Heidelberg

 It was freezing Thanksgiving weekend but we figured we would brave the cold and go experience a part of Germany.

Heidelberg is a town about an hour away so we packed the kids up and headed down there.

With the first structure being built in 1214 this castle was considered the most important North of the Alps.

The castle was partially destroyed three times, two because of lightning bolts and once because of a nine year war.

It is a very old castle, so naturally some natural decay has occurred and you can see where portions of it have literally just broken in half.

There were some gorgeous sights, even in the blandness of early winter. Every year to celebrate the castles history they have a ceremony called "Lighting of the Castle" where they have lights and fireworks and perform a light show symbolic of the castle being burned down.

On the inner walls of the courtyard they have statues made of all of the Kings and Queens, hundreds of them. Naturally we had to include ourselves.

Despite the cold it was a fun day, we had tickets to go on the guided tour, but we got there so late the kids were tired and hungry and it didn't last more than ten minutes.

We will return one day when it is warmer, and with full children.

This is a wine barrel that is probably 3 people tall, they really liked their wine then!