Heidelberg and Luxembourg

Richard has been spending a lot of time in Germany these past couple of months. So much, that we probably could have justified moving there for a time before coming to Belgium. Fortunately, the kids and I were able to tag along for a week on one of his business trips. We stayed in Heidelberg, Germany the whole week. Then on the drive home we spent one night in Vianden, Luxembourg, because... well, we were near by so why not?

When daddy is away, the kids will play. Wait, that doesn't work... When Daddy travels, the kids go too. Not so catchy. Well anyway, here's what we did while Richard worked some long hard hours, God bless him.

Heidelberg has a fairly large castle that sits on a hill overlooking the city. Much of the castle is not what it was originally, and some parts are missing, but you can still go in and look around and get an idea of what it must have been like a long time ago... you know, when people lived in castles. Here I am with the kids with the city behind us. This was taken right before we entered the castle.

There is a long entrance with a gateway into the castle courtyard. It reminds me of Cinderellaesque carriages pulling important people up to the castle.

View of a beautiful part of the castle from the courtyard.

We couldn't go inside most of the castle without a guided tour, which didn't fit into our day, but we were able to go see the world's largest wine barrel. It was built in 1751, and holds more than 58,000 gallons of wine! This is me attempting to get a picture with my kids, who are more interested in goofing off than smiling for the camera.

After the castle, we took the funicular tram up the hill a bit more to a lookout spot. It was a beautiful day, but I must say, having kids run around near the edge of a steep hill does not make a mama feel safe. I corralled them with a shared cup of hot chocolate and we headed back down on the tram.

In the historic center of the city, there's a pretty church to visit. Its crisp white interior was much different than all the stone we saw in the many churches of Italy.

I have become interested in, and hence have read several books about, the life of Martin Luther, the amazing man who played a huge role in the Protestant Reformation of Europe. He is very well known for nailing his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg in 1517. Luther came to Heidelberg in 1518 to give a disputation regarding his 95 theses upon request of the Augustinian order. Today, there is a plaque dedicated to Luther's visit to Heidelberg. It's not actually well known, and it was a bit of a treasure hunt to find it (which my kids thought was fun). We ended up finding it in the ground in the square of the old University.

Another popular site in Heidelberg is the bridge called "Alte Bruecke" (Old Bridge).

From the center of this bridge you can get a nice view of the castle.

And there's a fancy gateway of one side of the bridge, which doesn't seem to fit into the rest of the architecture, but it's pretty to look at.

Another highlight for the kids was this odd monkey next to the gate of the bridge. I told them to rub the plate he is holding for good luck, but for some reason that scared my kids. Haha! So while Hope held onto my leg, to get away from the monkey, Gabriel at least was brave enough to pose for a picture.

The rest of our time in Heidelberg we spent shopping, going to the zoo and swimming in the hotel pool.

Once the week was over, we traveled to Vianden, Luxembourg and spent the night there. We chose Vianden, because the castle there has been renovated/restored and you can really get a good feel for the whole place. What we didn't realize, was how charming the little town is that sits on the river directly below the castle.

We stayed at a wonderful little hotel overlooking the water. I kept thinking I smelled sausage, and just assumed it was being served at the hotel's restaurant. But I later found out there was a shop connected to the hotel which sold delicious fresh sausage and meats. How cool!

The castle, like I said, sits on a hill above the town.

It definitely towers over everything.

Some of the rooms inside the castle had pieces of armor and weaponry on display.

As well as a pillory, which we had fun with.

It was difficult to get a nice picture of the inside of the castle, but it was what you would expect from the movies... many different rooms with many passages, plus large rooms for entertaining, etc. In fact, this castle has been in several films throughout the years. We also loved the view from the balcony of the castle.

After the castle, we headed home. It was a lovely trip, and I'm so glad we got to tag along with Richard to make it happen!