Mercure Bad Duerkheim Salinen Bad Dürkheim

... not end up eating Chinese food that day. In fact, I don’t remember what we ate, until after our trip to a local museum.

The Nibelungenmuseum – what an experience. Though fairly large, this permanent exhibit is not much to speak of, except that it defied our expectations so greatly, that it has become a bit of a joke with Tracy and me. In fact, she now calls me her ‘little Nibelung’, or ‘little dwarf’ (rough translation ...

Well...this time honestly I didn´t have time to make travel list or structure my backpack. After finishing my PhD graduation there was time onyl to celebrations and party (since the last months I rarely had much time).
Heidelberg is ...

... are popular among ex-patriot Americans and Germans alike. Many of the vendors are German, but some of the patrons are, as well.We walked among the many indoor kiosks for a couple of hours, looking at furniture and art, sampling cheeses, wines, and liqueurs, smelling soaps, etc. At a cheese shop set up by vendors from Holland I tried some hot sauces they had set up for sampling. I spooned a little of each kind on tiny pieces of bread to decide which one I was going to buy. They ...

... castle could put any stair master to shame and with far superior scenery too. Could have taken the funicular, but that would have been too easy. As with most hoofing walks, the view paid off. The castle looks out over the Neckar river and the town below. With the trees changing color . . . great place to be.

This was a Dad castle if I've ever seen one. Inside are two giant wine barrels that once held ...

Today Tracy took me to see the house we'll be moving into on Tuesday, Nov. 3. That was at the end of our day, though. The story actually begins the night before when DeAnna and her beau Andrew drove from their place in Mannheim to visit me and Tracy. It was late in the afternoon when they came to Baumholder, where Tracy and I are still at the Lagerhof Inn (i.e. transient housing): one small room with all our luggage, Dante, Punjabi, and Kahari. It is too crowded, and a little bit ...

Well we didn't really spend much time in Frankenthal. It was really just a stopover since we arrived a day early for my mum to arrive in Frankfurt.

We got to Frankfurt and found a call shop to help us find a hostel/hotel for a good price. Unfortunately there weren’t any in Frankfurt so we made our way to Frankenthal about 30 minutes outside of Frankfurt. One piece of advice…when parking in paid parking areas make sure you pay! Haha…we ...

... is Robb? I worked with him ages ago at Disneyland, but in the ensuing (eek!) 18 years, he's become one of the foremost world experts on...rollercoasters. (check out his site, http://www.ThemeParkReview.com). He had mentioned to me months ago that our travel itinerary goes right by one of Europe's largest theme parks- Holiday Park, I believe it is called. I initially ignored this tidbit, because hey, we're going ...

From August to October is Fest Season in Germany. August to September is a lot of the local Stadtfest (City Fest) and the wine fests. The largest wine fest is at Bad Durkheim, it is a lot of fun with rides and games and row after row of wine stands and all the wine you can drink. I went here with Jen.

This morning I caught the train to the university town of Heidelberg. Decided to spend the day here as it was well known as a tourist town and not far from Frankfurt. The old part of town was a 15 minute walk from the train station. I reached the start of the pedestrian only street that leads to the heart of the old town and to the castle. Along this street there were Christmas markets, very similar to the ones in Frankfurt, as well as chain clothing stores that I ...

... the spirit of things and filled her basket here. We next went to Schwabish Hall to find a church Judy's ancestors were preachers at in the 1500's! We found it! There were placques on the walls dedicated to each one. It was thrilling for her. The church was beautiful and the town was cute. Everything is so cute! And old! Off on more adventures, will write more later.