Heidelberg, Germany! (FINALLY!)

On Saturday, I had the chance to sneak in one more trip before heading back to the states. Since I arrived here, I was told by numerouss people how amazing Heidelberg, Germany was. I was told by missionaries, ward members, random people, and friends. So, I planned to go... and after three times of my plans falling-through, me and Dana finally made it to Heidelberg on this past weekend. I am happy to report, everyone was quite right... Heidelberg is GORGEOUS!

The hillsides surrounding it remind me SLIGHTLY of Utah, but then I look and see the kinds of houses on those hillsides and the castles, and I realize that I'm definitely NOT in Utah. Haha... The streets of the city are really cool too - narrow passageways, minus the main, center strip, and cool buildings line the way. The only downsides to the trip were the Christmas Market not quite living up to it's potential, and the public transportation there. The public transportation consists of a few S-bahns and buses, but not enough for how many tourists there are, and how many people simply live there. It made little sense to me, but it didn't ruin the trip in the slightest. The other downside, the Christmas Market, wasn't a ruining factor either, just a minor disappointment. The Market wasn't tiny or terrible, but not what I was expecting and nothing special - I expected special. Haha! Still, it was a cute market and I was glad that I went to check it out.

My favorite part of Heidelberg was the castle! The old castle ruins (and parts that are still mostly intact, but not in use) were SO much fun to see and walk around inside of... Dana and I spent about an hour and a half poking around the ruins, walking through old halls, taking pictures off the look-out points, and checking out the Apoteke Museum (Pharmacy Museum). Dana is studying that at University right now, so she was way excited. I thought it was really interesting to see the stuff from during and right after the World Wars, and how medicine was rationed, sold, and distributed. Overall, the castle was worth going to see for sure it was BEAUTIFUL up there - especially with the snow! It made the city below look very majestic.








Sidenote: One of my FAVORITE moments of the trip? Seeing THIS sign in someone's window - they live near the castle, so they must see lots of tourists walk past... Or have a neighborhood peeping-Tom? Let's hope not. (In case you can't read the words, it says, "This Is Not A Zoo. Thank you for not staring at me." - CLASSIC.)


On the way back from Heidelberg, we had a handful of stressful moments as trains were cancelled and delayed, and we had to change our plan. The weather really can foul up someone's travel plans... I just hope it doesn't do that on Thursday for me getting home. It made us arrive about an hour later than planned back in Bonn, but we got there! We even had good attitudes through most of the trip too - minus our anger toward the drunk, loud soccer boys. Boo! We drowned them out by watching "Hot Rod," so it was all good... Haha! What a classic movie. We were both praying and praying that the trains could get us home that night... and they did. Let's all pray I can make it home safely and with no delay on Thursday. Danke. Haha!

So, all-in-all Heidelberg was a complete success! I had a great time, got to go with a good friend, and got to see a new place before I headed home... I'm a lucky girl. I'm a very lucky girl.
*muah*

Song of the Day: The other day, I randomly stumbled across something on YouTube called, A Very Potter Musical. I thought it would be a song of two and rather dumb... WELL, it was a FULL-BLOWN MUSICAL (written by Darren Criss, who is plays Harry Potter AND is now on Glee as the character Blaine) and was AWESOME! Okay, some parts were lame-o and some a bit inappropriate, but most of it was pretty darn funny. I confess, I watched the whole thing... and the sequel... and got the soundtracks! Haha... SO, on Saturday, I showed Dana (my German HP buddy!) some of the songs, which she thought were HILARIOUS. So.... Here is the song and scene Back to Hogwarts, from A Very Potter Musical - It's in two parts. Enjoy!