10:03 a.m.
 We are on the train to Heidelberg . It's about 3 hours direct from Munich. The scenery, especially in Geisengen, was really nice. Of course, Dad dozed off for awhile and eventually I did, also. The train ride goes fast, though. A lot faster than 3 hours on a plane. 

Heidelberg is where Bob and Maude met while serving back in the late 50s. It's a college town of about 150,000 people, so the smallest city we have visited. And it's one of the few that was not destroyed during the war. Rick Steves calls it too touristy, but I think it will be really nice.

5:19 p.m.
We arrived in Heidelberg at 10:52. I went and purchased bus/tram tickets at the info desk, because I'm not a big fan of taking cabs when the public transit system looked pretty easy. We took the 24 tram toward Bismarkplatz. Then we walked to our hotel, Hótel Goldene Rose. It's off the main drag and really nice. Our room wasn't ready, so we decided to walk toward the Old Bridge, a stone bridge built in 1788. It's really magnificent. It crosses the Neckar River. We had a light lunch outside, before heading up to Heidelberg Palace, which opened in 1214 and destroyed in the 1700s because of lightning. After that, it was inhabitable. Now, it's a tourist destination with an old wine cellar where you can sample wines. The best part is taking the funicular there, and going even higher on the old wooden funicular. Talk about a rickety ride! But the views were great, and I knew my Dad and Bob would enjoy going on that. 

After sampling our white wines, we made our way back down, took the bus back to the hotel, and checked in. We had dinner at Schnitzelbank, an old, cozy place with wooden work benches and great food. Locals and tourists alike frequent the place. Our waiter, Frank, was absolutely hilarious. 

We decided to have an after dinner drink and instead of bringing us ice, our server brought us two ice cream sundaes. Ice is just not big here, but I can't say we have been brought sundaes before. We gave the smaller one to some gals at the bar, and we shared the other one.

I'm about to nod off, so once again, thank you for reading and following along!
Jamie