Waking up early in the hostel, I went downstairs to catch up on a bit of journaling and to see what was happening in the Facebook world. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, roll, and fruit we loaded 18 people's luggage into the vans and piled in! One van full went to the John Deere factory in Mannheim and our van went to Heidelburg.
Heidelburg is truly a beautiful old city on the Rhine River located in a valley. The hills on either side of the river are covered in lush trees that are just beginning to turn their beautiful autumn colors. Interspersed amongst the trees are beautiful homes. On one side of the river is one of the most expensive places to live in Germany and only wealthy people are able to afford homes there. After Judy found a place to park the van, not an easy chore in crowded Heidelburg, we were met by our tour guide, Klaus. He was a very friendly guy with a wild mane of curly grey hair and a big bushy moustache. He took us to a few of the local sites to view and soon we headed to the cable car that would take us up to the top of the hill to Heidelburg Castle.
This castle overlooks the river and once was used as defense against enemies. We saw where canons once stood overloooking the river, ready to fire as needed. Some of the castle is in ruins as it has deteriorated and some has been blown up over the years, but much of it is still standing proudly. This castle had a wet moat where the sewage and garbage was emptied into and also a dry moat surrounding it where animals including lions would roam.
I was taken to my host family and I will tell you more about them tomorrow. TaTaForNow! Deb
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