Day in Heidelberg, Germany

The Heidelberg Castle atop the hill.
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We got up early and got ready. I told Marcy I would trim my beard this morning for her, since I was looking like Grizzly Adams. I had planned on shaving it all off for her birthday and since the clippers were only 120V, trimming it wasn't really an option. I did give the clippers a try, but they melted down after about a minute. I will tell you this, shaving a beard as long as I had it with disposable razors is not any easy task and quite painful. It took about twenty minutes and two disposable razors and it was gone. I was left with some pretty bad razor burn and it felt so weird not having a beard. After we got our bags packed and checked out of the hotel, we went to the train station to catch an early train to Heidelberg. It was Marcy's birthday, so we figured it would be nice to spend it in Heidelberg at the castle. It was only about an hour away, so we arrive just before noon. We had the addresses for a few hotels near the train station, but there was one right next to the train station for only $77 Euro a night, which was cheaper than the one we had found online the day before. We checked if they had rooms available and they did so we took one. We dropped off our bags and went to the tourist center to get information on getting to the Heidelberg Castle located in old town Heidelberg. The bus to the castle ran every twenty minutes and was only $1 Euro per person. Once we got off the bus in old town, we went to the Marktplatz where the Heiliggeistkirche Church is located and was built around 1400. We got some lunch at the Hahn im Korb, which just in front of the church. We looked up the meaning in Marcy's Germany picture dictionary and it means Rooster something Basket, probably Rooster in a Basket or something like that. I got the Bratwaust and Marcy got the Jager Schnitzel and the food was really good. During lunch, we saw a wedding that was going on in the middle of the square at the church. We then took a walk to the Neckar River and walked across the Karl Theodor Bridge or the Alte Brucke (Old Bridge). Next we took the very steep walk up the hill to the Heidelberg Castle, which was about a fifteen minute walk and cost $3 Euro each to tour the inside. There was a great view of the city and the Neckar river from the top of the castle walls. We went to the Wine Vat Building, which has the Great Cask inside. This huge barrel shaped cask built in 1751 could hold more than 200,000 liters of wine. It had steps and platform, so you could walk up on top of it and it was really huge. We then went to the Pharmaceutical Museum, which was just across the courtyard in the Chemist's Tower and had utensils and laboratory equipment from the 18th and 19th centuries. We then walked out of the castle to Gun Park, which is a large garden located next to the castle on the hill high above Heidelberg. It is a very nice and quite area to just relax and enjoy the view. we walked about a bit and then just found a shady spot under a tree to relax. The grass was a little wet, but it was really nice to just lay back in the grass and enjoy the slight breeze. We just relaxed for about an hour and then headed back down the hill. We weren't hungry for dinner yet, so we just headed back to the hotel. We got some wine and McDonald's and had a very romantic dinner at the hotel. We then watch Black Hawk Down and went to bed.

I will tell you this, shaving a beard as long as I had it with disposable razors is not any easy task and quite painful.