Yummy drinks and aweful cake

Apr 17/07

We were sad to leave Corrine, after such a enjoyable visit with her, but we had to continue. We took the train to Basel and spent a few hours wandering around the town beore continuing on to Heidelberg, Germany. We wanted to visit the Black Forest, but hadn't been able to find a place to stay in either Stuttgart of Strasbourg. I was really happy to see Heielberg. It was a cute town and we had succeeded in getting a brilliant hostel in the old part of the city. It had a magnificant restaurant with a stupendous chef and really friendly staff.

We spent the first night walking around the old city and took some photos of the old castle up on the hill. It was only about 2 blocks from our hostel.

Apr 18/07

First thing this morning, we went up to visit the castle. It was a mish-mash of styles, designs and most of it in ruins. We got a guided tour of the restored sections of the castle. The castle was built over 100s of years, with each new king adding his own wing in a different style. It was eventually invaded by the French in the 30-years war. Then, in the 18th C, it was struck by lightning and burned down. The castle also contains the largest oak wine barrell ever filled with wine, at 220,000L. It was only ever filled 3 times, and it leaked.

We wandered through the gardens an then back down into the old town for some shopping. We were unlucky in most shopping, but we did find a liquor shop that sold fruit liquor. We did a bit of shopping there. After a bit of taste-testing, we were very happy with our purchases. Then we thought about transport...

Apr 19/07

We visted the Black Forest today. It took a trip down to Frieburg, 3 hrs South of Heidleberg and then another trip over to Titsee, a small town in the middle of the forest. There, we wandered around the lake and had a great walk. Then we needed to try the famous Black Forest Cake...the first 3 shops we tried were sold out, but finally we found a cafe that still had a cake. That should have been a clue...it was aweful. There was barely any cake, a whole lot of whipping cream, and way too much kirsh.

Back in Heidleberg, we tried to find somewhere else to eat, but all the restaurants were too expensive. We ended up back at the hostel restaurant, enjoying a meal from our wonderfully friendly waiter.

Apr 20/07

We decided to spend a quiet day in town again today. Bridgette had a brilliant idea yesterday. Our luggage was getting way too heavy, and my back was starting to hurt everyday, and we had all this glass and alcohol. So, Bridgette suggested we see if we could get some wheely-luggage. We had some amazing luck, and were able to find small wheely-bags on sale. We each bought a case. I guess we can't make any more jokes about those wimps. After that fantastic purchase, we ha to repack all our stuff.

We had a final meal at our favorite restaurant, and even got free shots from our waiter, which was a nice treat.