Travel Yayas: Saturday in Heidleberg!

Today the plan was to finish up the shopping and then head u

p to the castle, "Have fun stormin the castle!" (Princess Bride). We had nutella, peanut butter, graham crackers, toast, and cherries (yum)!

This is a picture of Julia's Mad Med chip and dip bowl, and Ritter candy bars!

Over breakfast we talked about the drinking and smoking in Germany - tons of smoking, just like Italy. And the drinking age is 16, but the driving age is 18, so when you're riding the bus or train you'll encounter large groups of teens drinking and frolicking. They say lots of people getting drunk on public transportation. But not a lot of trouble with drinking and driving. It takes a lot to drive here - you have to have classes that cost thousands of Euro, and then the license itself costs over a thousand Euro. So by the time you drive, you respect it more.

And in order to open a business here you have to be a master in whatever business. So you can't just decide to open a bakery or sell some windows - you have to apprentice, work your way up and become a certified master. It ensures the quality of the goods and services here.

Yesterday Julia introduced us to this great antibiotic cream made in France - they received it from the apothecary (almost as good as a doctor here), when one of the kids scrapped up their leg (large are of concrete burn) - put on this cream and the next day, CURED. So the Murphy's call it Jesus cream - it heals whatever it touches. We bought some to take home. :)

We got ready and headed out to tie up loose shopping ends - got some T-shirts with the German sayings that Joe and Flower helped us translate (I would tell you what they said but then I'd have to kill you)- found a few things at the Christmas store - and mailed our postcards. Julia has a strict policy on postcards, you get them the first day of the trip and send them so that they're on their way. You also keep a postcard log by city - list below who you sent postcards to. We haven't been that organized, we are studying at the knee of the master, clearly.

As we go along the Hauptstrasse again I think I've finally got a full grasp on the periods and commas related to Euros. It was strange at first because they use commas where we use periods. So instead of $2.50 its €2,50 ... And instead of commas, they use periods, So not $100,000 - its €100.000 - that looks the strangest to me, like the put an extra zero on $100.00. Also there are lots of sale signs here, but they don't say things like "40-50%" off... they just say "%"... odd. Come in, we have percent off!

We see a few signs for "iced drinks" and we laugh - the pictures are of frozen drinks. So the only way you get ice in your drink here is if its crushed and blended in. The street signs make us laugh too - streets are Strasse (or straBe), but alleys or smaller streets are Gasse... So we have several versions of streets about gasse. My favorite is the Mitellbadgasse.. OH, and passages for entering or exiting are Farhts! An entrance is an Enfarht... An exit is an Ausfarht. Now come on. We may be 13 mentally, but that's a little funny to every American, right?

We head to the very end of the Hauptstrasse for our second doner in two days.

This is the place that Julia calls "The Man". He laughed at us a little because we didn't speak German, but it was cute - he was bemused, not mocking. If you order something at the counter, but eat in, you don't pay until after you finish. It feels weird. So then after you're done you go up and tell them what you had. John says that its because if you eat in, maybe you'll add drinks or get something else. Man, those things are filling! We're convinced we'll never be hungry again.

We wanted to go to the backerei (backery) to get some "apple purses" for dessert for the Murphys - they said they were incredible... The germans certainly know what to do with an apple. The bakers have no idea what we're talking about when we ask for apple purses... Apples pockets?... Blank stare. We huddle and confer - maybe strudel means purse? We opt for the strudel. Dinner will be grilled chicken salad - but we're so stuffed, we're thinking maybe a bowl of cereal and strudel.

We headed back to Murphy Central to drop off packages and the strudel - and then we head back out to go check out the castle (Kasse). We got the combination ticket which says that its a ride and the castle entry - we thought it would be cool to see the views from the very top and then come down and see the castle. Its a tram ride up - and there are three stops: the castle, the middle and the top. So we decided to go all the way up first - and at the middle we have to transfer trains. We get out and put our ticket in... Red light and buzzzzz - again, and again... We're confused. Turns out the combo is just a ride to the castle, and the entrance to the castle - we weren't even authorized to go to the middle, but the guy let us down for free. I think the confusion happen often.

The castle is cool - very castley, and great views of the town below.

Got pics and we are beat...

Back to Murphy Headquarters to chill. The world cup is on tv, but not our game - and once its over we have two hours to kill before US plays. We put in Mad Men - Julia is more than a little disappointed in us for not watching it. After a couple of episodes and our solemn pledge to Julia that we will continue to watch it - its time for dinner. And we were wrong, we are hungry.

John provided this incredible spread - better than many salad bars...

And American dressing (ranch, blue cheese, peppercorn)... Boiled eggs, peas, cucumbers, 2 kinds of cheeses a

nd the most amazing seasoned chicken. We dug into the strudel.

By this time the game was on, but when we turned it on the US was already down one. Dang! But we also have a free jazz concert right under our windows in the church parking lot. Julia says this happens one day out of the year, and we're lucky we're here. It was great!