Wurzburg, Heidelberg & Dornheim, Germany.

A perfect afternoon in Wurzburg

We left our hotel just outside of Bamberg around 10am after a quick breakfast from the nearby bakery. We made the relatively short drive to the Marienberg Fortress in Wurzburg. It towers impressively over the beautiful city. We wandered the site for at least an hour snapping pictures and exploring. We stopped at the fortress cafe for another coffee and were shocked to see a family that we knew from our hometown in Oregon. Truly amazing! DD#2 and their daughter both sang in the same choir last year. What's more shocking is that we ran into the same family when we were visiting Washington DC last March. What a small world! Here's DD#2 and her choir friend along with other pictures of the fortress:

We reparked the car in the city center and ate at a pizza place recommended by a friend who lived here for a while. Great recommendation!

We happily wandered this very pleasant city, looked inside of at least three churches, and walked across the old bridge, Alte Mainbrucke. The views were spectacular all over this picturesque town. When I move to Germany in my dreams, Wurzburg is at the top of the list. I know we will come back to this charming town someday.

We refueled the car for the first time and headed to Dornheim to stay with family for the next four nights. Soon after arrival, we drove to the nearby swimming lake for a quick swim on another hot day.

Finally, we were treated to a wonderful BBQ with friends and family. There were amazing salads, meats, bread, beer, and great company. No one seemed in a hurry and we sat and visited until nearly midnight.

Heidelberg

DH and I were surprised to wake up at 9am. Oops! I guess we needed some sleep. We had a relaxing breakfast outside with C & R before taking two cars to Heidelberg for the day. We found parking right in the city center and even the car had a good view.

We rode two separate funiculars up to the top of Heidelberg's hill - around 2000 ft. It was such a beautiful day and it felt great to be out in nature.

There were amazing views from the top and we took a steep walk back down to the down through the trees.

We wandered around the castle for a while soaking it all in and taking pictures. At so many of these castles, I stop and think of how in the world they were built! Every brick had to be hauled up a hill without modern machinery. I'm sure many laborers never even saw the project finished in their lifetime.

We saw the world's largest wine barrel. Incredible!

After a quick sausage snack, we wandered the lower part of the town and took more pictures from the old bridge. We also managed to get a picture of the six of us.

The kids found the lucky monkey symbol of Heidelberg and we rubbed him for good luck.

After a little shopping and walking along the very long pedestrian drag, we drove to a restaurant along the Rhine River for dinner. Schnitzel. Yum!

Another day in the books! We are so thankful to have family show us around Germany.