner courtyard was beautiful, and there was an incredible view overlooking the city.
Grumpy boy, did you forget that you are in the middle of a castle, in the middle of a Christmas Market, in the middle of Germany?
ok that's better now...
We actually ran into our old neighbors from San Angelo, Texas right after these pictures were taken. We really enjoyed them, and they have two young boys that our boys love to play with. Landon was in the same pre-kindergarten class with their oldest.
Crazy coincidence! I kept thinking it was meant to be for us to miss our stop or we might not have ran into them. The boys are really excited to have their buddies here.
We then all traveled down to the Christmas markets. The Christmas markets spanned multiple blocks. The bottom right picture is of the local sweet treat, the "Schneeball" (snow ball), which is made from strips of sweet dough fried and covered with powdered sugar or chocolate.
We didn't eat anything before we left that day because we wanted to try a little bit of "everything" once we arrived at the market. Another one of our favorite things were these "pizzas". So so good.
The market, and city were beautiful. We had a lovely day trip, but also left feeling like we wish we could have done/seen more. There is some great shopping, and a few other points of interest that we didn't make it too yet. There's always next time...
