Day 60 (August 7th): Baden Baden, Heidelberg & Frankfurt

We woke up at 8:30 AM, showered and packed up our stuff before heading downstairs for the nice buffet breakfast. Everybody ate the same things as yesterday. Kids had croissants and cereal and I had the lox on pretzel bread. After breakfast we went back to the room and finished packing. We then had the bags brought down and the car brought around front. Our goal for the day was to drive to Heidelberg and then to stay over in Frankfurt so we could catch our plane tomorrow. Since we didn't have a hotel room in Frankfurt, Al used the hotel Internet connection and booked us a room at the Holiday Inn near the airport. She finished up and we walked around the corner in the rain and checked out a couple of children clothing stores. The kids couldn't find anything they wanted so we walked down the block to the supermarket and picked up some drinks and snacks for the drive. The drive to Heidelberg was only 55 miles but it took us around 1.5 hrs because of the rain and traffic. Our first stop in Heidelberg was the famous castle at the top of the mountain. The kids were not very interested in walking around the castle, so we drove right up to it and took some pictures of the outside (see picture on left). We then took the windy road down the mountain and parked the car in a parking lot right next to the main street. Our first stop was lunch at a Turkish pizza place. We all got pizzas that everybody enjoyed. We continued walking around town after lunch and stopped in a number of stores looking for souvenirs. All the stores sold pretty much the same stuff. The rain did not let up and not everybody was happy (see middle picture. Yes, that is a "bird"). We walked down to the river and got a nice view of the surrounding area and of the castle on the mountain (see picture on right). Our next stop was the Rathaus and then we bought some souvenirs for the kids friends; doll, big gummi bear, wood toy. It was getting late so we headed back to the car and drove 1.25 hrs to the Holiday Inn at Frankfurt. We unloaded our stuff and brought it up to the room. The room was fine especially since it had two large beds and breakfast was included. Speaking of food, it was time for dinner so we walked a couple of blocks down the road and ate at an Italian restaurant. Hannah had salad, Zach had a pizza and I had a pasta with a nice beer. Dinner was ok and we walked back to the room, showered the kids and hit the sack.