Germany.

That’s right, today we traveled to the German city of Heidelberg! The two draws were a ruined palace on the hill and a German Christmas Market instead of a French one.

We got going a bit later so didn’t arrive until noon. Not that big of a deal for two reasons. First, the markets don’t really get going until it gets dark. Two, we wanted to see the palace first but it doesn’t take a huge amount of time. So, we settled down to a great lunch! Got lucky too as we got one of the last tables and watched the servers turn away around 20 people or more after we sat down.

After lunch we headed up the hill to the palace. Not to worry, no real hiking was involved as there is a funicular that takes you up the hill.

The palace itself is mostly a ruin after being partially burned down then hit by lightning twice. Parts of the palace have been restored. Oh and it houses, what I believe is, the world’s largest wine barrel.

There was also an apothecary museum which was very warm.

When we had finished with the castle fun, we headed back down for the market.

Finished off the day with dinner at the market.