Day 12 Heidelberg

Jonathan and Valerie wanted to take us to Heidelberg, Germany but it's normally a 4 hour car ride.  Since they were doing a lot of construction on the roads they decided that the best way to get there was by train.  Jonathan got us all train tickets for the day to head to Heidelberg.  They figured out the best route to get us there by train and we started our journey.  We boarded the first train with no problem and when it came to take the next train, an ICE train we ran into a little problem.  Apparently the tickets that we had were only good for local trains and not any of the high speed trains like the ICE train.  So at the next stop we got off and we had to take all local trains the rest of the way.  It's kind of hard to navigate the trains especially when you don't speak the language.  So when one of our stops that we thought we were supposed to take came up we all got off.  Well apparently there were two stops with that name one for the outside of town and one for the main station.  When the bigger train that was suppose to take us to Heidelberg speed past us we knew we must have gotten off at the wrong stop.  We had to wait for another little train to take us to the main station so we could board the train to Heidelberg.  It may have taken us a little longer to get there but at least we got to enjoy the countryside of Germany.

 When we arrived in Heidelberg we asked at the train station what route we needed to take back to their car.  We bought a map and we were about to leave when Chris saw a brat at one of the restaurants.  He couldn't resist having one so we all got one to go.  We stopped and asked directions on how to get to the Heidelberg Castle.  Thankfully a local told us the best way to get there which was along the river so we stopped and had a picnic and enjoyed the beautiful fall day.  After our lunch we headed up to Heidelberg Castle.  The streets that lead up to the castle were closed so we had to take 331 stairs to get up to the top.  Jonathan and Chris took turns carrying Eli's stroller up all the steps.  Once we got to the castle we paid our admissions and started our tour.  Heidelberg Castle's ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps.  After we finished touring the castle we headed back down into the city to find some food.  We ended up eating at an Irish Pub.  We didn't realize it but we only had an hour to eat our food and make it back to the train station before our train left.  The next train that would come would bring us back after midnight!  So we woofed down our food and then started speed walking back to the train station.  We had to run when we got into the train station and we barely hopped onto the train before it took off.  It was a long train ride back to their house but I think that we all slept well that night.