More visitors to Heidelberg!

So it's been another busy couple of weeks and there's been lots going on, so I'm sorry for the delay in updates. But now I finally have a spare few moments so I'll catch you up on what's been happening here in Germany.

The last weekend brought my next group of visitors to Heidelberg, this time my auntie and uncle Jan and Peter and, once again, my mum :) It was unfortunately a flying visit; they arrived on Saturday afternoon and left on Monday. Nevertheless, we packed quite a bit into the weekend and it was lovely to see everyone.

Once they arrived on Saturday afternoon we enjoyed a late lunch at our favourite cafe in Heidelberg; Cafe Burkardt. And by lunch I mean lunch followed by a generous helping of cake. Well, it wouldn't be an afternoon in Germany without coffee and cake! After we'd replenished our energy it was time to hit the Hauptstrasse to do a bit of shopping before the shops shut. Unfortunately all the shops here shut so early that  things didn't quite go to plan. After walking right to the end of the street I found the shop I was most looking forward to showing them was already closed. That's the problem with being a London girl, I expect everything to stay open late everyday. Instead we decided to call it a day and head back to our hotels to freshen up before dinner. We hit another one of our Heidelberg haunts in the evening with a meal at Vetter,  a brewery and traditional German restaurant near the Old Bridge. Once again, we didn't go hungry; everything on the menu is served in massive platefuls, particularly the roast pork that auntie Jan ordered, or the half chicken that I went for. Somehow I managed to get through it though..!

Sunday started off as a lovely day, and we headed out after breakfast at our hotels to Neckargemünd. As I had only just over a month left, mum, Jan and Peter were being sent home with a selection of my belongings to make my suitcase at the end of July just a little bit less full. After a brief stop at my flat, we drove onto on of the neighbouring hilltop towns called Dilsberg. It was a very cute little place, mainly houses with just a couple of shops, cafes, a church and the main attraction, a castle.

This is genuinely their fire station. It looks like a cottage...

Being a Sunday, EVERYTHING was shut and we found ourselves on a search for somewhere to get a drink and/or ice cream. Eventually we  found that the castle had a small snack shop, so we paid the entry to get in. It was definitely worth the money, because once we were inside we found the staircase up to the battlements which gave an amazing view out across the river valley.

Once we left Dilsberg, Peter made the most of having a car and decided to take a drive through the hills and woods. We did, admittedly, get a little bit lost, or at least we drove a little further out of Heidelberg than we'd anticipated, but we did get some lovely views of the old town and river across the valley.

By then it was time for lunch, so we found ourselves in yet another one of my favourite cafés in Heidelberg. Once we'd eaten, we decided to take a short boat trip on the river to see the town from the water. There was a 50 minute round trip along the river on a solar powered boat which we decided was a good option, so at 4:30 we took a seat on the Neckarsonne and began our trip. It was a nice idea in theory, but in reality it didn't quite live up to expectations. We found that a large amount of the commentary was dedicated to discussing the complexities of the boat rather than talking about what we were seeing along the river. It was also just a little bit boring, and the slightly rainy weather didn't help. We were all close to nodding off by the end (Peter actually did), and we happily left the boat behind to go and sample yet more German cakes!

After a brief sleep to let the cake go down, we headed out for our final dinner in Heidelberg. We cleverly chose an Italian restaurant, which made for quite an entertaining evening considering it was the evening England played Italy in Euro 2012! We realised quickly that we would be sharing the staff with the television when we sat down to see all the staff crowded around a screen, singing the national anthem and waving sparklers. Nevertheless, the meal was great and the service was actually very good. Luckily we also left before it went to penalties and England lost...

Mum, Jan and Peter stayed in Heidelberg until just after lunch on Monday, but unfortunately I had to leave promptly on Monday morning to head back to work. I can't complain though, it was a lovely weekend and I was thoroughly spoiled with lots of attention and lots of lovely food!