Heidelberg with Johanna!

I had the pleasure of teaching Johanna back home this past year. She and her Mom came over from Germany a couple of years ago. They came back here to visit this summer and we had the chance to get together! What a small world, when you can see your student across the world! Here we are in Heidelberg, Johanna's home town.
Everyone rides their bikes here. There were thousands of bikes outside the train station!
Johanna was an amazing tour guide and told us all about the Heidelberg castle. This is a story about a witch who tried to take the castle from the queen. He made a deal with her and said if she could bite through the iron ring, then she could have the kingdom...
NOT QUITE!!!!

Here we are in the courtyard of the castle.

Strike a pose!

The world's largest barrel! (Literally!)

Johanna is standing in a footprint on the other side of the castle. Legend has it that a knight was rescuing the princess. Holding her in his arms, he jumped to safety, leaving a footprint from the impact!

My knight in shining armor!

We're in the castle looking down over the town of Heidelberg~

Most of Heidelberg was preserved during the war, but half of this tower collapsed when a bomb fell on it. The tower held gun powder, so it didn't have much of a chance!

Isn't he a good sport! AFTER posing for the picture, we found out that this shot guaranteed a trip back. So I guess JC is coming back to Heidelberg and I'm going back to Rome!

~ A typical street view~

~Johanna, Nina and Tristen~

~We love ice cream!~

Four times a summer, Heidelberg hosts an amazing fireworks display and make the castle look like it's burning. We were there on the perfect weekend! After our dinner we went to a concert where Nina's Dad, Martin, sang. The M.C. welcomed us personally to the show and translated all the song introductions into English for us! Almost all the songs were in English and we felt so at home! Their voices were beautiful and we really enjoyed ourselves. After the concert we grabbed a beer from a pub and went outside to watch the fireworks. Look carefully and you can see the Old Bridge.

Our room at Wasser-Boch. It was so nice!! Nina used to work here and set it up for us. The breakfast was AMAZING!!!

Sunday morning we crossed the river and went to Germany's oldest Church. Here are some pictures from the original part of it.

Afterwards Nina's Dad, Martin, showed us around the mountain. Here's an old look-out tower.

~Lauren, Nina, and Johanna~

The view from the other side of the river! You can see the town, then the castle on the other side!

~Nina, Johanna, and Lauren~

~JC and Johanna are in jail!~

~The ruins from an old monetary~

~ This area's first bishop~

~An old arena (with lots of stairs!)~

Johanna taught me a chant/step to pass the time when you're walking. It goes like this:

Eins, und zwei, und drei, und

vier, und fuenf, und sechs, und

seben, und acht, und neun, und zehn.

Ein Hut, ein Stock, ein Regenschirm-

vorwarts, rueckwarts, seitwards, stehen!

(On the last past your step forwards, backwards, sideways then together!)