Where does the time go?

We are just finishing up our Christmas break and what a wonderful break it has been. Delynn was able to take a quick trip home for Christopher and Lucy's wedding and we trained up to Heidelberg for an overnighter with the Barbour family. Tomorrow we get back to school and see our students - I am rather looking forward to teaching them again. During the break, we did get a little bit of snow one day. This was about as bad as it got, so no worries here. I think everything looks pretty in snow.


Heidelberg is located about 4 hours (by "slow" train) north of Weil am Rhein. It is on the northern most border of Baden-Württemberg. Since it is in the same state as Weil, the five of us happy travellers were able to ride using a special train ticket for € 27. It is a really great deal, but the restriction is that it is only good on the regional trains. We call these the "milk-run" trains because they stop in every little town with a train stop. Heidelberg was really quaint, but as you can probably tell from the photos, it was a bit nippy. We were blessed with non-rainy and beautiful blue skies on Friday but the cold wind could take one's breath away. We walked up to the castle (yes, that's right, we walked up the hill to the castle - Michael actually ran for a few meters) to have a look around. The castle is most stunning for the views that it gives of the city. We could just stand, look down on the city and sigh thinking about how blessed we are to live here right now.

The city of Heidelberg as seen from the castle.

Layering the clothing helps... somewhat...

Our hotel, the Vier Jahreszeiten, is located directly on the Neckar river next to an old city gate and just up the street from the Heiligegeistkirche. This was a view out of our hotel window... Pretty sweet!

Travelling in the winter does have its advantages. Hotel prices are lower, which is really great for those living with the currently weak dollar. Crowds at the major attractions are minimal and folks are glad for the business. For example, when we visited the Schnitzelhaus (Home to 100 different types of schnitzel) we didn't have to wait long at all to get a table - actually, being the North Americans, we were the first ones at the door when they opened because we were cold and hungry! Our hotel proprietor regaled us with stories of the famous 1980-81 icehockey team from Garmish which had several famous players (I didn't know a single one but smiled and nodded in the approprite places). The only really crowded time was on the train back Friday night - we should have known better than to return on a Friday evening when everyone is travelling for the weekend. When we first got on the train in Karlsruhe, we had to stand for 10-15 minutes before some seats opened up a couple of stops later.

Great news! We just found out that our sisters (Deanne and Denise) will be coming for a visit in the spring - yeah! They will be joining us over the Easter holidays at our home here. Looks like we will need to get planning for some trips...

Wishing everyone the very best for the new year!