Germany Trip--Heidelberg Castle and Wurzburg

On day 3 of our trip we drove about 4 hours south to a bed and breakfast where we stayed for the next 4 nights.  On our way down, we detoured to go see Heidelberg Castle.  It was snowing a lot that day, so we didn't walk around for too long!  However, it was really neat to see.  The castle is huge and up on top of a hill overlooking the town; parts of it have been destroyed.  The kids loved seeing all the castles--everyone we saw, Kailey wanted to know if a princess lived there and Cade wanted to know if it was a pirate castle!  Here are some of the pictures:

All bundled up and walking towards the castle.

Cool gate

Part of the castle that was struck by a lightening bolt.

In front of the castle

They had a little Christmas market right by the castle--they are EVERYWHERE!!

In the castle courtyard

Kailey my little poser!

They had such interesting figures carved all over the castle

View of the town from the castle

Cool old church

  Like I said, we ended up staying at the best bed and breakfast that was right in the  middle of Wurzburg, Nuremburg, and Rotenburg--the 3 towns we wanted to go visit, so each day we took a day trip to one of the towns.  The following are pictures from our day spent in Wurzburg.  The big thing to see there is called the Residenz.  It is a huge palace in the center of town.  We ended up going on a tour of it and it was amazing.  It has the hugest fresco in the world that is overtop of the staircase--the paintings, stuccos, sculptures were breathtaking.

In front of the Residenz

In front of the big fountain in front

In the gardens behind the palace

At the Christmas market--I had so much fun seeing all the old churches and buildings--I just love that style!

More candy from Santa

All the towns we went to were just picturesque--especially covered with Christmas lights--I just can't say enough how much I LOVED Germany!

MORE CANDY!!

 The other place we went to in Wurzburg was Marienberg Fortress.  It has been a fort since ancient times--so we went to see the castle and the walls.

View from on top

You can't see her, but Kailey is standing next to this and wanted a picture--she thought this looked like Rapunzel's tower and wanted a picture with a real, live princess tower!