Sadly, the stretch of glorious weather we've enjoyed so far came to an abrupt end, as we awakened yesterday morning to dreary skies, intermittent light rain, and much cooler temperatures (the high today just barely reached 60-degrees). On account of the inclement weather, we decided to rest most of the day, but did venture out amid the sprinkles to partake of a fabulous lunch at a quaint hotel and restaurant, named the Hackteufel ("-teufel" = "devil" in German), located on the Steingasse, the tiny street leading to the Old Bridge. The Altstadt section of Heidelberg was mostly deserted today, compared to the throngs of people we've experienced since our arrival, and the tables, chairs and umbrellas along the popular Steingasse were nowhere to be seen. But a fair number of diners had already filled the Hackteufel ... read more

We walked from the apartment to the nearby Kornmarkt shortly before noon, then decided to have a light lunch of paninis at the Cafe Grano, a tiny place on the square, before heading to the funicular station for a ride up the mountain. While visiting the Heidelberg Castle yesterday, we were intrigued by the funicular railway that delivered us from Heidelberg's Kornmarkt to the castle. We discovered that the Heidelberg Mountain Railway (German: Heidelberger Bergbahn) system is a two-section funicular railway, with the first section running from a lower station at Kornmarkt in Heidelberg's Altstadt, via an intermediate station at Heidelberg Castle, then to an upper station at Molkenkur. Here passengers may change trains to the second section, which runs a considerable way up the Königstuhl, a nearby mountain with good views over the city and ... read more

Today we rendezvoused with our dear friend from back home, Danielle, and her lifelong German friend (more like family), Sigi. For the past two weeks, Danielle has been staying with Sigi, who lives not far from Heidelberg in the town of Plankstadt. Sigi, who celebrated her 78th birthday on Easter, graciously offered to drive the three of us to the nearby town of Neckargemünd to visit Bergfeste Dilsburg, the ruins of a fortress dating back to the 12th-century. It was but a short drive from Heidelberg before we reached our destination, where Sigi dropped us off to return later in the afternoon. The Dilsberg fortress ruins (Burgfeste Dilsberg) occupy a prominent position on a hilltop overlooking the Neckar river valley, near the picturesque former imperial city of Neckargemünd. Built around 1150 by the counts of Lauffen, ... read more

Today we had booked an excursion to visit one of the most scenic and romantic stretches of the famous Rhine River. The tour combined a bus ride from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden, then continued through several small villages along the east bank of the river until we reached the small villages of Rüdesheim and Assmanshausen, where we boarded a ship for a very pleasant cruise. Many vineyards and castles dot the landscape along this stretch of the Rhine. These fortified castles provided great strategic value back in medieval times, so most of them occupy the high ground on both sides of the river. The mighty Rhine (spelled "Rhein" in German) is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe. From its sources in Switzerland, the river flows 760 miles in a mostly northerly direction through Germany and ... read more

This year's odyssey officially began with wheels-up at 8:30 yesterday evening from Orlando International Airport, when our Lufthansa jumbo jet climbed skyward as the sun started to set in the west. A little over 8 hours later we touched down in Frankfurt, slightly ahead of schedule, although by the time we exited the plane, walked for about 20 minutes to reach customs, and then baggage claim (where our suitcases were the last ones on the carousel), our pre-arranged taxi driver believed we were "no-shows". Fortunately, the driver returned to the arrivals area to check again, whereupon we made contact. Thus all ended well, as we were delivered in short order to our small hotel in the western section of the city. After checking into our hotel we walked to a nearby pizzeria for a bite to ... read more