About Me

I am a 45 year husband and dad, currently adjusting to life back in the United States after living in Italy for a little over two years. I love spending time with my family, cycling, model railroading, mosaics and watching TV and movies.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Anniversary, Walking and Shopping in Heidelberg

First off, I would like to wish my dear wife and best friend a happy 16th anniversary. I love you!

As usual, we woke up at 8am. I didn’t sleep all that comfortably on the cot. My back was killing me. We had breakfast provided at this hotel too, so we went downstairs. The hotel had a nice spread of cheeses, meats, cereal, yogurt, breads, juices and tea.

After breakfast we walked into the old town and shopped. For some reason we had an urge to shop. We stopped at a department store to get socks for Brandon. We found socks and then found more Siku. Brandon and I both bought some vehicles and went back to Woolworth for more 1/87th vehicles.


Woolworth...didn't they go out of business in the US?

Next stop was a tea shop for Katrina. She found a few things she needed/wanted and we had a good size bag now. We took it all back to the room and headed back out into the old town. We wanted to take the walking tour that was in the guidebook we bought.


The pretzel, Brandon's favorite German snack.


I think a tall non fat chai was Katrina's favorite treat of this trip. For some reason you don't find Starbucks in Italy?!



We stopped for lunch at an Indian restaurant. Wow, that was good. I had curry chicken with rice and naan. Katrina had ? with rice and naan. Brandon shared a bit of ours, but was holding out for more pretzels.

We’ve had a few pretzels since we entered Germany. They are tasty and cheap….only .60 cents.



BS...nead I say more!


Interior of the Jesuit Church - 1759. This is one of our favorites since we moved here. We liked that it was bright and inpiring and not dark like most of the others we have visited.



Interesting sculptures in the Old Town.

By late afternoon were tired of walking. I think we were tired in general. We headed back to the room for a break. Once in the room, I decided it was too warm and needed fresh air. Katrina and Brandon were busy, so I ventured out on my own.
I walked through some side streets of the old town for about 30 minutes before getting a text from Katrina that they wanted to go follow the “Philosophers Way” on the other side of the Neckar River. I agreed to meet them at the dam.







Empty ship moving into the lock at the dam.

We met up and followed the roads up to the path. What a steep climb!! We were tired already, and that climb finished us off. We were so happy to finally meet up with the path. The path offered a gradual walk along the hillside with views of the old city and the castle on the other side of the Neckar.



Views from Philosophers Way.

We took our time walking back down, taking pictures and enjoying the view. About halfway down, while enjoying the view from some park benches, we got caught in a rainstorm. Thankfully it didn’t last very long and we were able to walk the rest of the way down once it passed over.


Brandon asked me to take his picture, then he stood very still and very stiff.

Brandon pulled a trick on me using Katrina as his accomplice, without her even knowing it. Her umbrella was wet from the rain and she had it partially folded up. He told her she should open it up and shake it to get it dried out, knowing that she would do it towards me. She did and I got sprayed. He laughed and laughed and laughed.

Brandon was hungry for dinner. Katrina and I were a little hungry. He wanted Chinese again, so that he could have some egg drop soup. The first place we stopped in didn’t have what he wanted, so we kept on walking towards our hotel. We found another Chinese place, but no soup there either. Finally, at the third Chinese restaurant we told Brandon he had to try the soup they had, even if it wasn’t what he wanted. I ordered Bong Ho chicken, basically Kung Pau chicken. Katrina ordered some wantons and Brandon got soup. He didn’t like the soup, so he ate Katrina’s wantons, then we put in another order for more wantons, and he ate those too.

Back to the hotel to relax and go to bed. I watched the recap of the Tour. What a great stage and final climb. It looks like Alberto will win the Tour tomorrow and Lance will come in 3rd, barring any disasters.

No comments:

Post a Comment