Schloss Heidelberg and Schloss Palmer

They say a man's house is his castle.  Well this week you will see both ends of the spectrum when it comes to a man's ( or woman's) castle.


We are settled in...hooray!  The house is looking like a home even down in the storage room which is still jumble of boxes full of things that are waiting for a home on shelves which have not even been purchased yet.  I seem to always have a room that looks like that, so it really is looking like OUR home, anyway!

We still have a few more pics to hang but it feels cozy and comfortable. This is a pic of the living room / dining room area and you can see the doorway into the very small kitchen.

Here's a picture of the guest room.  It's all ready for you to come visit!   

Travis' room is huge and so he has it divided into a sleeping area, dressing area, study area(yeah, right!) and a gaming area.  It's his "man cave" and he loves it!












So much for Schloss Palmer, which by the way means Palmer Castle.  Now let's see the other end of the spectrum...

Yesterday we went to Heidelberg to visit the castle and see the city.  The city is much bigger than I expected.  Heidelberg is on the banks of the Neckar river and up on the hill overlooking the city, is an awesome castle. 

 It was an extremely fortified Gothic castle built and added on to over four centuries between the 13th and 17th centuries.  It is mostly in ruins now, but there is still a lot of it left to explore.  The old cobblestone road up to the castle was fairly steep and it took about five minutes to walk up.  We walked all around the enclosed courtyards and saw the biggest wine vat ever built that was built and used in 1740 something!  

This is a pic me and Travis standing in front of the vat.  There was also an apothecary museum we went through that had some very interesting things in it.  I was amazed at the many blown glass instruments and containers down in the laboratory. 

 The view from the castle was breathtakingly beautiful.  It had been overcast and a bit drizzly but just before we started the walk down, the sun came peeking through the clouds and spread a sparkling light all over Heidelberg down below.  I had to keep pinching myself all afternoon to make myself realize I was standing in a castle in Germany!  Sometimes I just can't believe it and I will never take this experience for granted!


Other news this week....
Mike bought a car.  A BMW diesel.  It's not too old and Travis doesn't have any bad names for it like he did our white mercedes rental.  It will be a great car to tour around in.  He is out of town for three days in a suburb of Paris.  He had some meetings to go to over there.  Next week he goes to Turkey for four days.  
Travis and his friends went to an indoor/outdoor swimmng complex called Monte Marte.  It has high dives, a wave pool and big slides.  He also spent a few evenings at friends houses watching movies.  They all have so much fun just hanging out together. They had to say good-bye to one of the girls in their group who moved back to the states.  It was pretty hard on them. It is such a tight group of friends here.  

I was busy with cooking and german class and Officers spouses club activities.  I know I am busy when I don't have time to shop!


My german teacher, Jenny, told us her story of growing up in East Berlin and how they had almost nothing to cook with.  They made a dessert called Kalte Hund. It was butter cookies layered with cocoa mixed with water.  NO sugar, just cocoa and water!   She was 15 when the wall came down and she said when they went to the other side there were people there to welcome them and they gave them cookies.  They were the best tasting things she had ever eaten!  Jenny also said when people ask her to describe how it felt to have the wall come down, she said it was like in the movie "Pleasantville or Wizard of Oz".  It was like her world went from black and white to color.  


I was so impressed with her stories that I wanted to share them with you.  I am so grateful to have the life I have had.  I have been blessed beyond words.  
I love and miss you all!
-corri