Novotel Karlsruhe

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 ...

... 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 ...

... medieval Germany to see castles! umm....change of plans. So after seeing the great cathedral of Speyer this morning (where Martin Luther began his great Protestation), we're heading to Wally World! And we're gonna have so much f**king fun we're going to need f**king surgeons to get the f**king smiles off our faces. (bonus points to whoever knows where that classic quote comes from. Anyway)

cheers all

... our trip to South Africa being #1) providing wildly inaccurate forecasts. Because when you say "weather in Germany between 60-75F" I will indeed pack for that, and discover the actuality of 30-50F a welcome surprise. Or a chily one.

3) My cat sitter, who waited until Monday to note that she'd misplaced my house key and had to call a locksmith to get in to feed my cats. Anyone know a good cat sitter? We are apparently in the market for one. :)

And now. The castles ...

... and sausages for dinner!

It was funny actually: my first night here Sebastian and I were trying to figure out what to eat and I saw that he had one box of Kraft Dinner from when he lived in Canada.... I couldn't resist! So we had KD with ketchup for dinner! haha Lisa I'm sure you will appreciate my craving haha.

Tomorrow I am off to visit my cousin and his family in Berlin!

Cheers!
- Missing my eh girls
xox

... just changing. That afternoon we went to one of the spas. They have 3 different ones in town. One is completely nude and bathing suits are not allowed. Hum...didn't feel completely comfortable with that. Juliet told us that families go together. Again, gew. So we went to the ordinary one but they didn't tell us that all the "cool" things are on the top floor, which is nude only! Damn. The great saunas, etc were ...

... sample the therapeutic waters..well Lauren did, she fell in the public fountain..alittle too enthusiastically reaching for a twig.

Then back to the caravan for pasta in a pan and of course Black Forest Gateaux...Frankfurt 5 star Hotel for Stu's birthday is on the cards next..hurrah!

One observation, Germans tend to decorate the gardens of their static caravans with gnomes and model deers, while the Italians opt for a yappy dog on a piece of string.

... something off the main street. A whole pizza for 4.50 Euro was such a bargain, as it was really good and sitting outside on the cobblestone street was worth 10 times what we paid.

On our way back to the campervan, we walked along the river and saw the houses and churches in the hill at night…a few swans swimming in the river just topped everything off. As we really needed to find a place to charge our laptop and use the Internet, we ...

... but it's not at all like South Carolina where you say hi to someone on the street or excuse me when you bump into someone in the supermarket. If you're in the way, they'll hit you and keep going. My German is coming along, but it's frustrating when I'm somewhere buying something and I try to use my German and when I stumble they immediately switch to English and don't let me try to recover. Everyone else does though so that ...

... Karlsruhe. I really stuggled in the first class, since everyone else has been doing the course for an extra week now. After the class, Claudia and I went into the city and I purchased a rrrrreally nice warm jacket. The course takes place at the Volkshockshule building on Yorkstraße, check the map and zoom in to see it.