Heidelberg

Weird metal horse-thingy in Heidelberg

So one of the girls in my program has been to Germany before. It turns out that she studied abroad in Heidelberg. She decided to take us there on Saturday the 27th of August. It took about 5 or so hours by train to get there from Radolfzell. So we spent 10 hours on a train (roundtrip) to walk around the city of Heidelberg for 6 hours...totally worth it! The city's really beautiful and has a castle at the top of one of its hills that you can walk through. One of the main streets in the city is really touristy. We ran into a bunch of english speaking people and there are two Starbucks on this one street! They had a lot of cool little shops with candy, clothes, steins, and the like. So before we went to the castle, we treated ourselves to a little picnic. We all bought food at the local Aldi (yes Aldi originated in Germany) and sat in the town square and ate before we trotted up the hill to the castle.

Me after a picnic in the square in Heidelberg

The incline of the hill to the castle had to be something like 47 degrees. It was so steep!

A very steep hill to the castle

The castle grounds are pretty big. There is this really nice park situated at the top of the hill where you can just sit in the shade of all the trees and relax. It was pretty awesome.

View of the castle from the foot of the hill

View out of one of the castle's windows

Just beautiful

Me in front of the entire city 

Mote-like park area surrounding the castle

View of all of Heidelberg

Best fountain ever

Heidelberg

So once we were done running around the top of the world, we ventured back down into the city found something to eat and, most of us, went back home on the train. But before we left we saw this awesome baboon-monkey looking statue that you could put your head into and be a part of it.

Me as a monkey 

This is what it looked like from the side

So that was my trip to Heidelberg. I hope I get to go back again because 6 hours did not do it justice. I can't believe how much stuff I have gotten to do so far and today (August 31st) is the one month mark for my arrival in Germany. I have been so blessed with so many unforgettable experiences so far and I can't believe I get to have 11 more months of this!