So I turned 30-won-derful (this is der Junge's loving terminology...) on Friday. We had German class in the morning and our amazing German teacher (I love this woman!) surprised me with a cake and led the class to sing the "happy birthday" song to me in German!
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| My German birthday candle |
And... later I was invited by der Junge's colleague's wife for another impromptu surprise birthday cake and celebration! (She found out that it was my birthday that morning and baked me a cake!)
And, wait there's more... der Junge, der Hund and I were heading off to go see Heidelberg, Germany the next morning!
Happy Birthday to me!
Heidelberg is a beautiful old city also in the Baden Wuttemberg state. Heidelberg is famous for the oldest university in Germany, established in 1386 and for the Heidelberg Castle (Schloss) ruins. It is a very romantic city on the Neckar River with winding narrow streets, a lovely bridge and the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Walk, an historic path that winds up the hillside to overlook the city from across the river).
We had a fantastic hostel located at the foot of the Schloss and in the heart of the Aldstadt (aka, old part) of the city.
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| view of Heidelberg from Philosophenweg |
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| room at the hostel |
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| kitchen area |
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| kitchen area |
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| At the Old Bridge |
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| Kiwi spies another dog |
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| on Philosophenweg overlooking Heidelberg |
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| playing with the photo edit again! Kiwi and I on Philosophenweg overlooking Heidelberg |
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| Kiwi is bashful |
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| square with Schloss in background |
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| Schloss ruins |
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| At the Old Bridge |
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| At the Schloss ruins |
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| At the Schloss ruins |
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| At the Schloss ruins |
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| At the Schloss ruins |
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| taking a rest break on the hill up to the Schloss |
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| Der Junge and der Hund |
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| Beautiful old buildings |
We also went to the Heiligenberg mountain to see the ruins of a 10th century monastery and also saw the Thingstatte (the open-air theater built in 1934 by the Nazi regime to host propaganda events). Walking through the Thingstatte was an eerie experience when you thought about the purpose and the events that occurred there. The monastery was an amazing site, hard to believe that we were walking on ruins from the 900s.
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| stands at Thingstatte |
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| stage front at Thingstatte |
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| at the top of Thingstatte |
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| looking at monastery footprint from the tower |
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| monastery tower |
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| Der Junge and der Hund |
One unexpected event:
We left Kiwi in her travel crate so that we could go out for dinner. The hostel has a community kitchen with a table and chairs that is right outside our room. When we returned, 3 girls were sitting and talking at the table, and as we approached, they stopped talking and said, "do you have a big dog in your room??" Well, she's not that big, but yes, we have a dog.... Turns out while we were gone, Kiwi busted out of her crate, she tore through the vinyl and mesh side like Mr. Kool-Aid Man ("OH YEAH!") and was there to greet us, happy and wagging at the door! She likely had heard the girls outside the door and wanted to join the party. Nothing in the room was destroyed, nothing, except... Kiwi ate both packets of gummi bears that were placed on our pillows as good night favors. She had eaten them wrappers and all!
Unfortunately the crate was brand new and cost 90 euro. OH NO!!!
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