European Adventure: Part 4: Heidelberg Castle

Friday morning, Edgar, Daniel and Omid had to go to the office, so I was on my own for sightseeing. I took a train to the town of Heidelberg, then caught a bus that dropped me off at the base of a very steep hill. Right at the bus station, you look up and Voila! There is Schloss Heidelberg looking down at you.

Fun fact: Schloss in German = castle

It was super cold (39*) in Heidelberg. Thankfully, I found a shop that sold hat/gloves and was able to save my ears/hands from the bitter cold.

Marktplatz Heidelberg

Heidelberg is so cute! Totally reminded me of Leavenworth, Washington

I wish I had a taken a photo of the long, steep hill to get to the back side of the castle. I like to think I am in pretty good shape, but I had to stop several times just to catch my breath. It was no joke. There is a funicular that you can ride to the top (round trip $7). If you purchase a castle tour, the ride down is included in the price.

Finally made it to the back entrance.

View from the top!

Heidelberg peek-a-boo!

Castle courtyard

I joined a castle tour ($10) and it was in English. Our group had consisted of Americans, Brazilians, and Australians. We learned that the castle dungeon was never empty and was always at capacity.

Fun fact: This wine barrel holds 12,000 gallons of wine.

Even funner fact: This wine barrel holds 55,000 gallons of wine AND has a dance floor on the top!

I spent the entire day at the castle and down in Heidelberg. It was a great day adventure. I took the bus and the train back to Heilbronn to meet Omid and the gang for dinner.

Say cheese!
Elena, me, Daniel, Sasha, Peter, Edgar & Omid

We had dinner at this great restaurant. Edgar and I got the chef's choice tasting menu (4 courses). Daniel really tried to convince me to order the schnitzel, but I couldn't pass up the tasting menu. It was absolutely delicious and I am so glad I ordered it.  We also sampled several local wines at this restaurant. Each one was better than the last.

Fun fact: German wines are absolutely delicious!

European Adventure Part Three!

After our 1.5 days in Barcelona, we were up bright and early to catch a flight to Germany. Little did we know the German Airwings Airline was on strike and only 5 flights were leaving Barcelona. The lines at the airport were crazy long and we were lucky enough to be on one of the five flights out! Our friend, Daniel in  Germany was texting Omid and Edgar and keeping them posted on the strike.

We arrived in Stuttgart to Daniel and his sweet sign his daughters had made for us.

 

Daniel took us straight to the town of Heilbronn.

 

We learned that during WWII, the entire town was destroyed except for the city hall and the local church.  

Fun fact: Daniel and his wife Anne got  married in Heilbronn City Hall.

 

 After walking around the town of Heilbronn, Omid spotted a curry wurst restaurant. The last time Omid had curry wurst was 34 years ago when he was only 13 years old and waiting for his visa to enter the US. He was curious if the sausages still tasted the same. To his delight, they did!!! YAY curry wurst!

Toasting curry wurst, friends and making memories!! #prost

 

After our snack, we walked some more around Heilbronn, then went to a café to have a cappuccino in a giant bowl. Omid and I actually had milk coffee, and they were delicious too.  We sat in the sun, talked and people watched for quite some time. ☺

Daniel and I had planned a tentative itinerary of fun places to visit when he was in the US the week before. He knew I wanted to see castles! After our coffee, we were on to our first adventure in Weinbergs.

We stopped at Johannes Kirch which dates back to the year 1200.

The entire area is surrounded by vineyards.
This is the view from the parking lot. Pretty nice!

Vineyard peek-a-boo!

From the churchyard, it was a short walk up to the castle ruin: Burgruine Weibertreu.  Here is a quick synopsis on the legend of the Wives of Weibertreu:

When King Conrad III defeated the Duke of Welf (in the year 1140) and placed Weinsberg under siege, the wives of the besieged castle negotiated a surrender which granted them the right to leave with whatever they could carry on their shoulders. The king allowed them that much. Leaving everything else aside, each woman took her own husband on her shoulders and carried him out. When the king's people saw what was happening, many of them said that that was not what had been meant and wanted to put a stop to it. But the king laughed and accepted the women's clever trick. "A king" he said, "should always stand by his word."

 

 

This first castle ruin was just amazing. The views from 360* were of vineyards.

It was absolutely amazing and a great first adventure with Daniel.

 

AUDI has it's headquarters in Heilbronn. We stopped by the Audi Experience right before they closed (5 minutes!). We got see many beautiful cars.

 

Audi R8

 

 

After this we met other friends of Omid & Daniel and had dinner overlooking this same spectacular view.

First dinner in Germany!
Spaetzle, pork medallions with mushrooms, pesto ravioli and French fries. Yummy!

 

European Adventure - Part Two!

The faces of jet lag!

On our second day in Spain, Omid, Edgar and I had dinner with several of their colleagues. Dinner was in the adorable town of San Cugat de Valles (where we were staying).

Fun fact: San Cugat is even more expensive than Barcelona!

Benedictine Monastery in San Cugat
Fun fact: It was built in the 9th century!

Up close & personal.
It was absolutely beautiful!
 

Dinner with the team at La Barra. Dinner lasted about three hours. We tried at least ten different tapas items. Everything was delicious! One thing for sure, the food in Barcelona did not disappoint!!

Crema Cataluyna for dessert! Think orange flavored crème brulee.
The only thing I wasn't able to eat in Spain was an authentic churro. Believe it or not, I couldn't find a place that sold them. Omid's coworker, Jordi, said PDX has an authentic churro restaurant (owned by a Catalunyan). He gave us the information and hopefully we will visit soon!

European Adventure - Part One!

Hello Adventure! I love it when I get to tag along on business trips!

Adventure awaits!
Unfortunately, it took us SO long to get to Barcelona from PDX.
PDX to Vancouver, BC (I hour)
Vancouver, BC to Toronto (5 hours)
Toronto to Barcelona (9+ hours)

I wore Coug gear almost the entire trip and only got ONE GO COUGS!
That was in the enormously long line to go through customs in Barcelona.

We arrived at our hotel in San Cugat around 10:30 a.m. Omid and Edgar had to go straight to work, and I took a train to discover Barcelona. We only had 1.5 days in the city, so I had to narrow my list down to a few small tourist sites. The first stop was the Arc de Triomphe and Parc de la Citudella.

Fun fact:....Barcelona also had an Arc de Triomphe.

The rain in Spain at the Arc de Triomphe

Did you know? Barcelona is the pick pocketing capitol of Europe?! Rick Steves and my friend Lyn (lived in Barcelona for several years) both say so. I purchased a FlipBelt for the trip and my moolah was safe!

After exploring La Rambla as well, I headed back to the hotel to try to do something with my rain drenched hair before meeting Omid and Edgar for dinner.

Would you believe my flat iron DIED on this trip too? It also happened in Singapore!
Despite the travel adaptor, my flat iron was so powerful, it blew the circuits in the room and I had to
get maintenance to reset the breaker for me. I also had to take a ride into town to the local Eroski store (think Target) and purchase a new flat iron. It's now Nas' for her upcoming European travels.
The good news: I had nicely ironed hair for the rest of the trip!

Hair situation fixed, and the guys and I headed back on the train to Barcelona for dinner. First stop, a local tapas bar for Catalonian wine and jamon sandwiches.

Tasty!

La Rambla tourist selfie!
 

Edgar, Omid and I all love wine. We all love good cheese. And we all love a good Iberian jamon. Next stop was the Jamon Experience.

Iberian jamon!!

All my favorites: tempranillo wine, manchego cheese and Iberian jamon!

This restaurant was delicious!! Thankful we had Edgar along to translate the menu and order our food for us!
Fun fact: Not everyone in Barcelona speaks English!!!

 

By this time, it was late at night and we were all suffering from jet lag. We headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, Omid and Edgar headed in to work and I headed back to Barcelona. There was still so much to see!!

First stop: La Sagrada Familia!!!
Not so fun fact: You MUST purchase tickets online in advance.
LSF only has a small number of tickets available at the door and they usually sell out before 9:00 a.m.
Guess who didn't purchase her ticket online? :(
 

I was so disappointed, but live and learn.  I spent about an hour at LSF just walking all around the building and looking at all the outside architecture. Did you know, LSF will still not be finished in my lifetime? Wow!

After that, I took the train to Monjuic to visit the National Cataluniya Museum. One of the very nice Priests at UP (Father Rutherford) had told me it was a must see. I am so glad he gave me this advice. It was amazing!

Palau Nacional

View of Barcelona from the top!

This is the dome inside.
It was absolutely spectacular!!

I saw SO many amazing things in this museum! Works of art from the year 1000!!!! Frescoes from ancient churches, art from Mariano Fortuny! I stood in front of his very famous Odalisque painting. I can remember this work from my Art History class at WSU. It was very cool to see in person. I also saw paintings by Pablo Picasso.

 

If you travel to Barcelona, this museum is a must see! It's only $12 Euros and the ticket is good for two days. If we had another day in town, I definitely would have visited again.