8/6 – Gerard and Kathleen will spend several more days in Hanau and Bonn with his children, but it is time for us to move on.  Jim always says that once you pay the airfare, you might as well stick around for a while, and see what else there is to do!  We plan to hike for a week in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in southern Germany.  We took the train from Hanau back to Frankfurt, then south about one and a half hours to Heidelberg.  We hear they have an old castle there.

We got a room at the Classic Inn, just down the road from the train station. We cruised over to the Tourist Information to find out about the castle, and were directed to jump on bus 33 for the 30 minute ride.  When we arrived at the Heidelberger Schloss, we were dismayed to find Disneyland conditions, with tourists of many languages pushing and jostling to buy tickets and get into the mob (sorry, but Asians excepting the Japanse have no concept of getting in a line or queue) that waited for the next funicular up the mountain.  We were promised that a funicular would arrive every 10 minutes, and we waited through at least 5 cycles before it was our turn for the three minute ride up.

Once there, we enjoyed the ideal temperature and afternoon sun as we admired the ruined remains of a castle originally built in the 1200s. There was no signage, so I can’t tell you much. It was a castle, built and rebuilt over several centuries, then left to decay. We got to walk all around the ruin, but not inside. 

 

There was also an Old Town with stately buildings and lots of strolling tourists.  A lovely afternoon. 

Beautiful wild flowers right near our hotel.

Bus 33 brought us right back home, and we went to the grocery next door to see if we could scare up some dinner. Sure enough, pizza! We bought two each and brought them back to eat in our room while we watched the Olympics on tv (in German, of course) and drank a good German bier. No wifi at this hotel – I am writing this offline with hopes to post in the future!