Heidelberg

One of my favorite days in Germany was riding the train to Heidelberg. It was about a 2 hour train ride with lots of stops. Boy a lot of people ride the train too and commute for work I believe. We had to transfer trains once and that involved running up one flight of stairs and down another to get to a different platform! Very crowded and those commuters sure know what they're doing! I'm glad I don't have to do that every day.


Once in Heidelberg we talked to a lady at the train station who told us how to get around town. We mainly wanted to visit the castle so she sold us our tickets for the bus and tram up to the castle. We rode the bus to the castle and were amused when the castle stop was not only announced in German but also English for all the tourists who visit. The castle is up on a hill overlooking the city and the view was just beautiful. It was snowing when we first arrived but after touring around the castle the sun came out and everything looked so beautiful. We took all the same pictures again because it looked so pretty with the snow and sunlight together.

Heidelberg had 6 Christmas markets and I think we wandered through all of them. Most were fairly small - only 5 or 6 booths. But it was fun way to see the town and pedestrian area.



One thing I really loved about that city was the colors. All the buildings were so colorful. I really enjoyed that about Europe overall. I feel like in America sometimes we can be too bland with our buildings. They might look nice but sometimes they need a splash of color.

It was also beautiful with the Neckar River running through the city. We even saw swans in the river!


Overall the castle won out as my favorite part. The views from it were just amazing. And the architecture was neat too. It was fun imagining all that has gone on there over the years. And I was so glad we decided to ride the train. It made our Heidelberg adventure that much better.

Mainz Adventure

Since I already posted about our second day touring castles I will skip to Wednesday. Wednesday we headed just across the river from Wiesbaden to a town called Mainz. It was more industrial then Wiesbaden with a smaller downtown area. The main place we visited was the Gutenberg museum. There we learned about the history of printing and publishing and we got to see two Gutenberg bibles. It was really interesting place but no pictures allowed.

Before going to the museum we visited St. Stephens church. During World War II this church was bombed and heavily damaged. They rebuilt it including putting in a new bell after the original was damaged. Then in the early 1980s Russian Jewish artist Marc Chagall put in new stained glass windows most with scenes from the Old Testament. They were beautiful. The detail was amazing. I can only imagine what they look like on a bright sunny day.







After St. Stephens and the Gutenberg museum we visited the Mainz Christmas market. It was so cold and windy. We ate a quick lunch, bought a few gifts, and visited the Mainz cathedral just so we could go inside. A lot of other people had that idea too. I think at one point we heard a collective gasp as a gust of wind blew down the aisles of the market.



In other news, we moved this last weekend so that's why there have been no recent blog posts. We finally got our living room set up last night and it's feeling more homey here but there are still boxes everywhere! When we get more settled I will post some pictures. We are loving all the extra space.

Merry Christmas Everyone. Have a joyful celebration of the birth of Jesus - the reason for the season.

Exploring Wiesbaden

The city of Wiesbaden in Germany was our home base for the week we were there. It's a very beautiful city - old but modern like most European cities. The first full day our cousin took us on the local tour. We saw the Kurhaus - the main building which houses a casino & restaurant and is adjacent to the theater, the Christmas market, a beautiful Russian Orthodox church and many other fun things. It snowed the entire day but we had a great time anyways. They live fairly close to the main downtown area so it was nice that we were able to just walk. We definitely got our exercise. Here are a few highlight pictures of the day:



The Christmas tree in the Christmas market in Wiesbaden. It was beautiful.
One of the main churches or cathedrals in Wiesbaden. It was in the market square as well.
A statue of Kaiser Wilhelm somebody. If you look closely someone put a googly eye on him.
This tree was inside the kurhaus building in Wiesbaden. It is made purely out of poinsettias.
This is St Elizabeth's Russian Orthodox church. It is up on a hill overlooking the city.

Traveling Adventures

Sunrise over Iceland

Post number 1 about our trip is going to be all about traveling. We went on this trip right after the TSA heightened security in airports by starting full body scans and pat downs. Needless to say we were a little nervous about what we might find in Europe since they were also on heightened security due to recent threats!

Well we both had to do a scan in Seattle but it was pretty painless. You just stand with your hands on your head (like you're a moose) and pretty soon it's over. There were no problems with our flight from Seattle to London. We were served dinner soon after taking off (around 6:30pm) and then they turned off the lights to allow people to sleep. Chris and I watched a movie and quickly fell asleep. It's hard to get good sleep but we did get some rest.

Arriving in London we had to go through security again before transferring to our next flight. Chris' shoes (they only make you take them off it you're wearing boots) set off the metal detector so his legs had to be wanded and he got a short pat down. The flight from London to Frankfurt was short (thankfully) and I fell asleep before we even left the tarmac.

We managed to stay awake until about 9pm before crashing in Germany - it's 9 hours ahead of Washington so for us it was still morning but we were exhausted from traveling. I was awake from 2-4 AM for the first 3 mornings but then finally adjusted.

When we left Germany to go to London we had a flight delay of an hour due to freezing fog in London. We were bussed out to our plane (British Airways doesn't seem to believe in gates - they park the planes way out there and bus you to them) and then were informed we would be sitting on the plane for another hour waiting to take off!! That was uncomfortable. By the time we arrived in London, claimed our bags, rode the bus to the hotel and checked in it was already 10pm and we hadn't eaten dinner! That was a long travel day.

And finally there was coming home. I committed the cardinal sin of forgetting to empty my water bottle before security which caused my entire carry-on bag to be searched. UGH! Chris had to have another pat down but after that we were on our way. Our flight left London at 2:30pm and we flew just ahead of the darkness the entire flight. By the time we arrived in Seattle it was 5pm and dark. I have to say that was a really long flight because your body is awake for most of it. I tried to sleep but had a hard time. So I ended up watching 2 1/2 movies as well as a few TV shows. I was glad for the in-flight entertainment.

Overall we had smooth travel and no problems with our luggage. Even coming through Customs back in the US was easy because we shipped all that we bought in Germany back so we didn't have to claim it on the customs form. Whew!! And they didn't search our checked bags. And I have to say our favorite airport was Frankfurt. They don't have as tight of security as other places - probably due to the national police patrolling with MP5 machine guns!!! That makes you feel better doesn't it.....

Next up...exploring Wiesbaden. And more pictures.

London Town

We are back at the hotel after spending our second day in London. We have walked a lot these past few days but London was amazing! When we first saw Big Ben on our walk from Buckingham Palace to the Thames it was surreal. You always see it in pictures, postcards, and movies but you never think you'll see it in real life! Wow!

And amazingly we did everything on our list! We figured out the bus and tube system and saw all the sights we wanted to. I was so glad.

I think my favorite part was going to Evensong at Westminster Abbey. We didn't pay to tour it. Instead we decided to go to the free service and hear the choir sing. It was amazing. I was so glad we decided to do that. We sat right next to the choir made of up men and young boys - who were very cute. Their singing is very enchanting and being there was awesome - to think of all the people who have worshipped there over the years.

Tomorrow we head home and then I will post more about our trip - pictures included! I took almost 900!!! But I'll select just a few of my favorites to put on the blog.

Cheers!