Karlsruhe Zoo and Rhine River Cruise

We had a busy week last week, but it was a lot of fun.

On Wed April 14th we took the train to the Karlsruhe Zoo. This was Nickoles first train trip ever and Mark N I's first German train experience. I was actually quite easy and we plan to use the train system as much as possible. Nickole Loved it and Behaved really well on the train. The zoo was absolutely beautiful...there were flowers everywhere. I'm sure in the summer it will Look even better. The animals were really up close and personal. Nickoles favorites were the elephant and the Giraffe. I'm sure we will go back to this zoo since it was beautiful and there was lots to see and do.

Us in front of some beaustiful flowers at the zoo

On Sunday April 18th we took a tour to Rhine river. Our first stop was the Burg Rheinstein Castle. This was nice hike up a hill to get to the castle. Mark had Nickole on his back and I had the backpack. We were the last ones up, but we were also the last ones off the bus. We had to stop a few times on the way up so I could catch my breath. The mixture of being 7.5 months pregnant and having a cough and sore throat did not help. The castle was Beautiful and had an Awesome courtyard garden with grape veins hanging over it. There was also a nice view of the Rhine River from there. The tour to the castle was a self tour, so we did not have to stay with the group and we could wonder where ever we please. This was nice for Nickole cause she does not do well standing in one spot and listening to a tour guide. The castle had lots of floors and some of the stairs were a little to steep for me to go on, but mark gladly went and took pictures.

Before the walk up

Us in front of the Rhine River at the Burg Rheinstein Castle

After the Castle we headed to the Location where we would Bored our cruise ship for 2 hours. It was a beautiful day that day, temps were in the upper 60's and there were no clouds in the sky. We ended up being the only ones (tour) on the ship so we had it all to ourselves which was nice and peacefully. Apparently all the tourist that they usually get were not around since the volcano in Iceland causing the planes to not fly them in. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the fresh air. We ordered some cheesecake and fries for us to snack on. We saw soooo many castles and neat areas along the Rhine. My favorite thing was the story of the Loreley...she was supposed to be the beautiful woman whose song would bring the boats to a rocky area and the fishermen would crash and die. There is even a song written about it. Nickole did a great job on the cruise and loved looking at the other boats.

After the Cruise was Lunch and Wine tasting. This was a late lunch, I think we ate around 2 pm. I was a little nervous at first since it was going to be German food. We had schnitzel with pommas. Which is country fried pork with french fries...It was SOOOO Good! Then for dessert they gave us fruit cocktail with chocolate ice cream. By this point Nickole was really tired and was not having much fun sitting still, and we still had to go do the wine tasting.

The wine tasting was only 30 minutes long (which was good for Nickole). The Host was Awesome, he was a very funny guy. He taught us how we are to taste the wine. Mark did a great job and tasted all the wine they were sampling. I was proud of him. Of course he did not like any of it, but at least he tried. There was a woman at our table who Mark would give the rest of his wine to as well as her friend...she got 3 helpings of the wine..it was funny to watch. We learned about an expensive wine "ice wine" and how it is made. This is expensive because the grape growers are taking a chance on the winter weather being harsh early on...they need the grapes to freeze in order for this wine to be made.

After the wine tasting it was time for some shopping. I was excited for this cause I wanted to walk around not in a tour and but Nickole on Marks back so she could take a nap. (she was getting cranky) She feel asleep right away. We ended up at the village of Rudesheim which is along the rhine river. There were lots of shops and we had a nice peacefull walk around the village. Mark and I also got some German ice cream. I had chocolate with cookies (ice cream flavors) and Mark had Cappuccino and Cookies. I would say that was one of the best ice creams that I have had.

The last stop was visiting the Niederwald Monument which apparently is similar to our statue of liberty. This monument overlooks the Rhine River.....After the Long day my feet and Legs were huge from all that walking, and I could not wait to get home and rest. I can't wait to bring Family to the Rhine as I know that they will love visiting there.

Family photo on the old bridge over Neckar River in Heidelberg, Germany

Heidelberg, Germany

Today we took a trip to Heidelberg, Germany. We have a family friend Allison Clark who is studying abroad there and was going to be heading back home to WA in a few weeks, so we decided to take a trip and have her show us the sights around her area.

We started the visit with some pastry's from the bakery. I for one LOVED the one I had. It had Cherry's inside of it and Mark had something similar to a Cinnamon roll. I think we are now going to be visiting bakery's more often for breakfast. After that we walked down the stretch of stores and ended up crossing over the Neckar river. Nickole was pretty funny on the bridge. She would stop every 2 steps to look at the water and then say "okay, lets go" and then she would stop again. We took her to a playground that way she could get some FUN time in for her. She had a blast playing in the sand.

We decided that it was time for Lunch and that Pizza Hut sounded really good. Mark ended up ordering the food and drinks while I was in the restroom and when I came out to drink my water it was carbonated water (Yuck)...I then decided that a 7 up sounded much better than water. We had Stuffed crust Salomi pizza, and I would have to say that it was one of the BEST pizza's I have ever had. Allison recommended the dessert which was a Big Hot Chocolate Cookie with ice cream and chocolate souce on it and the cookie was fresh from the oven. It was SOOOO good. Nickole had some Chocolate ice cream with whip cream, M&M's and sprinkles. She really enjoyed that. Afterwords we went to Starbucks to get something to drink. It has been almost 3 months since my last Starbucks drink and I was ready for one. Although I did not order coffee, I did have a vanilla cream, but Nickole drank about half of it.

The Castle was next on our list. We decided to pay 5 euro each and take the lift up to the castle. Much better than walking up (we did a lot of walking today and did not want to add more than what was needed) Nickole Loved it, it was like a little train ride that lasted maybe a minute. We walked around the castle and took in the beautiful view. We decided not to do the tour today, but plan on going back and doing the tour on another day. After the castle we walked down to the Old Bridge and stood there looking at the water for about 15 minutes. The sun was out and it was very relaxing. We got some laughs with Nickole always saying "I can't see" since she was on daddy's back, she had a hard time seeing through his head, LOL While walking around we also saw a little mouse, so cute just walking in the street. I pointed it out to Nickole and she was having fun watching it. Then it ran away and she was yelling at to come back (she also called it a rabbit) Funny girl.

It was a fun adventure of a day and we plan to go back again. Now we know what it is like to travel, not on a tour and we have faith that we can do it in more places. We would Love to take some family and friends to visit Heidelberg when they are hear visiting us. It will defiantly be on our list.