Hallo From Heidelberg

Another fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants weekend.....and I love it that way! The boys (Brad and Tommy) play on a couple of softball teams. One is with a group of guys from work and the other is with a hodge podge group of guys from all over the Garrison Base that only play in tournaments. Since I am quite certain none of the guys from the Garrison team will ever see this, I'm just going to come out and say it - they are absolutely terrible! With the exeption of Brad and Tommy, of course. (What's funny is that the coach has held practices twice a week for a little over a month now.) This weekend was the first tournament and was held in Mannheim, about an hour from here. Knowing how "talented" the team was, it was decided Friday evening that we would just count on them not making it too far and we would spend the rest of the time in Heidelberg.

We hit the road Saturday morning; the five of us in The Camery, what a sight. We arrived about an hour earlier than needed so we piddled around on base before making it to what we thought was the field for the tourney. Wrong. They boys walk up with their cleats on and bat bags in hand only to see we were at an ALL GIRLS tourney....oops. We finally found our way to the right place; however, after the first game I was beginning to think maybe they should have stayed at the girls field (did I really say that out loud?). One game down, one to go. We enjoyed some Texas Barbecue in between games then made our way over to a Mann Mobilia to kill some time. I'd never even heard of this store, it's basically an IKEA type place but on steroids. Pretty amazing. The team played better the second game and I was worried that "The Plan" was going to fall through and they'd have to come back on Sunday. But a few bad plays and we were home free. And thanks to the GPS, we were in Heidelberg in 20 minutes.


We enjoyed a fabulous German dinner in a beautiful biergarten followed by a night cap at the Dubliner Irish Pub. The nightlife in Heidelberg is nothing like what I expected....actually, I didn't expect there to even be a nightlife. Such a gorgeous, historical city - who would have thought the streets would be packed at midnight? Not me. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera because the view of the castle at night was phenomenal! Oh well, next time.

We were up bright and early on Sunday so we could enjoy our German breakfast at the hotel. Quick recap - German breakfast means mostly meats and cheeses. Don't know that I'll bring that custom back to Texas with me. Fortunately, they also had Frosted Flakes and toast.

We hopped on a trolley (or tram, depending on who you talk to) and made our way to the center of town. Good thing we wore comfortable shoes - from there hiked, not walked, hiked up the hill to the castle. The homes on the way up the hill are like nothing I've ever seen before. Stunning!By the time we made it to the top it looked as if we'd just ran 5 miles....but it was beyond worth it! The castle overlooks the city (like most castles do) and the view was just breathtaking.

One thing you might notice in some of the pictures is all of the graffiti. I find it so odd that someone would have the audactity to use a Sharpie or even a knife to carve their initials or some stupid comment into the walls of a castle (or anything, for that matter). Grrrrr, I could just smack them upside the head.

We spent the rest of the afternoon milling around town and window shopping. I truly enjoyed Heidelberg and I can't wait to go back. It's my favorite place we've been so far! For those of you coming to visit, this will definitely be a place we'll want to check out.

Stay tuned for next weeks post...Brad and I will be off on another adventure!