I was up super early courtesy of jet lag. Ash slept in until 7am so I was glad one of us got decent rest. We were down for breakfast when they opened at 7:30am and on the road about 9am.

First stop: Heidelberg, about an hour away. It’s about 850 years old, famous for a university that’s been around since the 14th century, and a castle that’s been around longer than that. Population about 170k, it felt good to be in a proper city again.

This is not the Rhine but the Neckar River. We didn’t know it at the time we made this crossing but the walk we were about to go on would go by all of those beautiful houses on the left.

Called The Philosopher’s Walk, it’s a good half mile in the hills above the river bank, with incredible views of the city across the way. With beautiful gardens at times on this side, as seen above.

This is the money shot but it’s hard to see the way the sun is shining. The bridge on the left is a pedestrian bridge we will soon cross. The church on the same line-ish on the right is the Church of the Holy Spirit. Built as a Catholic Church in the 1400s, it has changed denominations 10 times and is currently Evangelical. Above that is Heidelberg Castle. We were never planning to go inside of it and we stuck with that.

It was nearly a straight walk down the hill to the bridge.

Crossing the bridge.

It was approaching 12:30 and we were ready for lunch. We stopped at a place that had a bit of everything. We each had a soup and shared a salad.

Oh and an apple strudel with vanilla sauce.

The main square, above and below.

We liked this town and can imagine spending more time here at some point. But today we were on a mission. So we made our way out about 2 P.M.

It was almost 2 hours to our next stop, but along a route I was very familiar with, just by train. This is the heart of the Romantic Rhine and I couldn’t resist a couple of shots along the way. These are the same places I photographed from a train in 2013.

I don’t even know what they are, really, I just think they look cool from across the river. Maybe on this trip I will actually find out.

We are staying at Burghotel Auf Schonburg. As a castle, it dates back to the 11th century. At the height of its power in the 14th century, 250 families lived here. Remember that a castle is as much of fortress as it is a residence. It was destroyed during a war in the late 1600s and remained as ruins for over 200 years.

An American of German ancestry bought the castle from the town of Oberwesel and invested over 2 million Marks restoring it from the late 1800s – 1914. The town bought it back from his son in 1950. Since 1957, the Huttl family has been leasing it from the town and running it as a hotel while living here. Today we met one of the brothers who manages it as the 3rd generation.

I’m going to do something uncharacteristic for me and show photos not in the order they were taken in. Essentially all we did once we got here was settle in, go for a walk into town, come back and have dinner. But all of that took four hours. 

As seen on the hill overlooking the town of Oberwesel.

Our first experience of the castle just past the outer protective wall from the parking lot. With the vineyards in the background. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but I literally started laughing I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. It’s the scale that’s hard to take in. Notice the doorway bottom right that is 7 feet high at least.

Looking back at that protective wall.

Inner courtyard. The door left of center is guest check-in. The window in the middle of all the green is our bedroom window.

This is looking back from guest check-in. The restaurant where we had dinner tonight is in the building on the right.

Hallway to our room.

Keys to our room. When was the last time you had an actual hotel room key? Much less one that could also be a paperweight?

Thinking this would be a very small room like our last castle, Ash asked at check in about the chances of getting a bigger room. She just laughed and said “you have a suite.” Remember, we just booked this last week and took like the last thing they had, not really knowing what it was. We just wanted to be here.

But all of what follows is ours.

Our bedroom.

In case we had kids: a little side room with 2 small beds.

Bathroom. Toilet behind me.

Sitting room or library if you like. Just for us. I’m curled up in the corner on the left as I type.

Wild.

A few photos from our walk to town.

Notice Ash far right.

We were really shocked that the vast majority of these graves – and this is maybe 1/5 of this cemetery- are from this millennium.

The official town center.

Our seats at dinner. I was up against a tapestry on a bench built into the wall

We shared escargot in a puff pastry, and a simple salad.

My veal on the left with carrots and potatoes. Ash had chicken goulash with rice. He really liked it. (Which I was glad about because I had encouraged it.)

Ash had the gourmand – tea with 3 tiny desserts.

I had chocolate cake with ice cream and fruit.

Current situation. (Although I’m not drinking the brandy, of course.)

I left a fair number of photos out but that’s definitely enough. I didn’t think I was going to be able to get this done tonight but I got a second wind after taking a shower.

We have what should be a fun day planned tomorrow. Time for some much needed sleep.