JacksGirlz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2007
DAY TWO
We were up at 7:15am, down to breakfast by 8:30am and ready to be on the bus by 9:30am. We met our bus driver, Rudy, for the trip. Our guides asked that we save our water bottles for Rudy and his daughters to take to recycle on his day off (this would be our day in Rothenburg). Nadine said that his girls love listening to the recycling machine crush the bottles. Plus I imagine its a nice tip for Rudy since the deposit it 0.25 euros and as a group we drank a lot of water.
It was about a 5 minute drive to Schloss Heidelberg. Nadine went ahead to get our passes and we split into 2 smaller groups. Each group went with an ABD guide and one local guide.
Our guide was dressed in period clothing circa 1610 and spoke wonderful English.
We toured the castle for about an hour and a half. It was a great testament of different styles of architecture as parts of it dated from medieval times, others as recent as the 1800s due to reconstruction done after fires and war damaged the castle.
We took our first group picture at the end of the tour.
Highlights during the tour of the castle:
- HUGE wine barrel since it was so large the wine was not very good so it was for the servants and the guards to drink
- Updates to the castle were done prior to the marriage of Frederick V to princess of England, Elizabeth Stuart in 1613. According to our local guide, Frederick and Elizabeth were a rare love match. They were married on Valentines Day and had 13 children together.
- As a courtier, our local guide showed us how to bow and curtsy properly as they did in the 1600s.
- In the 1760s the castle was struck by lightning twice in just a few days. The second time it struck gunpowder and caught fire destroying much of the castle.
By 11:45am we were free to spend the afternoon on our own. We would meet again as a group at 5:30pm for dinner. DD and I went to the Apothecary museum located in the courtyard of the castle and admission is free with the castle ticket. If you wanted to walk down from the castle to the Kornplatz (market square) you could take the stairs or the funicular. The funicular was free with your castle ticket as well. The funicular also went up further than the castle and there were supposed to be nice views from up there. I dont particularly like heights so didnt opt to go up. DD and I took the funicular down to the market square. The market square is at one end of the Hauptstrasse (the 1.6 mile long shopping street). We stopped at two churches along the way and took pictures on the Old Bridge.
The monkey statue on the Old Bridge is supposed to bring good luck.
We were able to find the chocolatier that makes the Students Kiss chocolates that were in our room yesterday. We bought some to bring home to share with family because they were yummy. Crispy light wafer, truffle smooth filling and dark chocolate on the outside = delicious!
DD found a German Alpine girl dress at the Build a Bear store for her Shellie May Disney Bear to wear. We stopped and got some fresh, warm pretzels to snack on before dinner.
There are tons of bicyclers in the city too. In the welcome letter our guides warned us to watch out for the cylcers and the bike lanes as well as the cars.
When we stopped at the supermarket to get more water (yes, I drink a lot of water), DD saw this German magazine "Micky Maus"
We had dinner at The Golden Sheep restaurant. This was a fixed menu where you chose from 2 starters (potato soup with salmon or salad with black forest ham and goat cheese), 3 main courses (pig stomach with sauerkraut, chicken breast with croquets, and a 3rd item I can't remember) and 2 desserts (orange or chocolate pudding or ice cream). They also had offerings for kids like chicken nuggets and french fries. Kim and Nadine had actually taken our orders for this meal the evening before. This dinner included 2 drinks (alcoholic if preferred). The owner of the restaurant came a played a hurdy-gurdy for us and then posed for pics.
DAY THREE coming soon...see link below
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3139861
We were up at 7:15am, down to breakfast by 8:30am and ready to be on the bus by 9:30am. We met our bus driver, Rudy, for the trip. Our guides asked that we save our water bottles for Rudy and his daughters to take to recycle on his day off (this would be our day in Rothenburg). Nadine said that his girls love listening to the recycling machine crush the bottles. Plus I imagine its a nice tip for Rudy since the deposit it 0.25 euros and as a group we drank a lot of water.
It was about a 5 minute drive to Schloss Heidelberg. Nadine went ahead to get our passes and we split into 2 smaller groups. Each group went with an ABD guide and one local guide.
Our guide was dressed in period clothing circa 1610 and spoke wonderful English.
We toured the castle for about an hour and a half. It was a great testament of different styles of architecture as parts of it dated from medieval times, others as recent as the 1800s due to reconstruction done after fires and war damaged the castle.
We took our first group picture at the end of the tour.
Highlights during the tour of the castle:
- HUGE wine barrel since it was so large the wine was not very good so it was for the servants and the guards to drink
- Updates to the castle were done prior to the marriage of Frederick V to princess of England, Elizabeth Stuart in 1613. According to our local guide, Frederick and Elizabeth were a rare love match. They were married on Valentines Day and had 13 children together.
- As a courtier, our local guide showed us how to bow and curtsy properly as they did in the 1600s.
- In the 1760s the castle was struck by lightning twice in just a few days. The second time it struck gunpowder and caught fire destroying much of the castle.
By 11:45am we were free to spend the afternoon on our own. We would meet again as a group at 5:30pm for dinner. DD and I went to the Apothecary museum located in the courtyard of the castle and admission is free with the castle ticket. If you wanted to walk down from the castle to the Kornplatz (market square) you could take the stairs or the funicular. The funicular was free with your castle ticket as well. The funicular also went up further than the castle and there were supposed to be nice views from up there. I dont particularly like heights so didnt opt to go up. DD and I took the funicular down to the market square. The market square is at one end of the Hauptstrasse (the 1.6 mile long shopping street). We stopped at two churches along the way and took pictures on the Old Bridge.
The monkey statue on the Old Bridge is supposed to bring good luck.
We were able to find the chocolatier that makes the Students Kiss chocolates that were in our room yesterday. We bought some to bring home to share with family because they were yummy. Crispy light wafer, truffle smooth filling and dark chocolate on the outside = delicious!
DD found a German Alpine girl dress at the Build a Bear store for her Shellie May Disney Bear to wear. We stopped and got some fresh, warm pretzels to snack on before dinner.
There are tons of bicyclers in the city too. In the welcome letter our guides warned us to watch out for the cylcers and the bike lanes as well as the cars.
When we stopped at the supermarket to get more water (yes, I drink a lot of water), DD saw this German magazine "Micky Maus"
We had dinner at The Golden Sheep restaurant. This was a fixed menu where you chose from 2 starters (potato soup with salmon or salad with black forest ham and goat cheese), 3 main courses (pig stomach with sauerkraut, chicken breast with croquets, and a 3rd item I can't remember) and 2 desserts (orange or chocolate pudding or ice cream). They also had offerings for kids like chicken nuggets and french fries. Kim and Nadine had actually taken our orders for this meal the evening before. This dinner included 2 drinks (alcoholic if preferred). The owner of the restaurant came a played a hurdy-gurdy for us and then posed for pics.
DAY THREE coming soon...see link below
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3139861
Your daughter looks pretty game at posing for funny pictures. And look at those blue skies! Looks lovely!
