"The Castle of Aaaauuuggghhhh"

We start today’s blog with a challenge- can you name the movie today's title comes from? The first to respond with the correct answer gets some outlandish prize I haven't come up with yet. Maybe a herring or possibly a shrubbery.

What inspires our little game today- Our trip to Heidelberg, that's what. Heidelberg is a city about an hour south of Frankfurt and is famous for its castle, its old university dating back to the 1300's, the "Heidelberg man" (whose bones are some early evidence of human life in Europe dating back a million years), and for previously being the headquarters of the American forces in Europe.
The altstadt, or old town, resembles the images we have in our heads when we think of old European-Middle Ages era towns. With the castle looming above the city on the hill and the town churches dominating the city square, it is certainly a quaint and romantic city today.
We took the 9:00 am train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg and enjoyed the views along the hour-long trip. We saw numerous small towns nestled into the hills, with pasture and vineyards cut out of the dense forest. When we arrived, we walked the roughly 2 miles from the train station to the altstadt because we didn't want to miss anything. Lesson learned. There is nothing really to miss along that walk. Just some nondescript shops and office buildings like anywhere else...so we will save you all the sore feet we enjoyed by the end of the day.
But once we got to the altstadt we were blown away by the views from the river valley floor up to the castle and homes built into the side of the hills. We toured the city and saw the old library. We walked through the weihnachtmarkt and toured a beautiful Jesuit church. We took a trolley up to the castle and enjoyed the views out over the city, down to the river, and across to the opposite hill. The castle was cool with its high stonewalls and palace. Parts of it have been destroyed over the years due to war, ordinance storage mishaps, lightening, and pillaging, but it is still a very awesome thing to see and inspires images of romantic eras goneby.
You will all be happy to know that I did storm the castle and lay claim...even though I was quickly led away by security, I still think it counts. So, you are all invited to MY castle, but you will still have to pay an entrance fee...sorry.

After the castle, we went back down to the city and enjoyed some warm beverages and a bite to eat. We made our way back to the train station and caught a 5:30 train back to Frankfurt.
I'd like to commend the Smiths for being gamers as we did a lot of walking that day. They power napped part of the train ride home, and that of course made for some pretty funny pictures. Also, Seth carried around a satchel full of beer that day, as we are never ones to go without. You're a good soldier Seth, you were critical to the mission and pulled through. Tomorrow- Rome recap. Until then...Tschuss.