Heidelberg, Germany - One of the most beautiful cities!

8/30/10

You know... it sure is crazy how two continents (North America & Europe) can be so different...Yet still be placed in the same world we live in today.

As I was walking the streets, admiring the brilliance of little things such as the long lines of flowers that sat beneath the window sills of EVERY building in sight.. I was just pondering that statement above.. Crazy, but pretty neat.

SOO, as the title of this post suggests, we went to Heidelberg today, a city which Germany is very famous for. Very Touristy!

We took a stroll down one of the main streets in town, some of my favorite stores like Swarovski Crystal, and Fossil were there.. The spendy part of myself, again, wanted to buy everything!! But the conservative part of myself won over and we just kept moving on. =D

We ended up sitting down at a little restaurant I have never even heard of before. I had myself a waffle (its dough, intertwined with chocolate pieces) topped with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. What an incredible concept! I dare you to try it yourself...I am sure you will love it!

Heidelberg is also famous for its castle that is stationed close to the top of a nearby mountain. We saw it from a distance at first, by climbing to the top of a protestant church in the area..Now that was cool! Those 205 steps were definitely worth seeing the views we saw!

Very inspiring. Afterward, we decided that going to the castle was a must. On the way to the castle Dominique saw a few stores she thought it would be fun to go in. So we stopped in....and there was a DOG hiding under the clothes on the racks! Now thats not something you see in America..Also in the street, there was a bike filled with coats for sale! Crazy cool!

Anyway, so we hiked up to the top ~strolled around for a bit~ saw another couple amazing views..took a couple photos..

AND...we then did the lazy thing and took the lift down to ground-level. It was a pretty cool lift though, and we had the best seats in the house right in the front!! =D It turned out to be a pretty great ride.

By about 5:00pm, we headed home and ate a great supper! I think that I am going to have Dominique's mom teach me a few recipes for when I have to go back to my apartment at St. Johns University and have to cook myself..! yum!

I forgot to mention that on the way back to the car, we seen a parking sign...stating : "RESERVED FOR WOMEN!" Talk about being Feminist! =D =D just kidding. but I had never seen such a sign.

At the end of the night we met up with a few of Dominique's friends, and had a quick little going away party for one of them who is leaving the country for awhile. It was a pretty chillax evening, just the way I like it! However, I was just a little bit nervous with the way we got to and from the party....One of Dominique's friends drove her car, and she was a speedy driver....sharply turning left, and then right, and then back left again...I don't know how the car took it! I know I barely did.. I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head! haha!

8/31/10
Today we went to visit a different family of a foreign exchange student my family hosted...  This day was pretty incredible as this family owns a vineyard in the beautiful wine country of Buvaria!

They took us out to eat first at a restaurant I forgot the name of... I ordered a Schnitzel, which is a type of breaded chicken. Mine was loaded with cheese and ham on top, and it was pretty good. Its always tough to know what to get, when you can't read or understand what you are getting. Kinda sucks actually, but new experiences are everything in life.

We then took a quick tour of the lands, visiting different views as well as learning about the different kind of wines that can be made an how they do it.. It was a neat thing to learn about, however, it was hard to understand some of the family's English....We managed.

It was quite the sight seeing experience...vineyard, upon vineyard, upon vineyard...I bet there were thousands and thousands of acres of just...grapes! CRAZY. they weren't all owned by them of course, but all were right next to each other.

One thing I forgot to mention above is...That during today's venture, I found the house I am going to own someday, right here in Germany!! (Ha..Ha..Ha.. =D) Picture seen below. =D

We got to see his cellar (Beneath there home), which was HUGE.. And we got to see the machine that sterilizes the wine containers, fills them, corks them, and then packages them.. I sort of wish we would have gotten to see it run, but it wasn't harvest season yet, so they weren't running the machines at that point in time.

We then sat down for some cake and wine and left. They were quite the family, very polite and fun to be around. I was particularly fond of their son David..Holy smokes he has a lot of energy! =D

Below this text are some pictures of there home..BEAUTIFUL!

They even gave us some wine as a parting gift! It was delicious... Aunt Lois, if you are reading this...you would approve =D.

For the evening, we sat down for a drink and some nice conversation with Dominique's Mom's Sister... SHE IS QUITE THE CHARACTER! I loved every minute of it.. Very humorous and fun!

-Matthew