We looked up castles and castle ruins on the net and found out that there were several 2 train stops away. Of course we went on the train got off at the stop,Neckarsteinach, and started walking. We saw 3 castles on the top of the mountain but one looked lived in so we continued to the next. We found a path (trail?) that led up and up and up. I should mention the first photo is of Hirschhorn Castle from the train station. The next pic is the stairs to cross the tracks so you would get an idea of what I am talking about at the train stations. The next pic is the view from the top of the castle ruins. Yes, we made it to the top!!! We went down from the tower at the ruins and followed another path that we thought might lead us to other castle ruins. It seemed that we were always going up. We followed the path for approx an hour, but it did not look promising. However, it was in the shade and the trail was cool but we finally gave up and turned around. Now we were finally going down. But we followed a wrong path and one tree looks like another but we were going down so we continued. We eventually wound up in the town where we began and just happened to be in front of a bakery. Marsha got the raspberry cake and I got the Vienna tort. See pics. The ladies in the bakery cut us huge pieces and we could not finish them. By then it was mid afternoon so we decided to board the train and go to Heidelberg to scout it out since we are going there tomorrow. We walked to the old city from the train station (quite a ways). There were so many bicycles it made Brussels look bike deprived. I took a picture of one streets with the bicycles parked, but this is every street everywhere in the city of Heidelberg. We went back to the train station to go to Hirschhorn. We stopped in the city for dinner, see pic of Marsha’s dinner but I am just too full to eat. After dinner we had to go up the mountain to our room. Marsha and I have decided that if we keep doing all these stairs and walking we will be tough old ladies when we return home.

We took the 5th train and made it to Hirschhorn. We took a cab up to the castle because we thought the climb would be too hard with our luggage. You will agree when you see the pics. We checked in and went to our room on the 4th floor of the hotel and yes we carried our bags upstairs. See photo of view from our room. Then we walked down the mountain to the town and then walked along the Neckar river. See pic of partial trail up and down the mountain. We watched an oil barge pass thru the lock on the river which was really interesting. We had dinner reservations for 7pm on the terrace of the castle so we climbed up the mountain. It was a beautiful day and quite warm. We got ready for dinner and went to eat. Marsha had pasta with local mushrooms that are in season now. I had beef stuffed with fois gras on purple potatoes with baby asparagus and truffle creme brûlée. By now you can guess we are going to have bread and water tomorrow. See pics. There is also a pic of Marsha on the terrace – you can see the ambiance. There is also a pic of the castle from the river. It is almost in the middle of the pic at the top of the hill. There is also a pic of a barge moored for the night, I guess waiting to go thru the lock tomorrow. We are thinking of hiking in the mountains looking for castle ruins tomorrow. There are supposed to be a lot of ruins around here. It is an early night (10:15) because it is Sunday. That’s OK we will get an early start tomorrow. Breakfast is at 8am.

We our now on our 3rd train on our trip to Hirschhorn Castle. We have seen all the comments regarding the food. We do not weigh 500 lbs now because we walk everywhere. Even in the big cities with subways there is a lot of walking plus stairs. Taking the trains from one location to another involves carrying all our luggage, carrying it up and down stairs and carrying it onto the train and lifting it into an overhead rack. This is a great cardio workout! We are sorry we didn’t start a pedometer at the beginning of the trip to see how far we walk.
BREAKFAST : everywhere we have stayed breakfast was in included and wonderful. A typical breakfast includes coffee or tea, bread and rolls, pastries, butter. assorted jams and spreads (many homemade), yogurt, juice, assorted cheeses and cold cuts, hard boiled eggs and sometimes more. Our hosts have been very accommodating.
ROOMS: we stayed in a couple of hotels but the last few stops have been rooms in people’s homes. All have been super clean and comfortable. Our hosts usually give us suggestions for sightseeing and restaurants. Most of the restaurants are for the locals -plenty of good food at a good price. The portions are very big. We keep trying to order smaller items on the menus,
BATHROOMS: these are a challenge. They are all different. All the toilets have different buttons and handles to push or turn. Same with the showers and the bathrooms are very small. Mostly we have had private baths, but even if it was shared we never saw anyone and all the bathrooms were spotless. Even public toilets and the ones on the trains are clean!
ENERGY: Not our energy level. Europeans are very energy saving. Hall lights are timed and turn off automatically. In some places you have to put you room key into a slot and then you can turn on the lights. When you leave the room and take the key everything turns off in a few minutes-no wondering if you turned off the coffee pot! There are recycling bins everywhere – one each for glass, paper, plastic and garbage. In southern Germany there are a lot of solar panels on the roofs and many solar farms in the fields. In France and Germany there are also groups of 3 to 6 wind generators that must produce electricity for that area.
I forgot to mention that people bring their bicycles,strollers and large luggage on the trains. One trip was so crowded we sat on our suitcases-really not as bad as it sounds. I hope this gives you a general idea of how we are traveling. It really is pleasant and we have met people from all over the world.
We are now on the 4th train and in 1st class. All the trains are clean, on time and clearly marked. From the mega stations of London, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt to the little one track stations they all have schedules with train times, train number, track number and destination. From mid size station and larger there are info centers and the clerks speak English. At the info center we can check future train schedules and if we need reservations even though we have Eurail passes. The clerks are informed and helpful and will print out the schedules for us. It is really manageable to travel this way . Actually after a few trips it is easy to figure everything out.

More pics. Then we are off to Hirschhorn. We need to take 5 trains.

We got up and had breakfast. See pics of hard boiled eggs – too pretty to eat. Breakfast was also pretty, but we ate it before we took a picture. We stayed in 2 places in Rothenburg both terrific. The eggs are from the first one and also a pic of the outside and a pic of Marsha and myself in front of the pension. Then we walked around Rothenburg and also took a city tour. Tour guides give a great deal of historical information. Almost forgot to mention the pic of St Barbara cheese. We walked the perimeter of the city most of it on the ramparts – we also were able to go up into one of the towers (many stairs) and get a panoramic view of the city. see pic. Also many more pics on my camera. At 5:00pm there was a concert on the main square by the “Sound of America honor band and chorus”. Great concert and the kids who played came into the crowd and thanked everyone for coming. We met a teen from Florida. Great group and their performance was fabulous. See pic. Then we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by Karin, the proprietor of the 2nd place we are staying. The portions here are so big we don’t bother with an appetizer anymore. I had pork in a creamy mushroom sauce with cranberry and pear and a salad. Marsha had fried Camembert also with fruit. All the food is so pretty. It was a beautiful day and nice evening so we ate outside. We spoke to the people on each side if us – pretty good since they didn’t speak English and we are not good at German. Then we went to the next house where we stayed. See pic. Karin and her husband were sitting on the patio and insisted we have a glass of Frankonian wine with them. Also see pic of where we stayed. We are having so much fun wish you all could be here. Again it is late 11:15pm – time flies. I found CNN on TV and we are watching about the plane crash. I should also mention there is Italian food especially pizza everywhere in Europe. We are committed to eating local food.