Germany Day 74 - Saturday, March 21

Ann got here today: hurray! Plan was the plane gets in a bit after 6am, so I'm pick her up by 7am giving time to clear customs, etc. Of course, with such a plan, the plan got in about 40 minutes early, the bags came quick, and customs wasn't even manned. So she had to wait an hour for me to show up. :-(

Went back to the Central Hotel and had breakfast. Refreshed, we went to look at the Fußgänger Platz in Heidelberg. Then a quick drive up to the castle for a look from the care and a drive back down. The way up and down were extremely narrow road with sharp switch backs - a bit nerve racking a drive.

Then off to Mainz to see the Kaiserdom - really large cathedral started in only 1081. They had a nice big Fußgänger Platz with a big market. We found an excellent restaurant - Gerhard had bratwurst and sauerkraut and Ann had a goat cheese pizza on a paper thin crust. Ann liked her taste of the bratwurst and Gerhard LOVED the goat cheese pizza.

Flowers at the Fußgänger Platz in Mainz

Yes, Lisa, they have lotto in Germany

The Kaiserdom is what they call the cathedral in the guidebook. In Mainz, it was just "Dom". It was really, really tall inside. Very neat.

Kiaserdom

Gerhard in the worship area under main cathedral

Ann loved this cross

What is this thing?

After that, back to the hotel so we could take a nice nap. ;-)

Germany Day 73 - Friday, March 20

Forget the count down, Ann gets here tomorrow and that's all that counts!

Bob hosted nice dinner at a castle with Royace and Cle.

Pictures from Dinner

Germany Day 72 - Thrusday, March 19 - 5 days to go

Exciting day - did landry and ate at Burger King while waiting. Then off to get another couple of Helles beers.

German windows are really good. They open two different ways and have build in shades on the outside. The handle lets you close the window, open it sideways, or put a 3" crack in the top.

The Three Position Handle

Opens Sideways

Opens at the top


The shades will let in just a bit of sun until they get all the way down, then it's pitch black. Great when you want to sleep in (which would be every day in the Summer since the sun comes up so early).

Shades 1/2 way down

Shades all the way down

Germany Day 71 - Wednesday, March 18 - 6 days to go

Had two helles beers (a type, not a brand) at the spargle lady (a statue in front) bar by the Schwetzingen Schloss (palace).

Then wandered over to the train station to have a cigar and watched trains. There is a pedestrian underpass I stood over so I saw lots of Germans coming and going many on bike. And one homeless guy who took a leak about 10 feet from me.

After all the excitement, I went to a Mexican place that had pretty good food and had a couple of Margaritas (it's hard waiting for Ann to get here).

Germany Day 70 - Tuesday, March 17 - 7 days to go

Today I drove to Darmstadt to turn in the temporary badge I got there about 60 days ago and pick up my SAIC badge. With that in hand, it really feels like I'll be going home soon...

Germany Day 69 - Monday, March 16 - 8 days to go

Not much exciting happening today. Lunch at Fody's at airport - nice big burger with fries. Best I've had in Germany. Walked to train station and back.

Had to make arrangements to go to a wedding on Pensacola in April. I was amazed at how much the air fares have firmed - you'd think the airlines are tired of going bankrupt. And they seem to think that charging the passengers is the way to make a profit. Really!! What next, they'll start charging to check your bags? So after playing with various options for about 3 hours, I finally got flights for Ann, Alex, and I - returning to DC at 11 pm - past my beddy-bye time.
:-(

Germany Day 68 - Sunday, March 15 - Worms - 9 days to go

Heidelberg Castle

Well, after staying so long right next to Heidelberg, I decided it was time to see the famed Heidelberg (literally, castle with many steps) castle.

View from the parking garage

Here you can see the steps I had to go down to start the steps up.

The sign tells you there are 312 steps.

They are numbered just to be sure.

A downpayment flight of stairs...


This is the courtyard inside the castle.

This is the side building of the courtyard.

View from the castle. It's straight up.

This is the small wine casket. The big one is about 20 feet tall.

Small wine casket

What king of a museum do you put in a castle like this? Why an apothecary (pharmacy) museum, of course!

Apothecary (pharmacy) museum

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Worms

The cathedral was very dimly lit so my pictures did not come out. It did have beautiful stained glass windows.

I asked this guy for directions, but he didn't say much.

Worms Cathedral

Front door

Inside

Stained Glass Window

Model of the cathedral in its hey day

Typical German pet - they like dogs also.

What's a Fußgänger Platz without a fountain?

The German's standardized the sign outside the apothecarys to this. Details in the Heidelberg castle museum.

Apothecary Sign

Here's what a fire truck looks like

German's love ice cream. Here's the fire brigade getting some.


Entrance to the old bridge