Expedition Eldredge

Heidelberg is a must-see in Germany. Its charming side streets, natural beauty, and daunting castle make for a great trip, long or short. In all honesty, Heidelberg can be tackled in one day, so we drove there on the autobahn and saw the sites.  Heidelberg University has a large presence in the city, with almost 40,000 students matriculating here. This population brings a liveliness to the city, which has a vibrant cultural scene, mainly due to them. One of my favorite places to have a cocktail in Heidelberg is Hans in Glück (a chain restaurant) that has a quirky interior and drinks like a hibiscus mojitos (mmmmm).  Driving can be tricky once you reach the center, so we opted to park a little further out at the Edeka grocery store parking garage that is shared with the Holiday Inn Express - Heidelberg City Centre. We were there for most of the day, and I don't think it was more than 5 euro.  Once parking, we headed straight to the Schloss (castle). It is open...

Last weekend, we spent Saturday in Bonn and Sunday in Trier. Trier competes with Worms for the title of the oldest city in Germany. There are ruins here from the third century, when Trier was the capital of the Western Roman Empire. Trier is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, namely for its well-preserved ruins.  The drive to Trier was easy and smooth, and we enjoyed every bit of it. Upon arriving in Trier, we easily found parking and walked right out to the sight of the Porta Nigra (the most famous ruin in Trier). After this, we walked around Trier, enjoying the sights of the city. Many of the buildings were built in the 13th and 14th century, with modern store-fronts. It is a wonderful mixture of old and new.  On the way home, we decided not to take the Autobahn, and we wound through all the small towns leading to Kaiserslautern. It was a wonderful Valentine's Day, and we immensely enjoyed our day and each other.  The Porta Nigra (black gate (above)) wa...

Kelcy is thinking about studying abroad in Bonn, so Nate and I went there for the day today to check the place out. Even with the terrible weather, we still had a good time, and we give Kelcy a big 'thumbs-up' to go. Bonn is an easy two hours drive from Kaiserslautern. It has all the amenities of a large city - trolley, metro, large university, etc., but it isn't overwhelming like Frankfurt. Nate and I were very interested to learn that Bonn was the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) for 50 years. Bonn lies on the Rhine River, and was home to Ludwig van Beethoven. In our quest to find edible Mexican food in Germany, we stopped in to Tacos Bonn for lunch. The food was terrible. *Note Kelcy*- you can skip this place. The place really filled up after we left, so the Germans must love it. There were dozens of wonderful looking restaurants, and it looks like there will be many biergartens once it gets warmer. We then walked around and got the feeling...