Well. :)

Our time in Germany is almost up, and it seems as though we just arrived. :) Last time we wrote, we had just spent a few days here, and now its been more than a week!


On Monday, Ralph, Ruth and a friend named Jonathon went to Heidelberg, and it was BEAUTIFUL. You'll see some pictures of it below, but deciding which pictures to put up was hard. It was so beautiful, and definately felt surreal at times, just too good to be true. God's creation, the trees and mountains and rivers.. It was indescribable. :) This trip is largely about, for me, learning and growing in appreciation for things I take for granted. In India, it was simple things, like water and food.. and safety? :)  Here in Europe, its so different. Food and water are easy to come by, but a smile on the street? ..Not impossible, I've learned, but it seems not as easy as in Canada. :) I am also starting to re-appreciate the beauty in everything. Its true, Saskatchewan is nothing like the rivers and hills and old buildings of Germany. But I miss it! There is something so picturesque and wonderful about the golden fields and rolling hills. I haven't found anything yet that compares. I have had the Rawling Brother's stuck in my head for days. :) "Silver sage on rolling hills..." ..Mmm, beautiful. This trip is also largely about learning and growing in appreciation for things that I just have never encountered before.
Something I have defiantely never encountered before are castles. Jonathon, Anna and I explored this one for a good couple hours. It was incredible. HUGE and soo beautiful.

 Inside the CASTLE! It was breathtaking.. I could live there, probably. Why not. :)

Ralph and Ruth had a retreat they are helping to put on this weekend for their church, so it was Anna and I.. home alone. Bad news..? Haha, no. We are responsible adults. .. It has been really fun. :) We went out and bought groceries, (that was an experience.. but I'm sure we gave some people in the store a laugh, so thats good, right?) :) and wandered downtown, and came across a few fun looking parks!! So, we had to play on them for a while. We felt like kids again.. but then, we often do. :)

 Doing a little trick riding in some of the random parks we've found.. :)

 Probably the scariest piece of playground fun we've ever been on. I think we were too big for it.. :)

 This was the most bizzare playground.. Take a look at this slide (..?) and you tell me.. what was the logic behind it???

 Again.. it just didn't make much sense. What are you supposed to DO? :) But it was fun!

When we went to Heidelberg on Monday, we didn't get a lot of chance to look around, so on Saturday, Anna and I went back. :)  After we were done with the parks, :) we took the street car (like a tram) to Heidelberg. It was so fun! It was maybe a 40 minute ride, with all the stopping and such. It was beautiful.

When we got there, we walked around, and started discovering little pockets of absolute beauty. 

 The beautiful old buildings are my favorite. :) 

(Ok, the word "beautful" is getting QUITE overused. So, I'm going to start using some synonyms, ok? :) )

These buildings are graceful and grand. :) Yup.

 Notice how the cars are parked half on street, half on the sidewalk.. This is the norm in Mannheim and Heidelberg, anyways. (I'm not sure about the rest of Germany.) It is illegal to NOT do this. :) It does save space on the road, I suppose.. Anna was wondering, "Why don't they just make the sidewalks smaller..?" Hmm. Dunno.

We had packed a bag lunch, and after walking the streets for a while, taking numerous similar-looking pictures of beautiful old buildings, we decided to climb the side of a hill to eat our lunch. Whew.. Can anyone say, "Bad idea.."? Haha, NO. It was a hard climb.. but it was SO worth it! We wanted to find a nice picnic spot, but the pickings were few.. We got to where we almost gave up and eat our lunch on the side of the path. But then, we decided, "..just a few more steps, I feel like there is something promising right around the corner.."Alas. The perfect spot. With a beautiful view of the Heidelberg Castle, it WAS indeed quite perfect. Yay for perseverance. :) 

The view. Incredible. :) Purely pulchritudinous. (Its true. It means beautiful.)  :)

 It was a little bit hazy today, but this is our castle. :) (You can see a better picture of it online if you look up "Heidelberg Castle", but this is one WE took. :)

We had lunch, and then noticed that there was a pretty steady stream of people going up past us, and so, after we were done eating, we decided to follow the trail some more to check out what all the fuss was about. It was worth it, again. We found little gardens, and parks! More parks! It was a grand ol time, once again. I/we just love parks. :)

 This one was awesome.. So much fun! However, I couldn't tell you what it is.. :)

 Climbing some hills, just up from the park. It was so fun. :) I looove nature.

There was some really cool, old rickety stone staircases in the middle of steep, on-the-side-of-a-mountain fields. :) And there was a big tower with a spiral staircase that we immediately climbed. :)

 Our staircase leading up to..

 ..our TOWER! It was a great view. Simply sublime. :)

Beauty. Its everywhere! :)

  

Spring is springing in Heidelberg!!

..and not just in the gardens.. :) 

 Some pleasing, pink, pretty flowers. :)

 The view from one of the two bridges crossing the Neckar River, running through Heidelberg. The huge pink-ish building(s) on the right is the castle. Such a cute town to wander through. :)

It was a wonderful day, all-in-all. We got back and went for supper aaatt.. Pizza Hut! Mmmm good. "Pizza Made The American Way", it said on the outside of the window. :) Then came home and watched Monsters Inc and some Home Improvement. A gooood day. :)
We'll write more later!
God Bless,
Demara