Days 8-10: Landstuhl & Heidelberg

Tag!

During the past few days we've gotten to tour two more castles (I should be a princess by now) and caught up with some good family friends, the Sanchez family. Genießen!

On Monday, we went to see Burg Nanstein, which was about a 15 minute walk from Eunice and Andy's place. It was built around the year 1162 under the rule of  Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, who began its construction as additional defense for the Palatinate.

Tree carving we passed on our way up to the castle.

The next day, Eunice took us on an hour-long drive to Heidelberg. Here we got to see Heidelberg Castle, probably the most beautiful and elaborate of the three castles we've visited thus far. The oldest part of the castle was built before 1214. Since then, there has been a lot of destruction (twice due to lightning bolts) and reconstruction. You can tell the difference between older and newer structures partially by looking at the bricks; older bricks have single holes in them (a tour guide told Eunice that back in the day they used some sort of rope pulley system to lift/stack them). Apparently Hitler used to host parties in this very castle.

Pulled this photo from Google so you can get a feel for its grandiosity.

300+ steps to get to the top.

This was my favorite part of the castle because you can see through the inside, since half of it fell off.

The Old Bridge.

To finish off the day, we headed over to the Sanchez family's house for (a very, very good) dinner. I think it's been... 5 years since we've seen them? They are such a fun and kind family. Seeing them made me miss my parents even more.

That's it for now. Tschüss!

P.S. I started a coaster collection when I first got here and it's slowly starting to accumulate :)