This week was another week of firsts. Henry and I had a great outing one day this week to Zweibrucken, a city about an hour and a half southwest of Heidelberg. A colleague of John lives in the quaint city and graciously invited Henry and I for coffee and then took us to an awesome outlet mall just outside of the city. It was much nicer than most outlets in the states and we had a great time. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality Brigitte!! On that note, everyone at Deere has been so anxious to make us feel welcome and at home here in Germany, thank you.
On Friday afternoon, we again took the tram downtown Heidelberg. After the exciting tram ride, Henry soon fell asleep in his stroller, so John and I enjoyed the atmosphere and sites Heidelberg had to offer at night while he slept quietly. After a nice dinner, we headed back home. It was a perfect Friday night.
Saturday was a beautiful day here, sunny and almost 60 degrees!! John and Henry played outside all day with the neighbor girls and I went to a workout facility nearby. John's administrative assistant, Stefanie, joined me to help me through the process. After a short tour of the gym, which included a full spa, tanning, a restaurant, roof top lounge area and outside lakeside and fountain lounge (a bit more posh than the gyms at home) I met with a trainer to orientate me to the equipment. Since he spoke a decent amount of English, Stefanie left us for her own workout. I told the trainer, who was a young man in town attending Heidelberg University, that I was 5 months pregnant, he seemed to understand and we proceeded. He showed me a few leg exercises, then kept trying to steer me towards abdominal machines and telling how much they would benefit me. I repeatedly said, "No, thank you" and we would move on. Finally after about the fourth time he tried to get me to do some kind of a "crunch" I pointed to my stomach and said "kinder" (the German word for child). His eyes got really big and he started laughing.
Sunday was a cooler, very blustery day, so it seemed appropriate we head out for Frankenstein's Castle. It is only a short distance (45KM) from our house so it made for a great day trip. The Internet link for the castle is: http://www.darmstadt.de/en/sights/frankenstein/index.html. A short version is as follows. The first records of the castle date back to 948. After construction, it was apparently neglected until the 1800's when it was saved from further decay. It sits high in the mountains of overlooking the town of Darmstadt, but also has views of Worms, Oppenheim, Mainz and Frankfurt on clear days. This morning, it was quite cloudy and overcast, so we could not see that far, which was somewhat appropriate for the occasion.
Since it was still close to the Halloween holiday the castle was decorated with all of the classical decor one would expect. Coffins, skeletons, guillotines, and all other scary accessories associated with Frankenstein adorn the castle this time of year. Today, the castle was actually closed for tours because of the Halloween show that takes place during the evening hours, however, since we drove up the mountain, with a 2 year old, managed a stroller to the "front" door of the castle, the gentlemen kindly let us walk around. The show must be pretty spectacular. We saw evidence of pyrotechnics, special effects and it looked like there was going to be some kind of a performance, probably a little too much for Henry. Below are some pictures of our visit and one picture of our favorite little crew back in Iowa!!
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