Europe 2010 - Part 7

October 14, 2010   Heidelberg, Germany

My being sick last night gave everyone a reason to take a breather. By the time the kids were ready and all of us were nourished it was quite late in the noon. Slowly we dragged ourselves to the Heidelberg Castle. On the way up Nits stopped at a cafe. As much as I whined about it to him I was glad we stopped because the cappuccino was essential to keep my head up. I was tired with the fever and felt very sleepy. The kids had a ball there playing catch inside the restaurant.

From there we drove to the castle which was beautiful in the most scenic and serene way. It is hard not to think about how the place must have been during it's hey day or in Hitler's prime. The view from the gardens are something that the photos we have cannot do justice to. It was the perfect view of a medieval town from atop a location of power. Later we walked inside the impressive courtyard of the castle where I spent sometime with Babs explaining to her how a princess would have walked the passage and she tried to imitate it. It was funny and worth it. She was really tired by now but she wanted to hear me tell her about prince and princess!

The guys decided to take a detour and Nits wanted to show G his favorite bar in the city. Even before we had driven for 5 minutes from the castle both the kids had fallen fast asleep. I suggested that I could drive GP and the kids home while the guys could have a chilled out time without us and give them some catching up time too. This was met with reluctant acceptance from the guys because they did not know what was coming next :P Most of the time when we offered them amnesty it was always conditional and sometimes the conditions (as per their opinion) were harsh. But this time around we were nice enough to let them hang out and head home.

Being girls, once we got home, we dived into packing for the Swiss trip the next day and then I suggested we do some cooking. As my stomach still grumbled at odd times I did not want to put it to test on Swiss food. GP was also up for it and we quickly made Puliyodharai, curd rice and potatoes and also some dal for dinner the same night. After all was done and the kids were not there to bother us we settled down trying to watch some movie while we ate. We also opened a bottle of bubbly and tried to unsuccessfully drink one glass before the guys came home.

Thanks for my pink health that we almost wasted a whole day doing not too much. But I guess everyone got recharged for Day 1 in Switzerland!

PS:

• We saw a guy fondling another guy in public in the gardens of Heidelberg Castle. It was weird. Not because they were gay but public boob fondling is always weird.
• I cannot say this enough but I was super impressed with German restrooms. You pay for them, they give you a gift voucher and you use friggin' super clean restrooms!
• Kids are favorites in Germany. When we were in the Blackforest restaurant (I mentioned in my last post), the kids got into a fight because both of them were tired, hungry, and were fighting sleep. They were both throwing mini tantrums. Typically in most places the rest of the patrons will frown upon such events. But there, people around us looked at the kids and smiled at them and told us how beautiful they were. A couple of them also gave them candy's that came with their coffee to these brats! Imagine that!
• Remember, "Kinder, Bitte." Helps!