After my last night in Berlin (where I went out and drank beer from a horn...yes, like a Viking...it was awesome) I moved onto Heidelberg where my cousin, Jay, and his wife, Katie, and their three kids (Myah, Praza, Raadek) live. Jay and Katie are also from the Quad Cities, and whew, is Heidelberg a freaking upgrade. It was so. beautiful. Heidelberg is the site of Europe's first medical school (the college is still going strong), has an incredible castle and, on a less exciting and fun note, a U.S. Army base. (Jay used to be in the military.) Apparently Heidelberg is one of the only places in Germany that escaped heavy shelling during WWII because the Americans had already picked it out as a place they wanted to put their base when the war was over. Whatever the reason, I'm really glad it's preserved, because it is absolutely picturesque.
Having some family time was awesome. On Friday night, Jay and Katie got a babysitter for the kids so we could go out to this French restaurant, Le Coq. When the babysitter (Nora) arrived, she asked where we were going, we told her Le Coq, and she exclaimed, "Oh! Le Coq is so good! I love Le Coq!" I really had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from dying on that one. I had to keep repeating, "You are not fourteen, Molly... you are not fourteen..." Later, about halfway through dinner, Jay suddenly stopped and said, "Please excuse my junior high humor, but did it take a lot for you guys not to laugh when Nora said she loved Le Coq?" And yes, yes it did.
Saturday we woke up and Jay took me around to see the sights - the castle, the main drag, the old church, etc. Heidelberg is not really packed with a lot of history, it's the kind of town where you gasp and say, "Oh, how beautiful!" I'd upload a picture but the wifi in this hostel is agonizingly slow, so if you really care, google image it or wait for me to put a picture up on facebook. We watched football games that night (thanks to Jay's former military-ness, he can subscribe to this American package of channels) and hung out and generally had good times.
Sunday I left for Munich. I got in a little late and arrived in my hostel around 8ish. I checked into my room, which is a 6-bed all-female dorm. I walked in... four Koreans, all on their computers, none of whom could (or would) speak English. I was getting a little uneasy, because I'm not really the kind of person who can just walk into the hostel bar and just strike up a conversation - I need someone else to engage me first. I'm a bit reticent. Thank goodness this Australian girl named Lana walked in just as I was beginning to despair and think I was going to have to stay in the dorm for the night. We went down to the bar together and to Neuschwanstein (sp?) Castle today. The castle is the one Disney modeled the castle on the Disney logo on. It's freaking gorgeous. Lana is also traveling alone but has hooked up with this extensive Australian solo traveling community so I've been kind of folded into their crew and we're all going to the Augustiner Bierhaus tonight (like a less touristy Hofbrauhaus). I'm going to do a walking tour tomorrow and I think Dachau concentration camp the day after that - then on to Prague. Woohoo!
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