Germany- Day 13 and 14 (Idstein)

Day 13- K took me and the kiddos to Idstein. This was a fun place to visit! The place was charming and we got to go to the top of a Witch's tower.  (more about that below).

Idstein was about 30 minutes from M and K's house.

 I really liked this place!

 I'm not quite sure what these statues are meant to be but they're something... ;)

The Crooked House was built in 1725 and due to settling in the foundation has a crooked look. Doesn't it look cool?!

The witch's tower. In order to go into the tower, we had to go into the town visitor's center give them our car keys and then they give us the key to the tower. :)

In some towns the witch's tower is where they used to incarcerate people who were accused of being witches but I don't think that's the case for this tower... I think this one was just used as a watch tower when it was originally built.

Since M and K and kiddos had been here before and gone inside the tower, K decided to stay outside with the little ones while L and I went in the tower.

It was quite the hike to the top.

 And we made it to the top!

At the top looking down the last staircase to the top. It was almost as steep as walking up a ladder.

 It was hard to get a good picture inside the tower, but here you go.

And the view from the top of the tower! Soooo beautiful!! I just stood here for awhile soaking in the view.

 Another view!

Another view! Seriously so pretty!!!

 And time to head back down!

 The key to unlock and lock the door to the tower.

 We got food and ice cream somewhere on this trip.

 Unionskirche (a Protestant church) in the middle of Idstein.

I really liked Idstein! It was a charming, lovely, not touristy place to visit! 

This was also my last full day in Germany before heading back home. 

Day 14-  My flight left in the early afternoon of this day. I was a little stressed because I only had a 55 minute layover in Portugal, which would have been fine except that my flight was delayed in Germany by 20 minutes. I was worried I was going to miss my second flight. 

As soon as I got off the plane in Portugal, they had someone there asking if anyone was going to Washington DC. I said I was and they told me to get to passport control and someone would get me through quickly. At passport control they brought me to the front of the line. And then on the other side of passport control, the lady told me to start running (seriously) because my flight was closing in 2 minutes. 

I'm out of shape and carrying two bags, but I started running. There were airport people along the way guiding me to my gate but boy was it hard keeping up. As I got close to the gate, one of the gate agents came to me and asked for my ticket and passport so he could check it while I was still running. 

I was the only person on the last bus to the plane. They closed the gate behind me. Can I just say that I was glad for that time on the bus to cool down after that little workout? ;) It was a little bit of a ride to the plane so I had time for my breathing to slow down and my face to not be so red.

I made it to the plane!!! Yay! But my check-in bag did not (which I kind of figured it wouldn't since I barely did.) But thankfully I got my bag back in the super early morning of two days later. 

Overall I had a lovely trip to Germany and I'm glad I got to visit! Thanks M and K and family for letting me come and visit! 

Germany- Day 12 (Heidelberg)

Day 12- K and the kiddos and I went to Heidelberg. I loved this place!

It was a charming town!

See the castle on the hill above the buildings on the square. We went to that castle.

We took a funicular to the castle on the hill. That was a fun ride up the hill! Since we were in a tunnel all the way, we didn't get to see the view of the town as we were riding up. But that's okay because we got a pretty dang awesome view of the town from the castle! Pictures below.

We made it to the castle and took a tour. Taking the tour, we got to go to parts of the castle that one cannot go in without a tour guide. It was pretty cool!

On the tour!

The original castle was built somewhere around 1214 but the ruins that are there now are from around 1742. (I think.)

On the tour!

The tour was interesting and informative.

The castle was pretty dang cool!

That big thing B is standing next to is the largest wine barrel in the world! (Heidelberg Tun).

Look how small I look compared to the barrel!

The wine barrel was built in 1751! It holds over 57,000 gallons of wine. Apparently the place on top of the barrel (where the people are standing) was built as a dance floor.

One of the views of the town from the castle! Isn't it gorgeous?!

Another view!

J and B did not want their picture taken. Ha!

I couldn't get enough of this view! I could've stood there all day looking at the view. :)

L and J are holding hands. How precious!? And according to K, a rare moment. ;)

Like I already said, I just couldn't get enough of this view!

After we were done at the castle, we took the funicular back down the hill to the main part of town. We walked around the main square, went inside the church, got ice cream, and went to the bridge.

The stained glass was different than most that I had seen in churches.

K, L, J and B decided to pay a little bit and light candles and put them on the prayer tree.

Heidelberg was lovely!

I got nutella ice cream here and it was delicious! If you like Nutella, you'll like this ice cream. :)

The entrance to the Karl Theodor Bridge aka Old Bridge.

We stood on the bridge for awhile just soaking in the views. It was so pretty!

The bridge was built in 1788.

A view from the bridge. (The next eight pictures were taken from the bridge.)

Isn't the town and the castle beautiful?!

It was time to head back to M and K's house. So we went back into the main part of town and towards our car.

Isn't it just so picturesque?!

I loved Heidelberg! I'm glad K and the kiddos were able to take me there this day! I had awesome company in a beautiful location!