Heidelberg

This past weekend we met up with a friend in Heidelberg, Germany.  Forget about the fact that we were heading out to see a new city, Layla was just thrilled that she and Josh would get to share a bed and that the hotel had a pool.  

Heading to the German train station.  

Grape cheeks - en route to Heidelberg.

It was close to a 3 hour journey, with a switch of trains in Karlsruhu.  As usual, our first stop was to a playground.

There was a 3 year old German girl here who loved following Layla around.

Then we killed time at the hotel bar while we waited for our room to be ready and for our friends to arrive. 

Heidelberg's Old City was full of tourists, even more so this weekend than normal, as there was a huge 400th anniversary wedding celebration for Friedrich V and Elizabeth Stuart.  All weekend we were surrounded by parades and drummers and horses and folks dressed up in fancy dresses!

Like everywhere here, bikes are a way of life.

Cathedral.

The biggest attraction in Heidelberg is the castle.  Because of the wedding celebration, there was a crazy long line for the funicular up the hill to the mountain.  So.....we walked. Up hill.  With a sleeping Josh.  Chris and Jeff were the afternoon's heroes!

 Much to Josh's disappointment, there was no dragon in this castle.  However, there were some crazy huge wine barrels!

The kids tried their hands at several classic games in the castle courtyard.

We failed to take any pics of our dinner out at a German restaurant.  Josh was too busy playing to eat, but Layla gobbled up her "chicken nugget" - aka schnitzel!

Then it was off to bed.  Kids would need energy for hotel pool swimming in the morning!