Germany - Heidelberg

Heidelberg Germany - October 2009

We went to Heidelberg for October Break. Its about 4 1/2 hours from Wassenaar and we drove down Tuesday evening. Its a quaint and classic German town. It was completly missed during the war, even though many towns very close by were destroyed.

The Fam by the Baboon Statue at the Old Necker Bridge. This is supposedly a good luck statue.

This was the nite time view from our hotel room. We had a great view of the Old Bridge and the houses on the hills on the other side of the Neckar River.

The two towers at the foot of the Old Bridge.

A view from our room in the morning, looking across the river.

ANother perspective across the river.

A quaint town shot.

The towers in daylight.



The Heidelberg Castle

People come to Heidelberg to see the castle. This is a Castle in Perpetual Ruin. It was built over time beginning in the 1300's and was completed in the 1700s. It was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. In the 1700's it burned down from lightning strikes and was never rebuilt. It was also destroyed during various battles.

One p[ortion has been restored and you can go in, but most of it is "crumbling" and will never be fixed.

It sits about 200 meters above the town with unbelievable views of the town and valley below. Very strategically placed.

Two views from below in town

See thru windows.....nothing on the other side.

From outside looking in.

This is a view of the section that has been refurbished. Its hard to understand the scale of the entire site. THis part is about 15% of the entire place. Its Huge.

A corner turret that was blown up by the French in a battel sometime ago (like 1600's or 1700's)

One last shot.

The castle has the largest wine barrel in the world inside. Somehow this survived all the things that happened. It holds something line 250,000 liters. They used this for "Tax Wine"....everyone had to give 10% of their wine harvest to the Royals as a tax. Kept them pretty happy I guess.

This is what the castle looked like when it was compelte and not destroyed.

Another model of the working castle.

The model of the destroyed castle as it is today.

The Town and River

Looking to the other side of the Neckar River.

The Neckar River from the bridge.

Joan on the Bridge.

Rob on the bridge.

The Royals, Joan and Andrew.

BEER

The Beer Was Fantastic!

Joan was enjoying it.

Me Too...Need We Say More?

Berlin Summer of 2009

BERLIN

Chris and I went to Berlin in August. I can't say enough about Berlin. We had a fantastic time and fell in love with this city. It's a big city but without the big city hassel. Great sites, wide boulevards, biergarten stops all over. It has so much history from the Cold War and there is much to see. Here are some shots.

Chris having a beer at an out door biergarten.

Chris outside of the Bundestag...The German Parliment Building

A shot of Rob atop the Bunedstag Building.

German Flag on top of the Bundestag

OK, So we had fun there too. We did a city Segway tour. Chris getting started.

Chris and Rob outside an old church.

Chris on his Segway.

The Bundestag. Just an awsome building.

The Bundestag from a different angle.

The Brandenburg Gate. Another awsome site. This was in No Mans Land between East and West Germany during the division of the country. It has been fully restored in the past 20 years. This is a shot from the West German side.

A shot from the East German side looking at the front of the Brandenburg Gate.

This is the statue, The Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horsaes, at the top of the gate. Napoleon loved this and stole it in 1806. The Germans recovered it in 1814 anr retuened it to the top of the gate.

The Quadriga at night.

Christopher in front of the gate.

The gate lit up at night.

One last shot of this awsome monument.

EAST vs WEST

The Famous Checkpoint Charlie.

Checkpoint Charlie. For 2 euro you can get your picture taken with the guys guarding the gate today.

The sign noting West vs East in 4 languages.....Just in case.

This is one of the last standing portions of The Berlin Wall. It was only a few centimeters thick and was topped with a metal tube.

There are portions of the wall all over town now used as decorations. Here is one.

Another 3 sections of the wall.

The standing wall. It is so cool to see how it looked 35 years ago.....From the East looking to the buildings in the West.....15 meters away. So close.....Yet so far away.

This is the Charlottenburg Palace. It was built between 1695 and 1699 and this picthre doesnt show its size. Its huge.


Some Random Sites Around Berlin

A library in Berlin.

The Victory Collums in Berlin. The Winged Victory Statue sits on top.

Prince Albert of Prussia. Outside the Charlottenburg Palace.

Another Statue in Berlin.

Another Statue.

The Opera Building.

This is a relatively new memorial dedicated to the millions of Jews who died in Germany.

Another view of the Jewish Memorial.

Berlin. A top 5 city.