Thursday, July 22 : the Black Forest to Frankfurt

We had a thunderstorm during the night, so the morning air was nice and cool. The sun had also returned. After breakfast, we took a short walk and saw giant slugs. Next to the inn was a cuckoo clock shop that opened at 7 am just for us. Back on the bus for a 90 minute drive to Baden-Baden. This was Nancy's "favorite stereotypical city", and is an expensive resort known for its healing mineral waters. We walked by gardens, the casino, and a grand old stone building known as the "drinking house" because guests would drink the sulfurous waters there. Good shopping downtown on narrow streets. We dipped our hands into a small fountain, after seeing a man splash its water onto his face, and found our hands stayed moist for quite a while and creamy thereafter as if coated with lanolin. From here we rode another hour north to Heidelberg. Disembarking along the Neckar river, Noel took us on an orientation walk into the old city. We lunched on the outdoor café of a brewpub Scheffel's, and had great beer along with tomato soup, liver dumpling soup, and a cold meat plate. We climbed a steep cobblestone hill to Schloss (castle) Heidelberg with its stunning city views. Part is restored and part still in ruins. It also has an apotheken (chemist or pharmacist) museum and grosse fass (big vat), the world's largest wooden wine vat at over 50,000 gallons. We strolled around the castle gardens when back downhill into the city. We had a few minutes to stroll along the market plaza and down a side street saw the Studentenkarzer (student's jail) which was built in 1712 to temporarily house unruly Heidelberg University students. We also saw a few campus buildings, but there is no real campus. Buildings are scattered throughout the city. This is the oldest university in Germany and well renowned for its science programs. From here it was a one hour drive to Frankfurt, where we stayed at a suburban Marriott Courtyard. We took a walk through the adjacent park and around a small lake, finally with a chance to visit a barley field! From the hotel, we took the bus into old downtown for farewell dinner at a nice restaurant on the plaza. Beef tips, hash browns (really, just like McD's), soup and wine, with a nice fruit dessert. Back at the hotel, said our goodbyes and turned in early, 9 pm, for our 5 am wakeup call to begin the trip home.

Took a shuttle to the airport at 5:45 am and worked our way through the usual lines. The 777 plane left half-hour late, about 9 am. Nancy and Pete were surrounded by little children and their parents, but fortunately they were German so the kids were well behaved and really a delight. We had both breakfast and lunch on our 9 hour flight to Chicago. The weather there was sunny and 70 degrees, so we went outside after going through customs. We called Ed, Diane, and Kay. Arrived in Columbus at 4:30 pm and Sue Hanson picked us up in her Volvo wagon for the trip to North Broadway Street. Pete made a CD of photos for Bob, then Bob and Andy left for North Canton about 5:30.

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