Carrie's parents came out to visit from 1-9 May. We started off their trip with a trip to Rüdesheim am Rhein. After walking up Drosselgasse and having some gelato, we took the cable car to the top of the vineyard. It was gorgeous day and the view of the Rhein and the surrounding valley was amazing!
Friday evening we introduced Mom and Dad to several friends when we hosted a pasta dinner. The pasta dinner was in preparation for a half marathon in Luxembourg City that Carrie, Ashley, Adam, and Alan were running. Luckily, Mom, Dad, Kurt, Matt, Melanie, and Liz are all very supportive and drove out to Luxembourg with us on Saturday for the race. The run was long and hard...but we finished! It was a pretty warm day, which we weren't really used to and the course was packed! Also, it seemed like the pack never really opened up which also slowed us down. Alan came in ahead of us, but Ashley, Adam, and Carrie finished in 2 hours 19 minutes 42 seconds. Not too bad!
On Sunday, we went to see the Castle Frankenstein ruins near Darmstadt. The ruins were really cool and we had a beautiful view of Darmstadt.
Afterward, we drove down to Heidelberg. We went into the Heidelberg Dom and had a quick lunch on the square. It was a beautiful day and we had pretty views of the castle.
Monday, we went on a Rhein river cruise from Bacharach to Sankt Goar. It was really neat to be able to see the castles lining both sides of the river. Once we got to St. Goar, we got on a little train which took us up to Burg Rheinfels. After lunch on a castle terrace, we explored the castle ruins for the afternoon.
On Tuesday, we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a medieval walled city that looks like it's right out of a fairy tale. Mom and Dad had fun shopping for souvenirs while we explored castle gardens. That evening we went on the Night Watchman's tour to learn the history of the city and what life was like throughout the ages.
On Wednesday, we drove to the Hummel factory in Rödental, Germany. We took a tour of the factory. It was really interesting to see all the steps involved in making the figurines.
On Thursday, Dad and Kurt relaxed on his last day of vacation while Mom and Carrie drove to Soufflenheim, a pottery town just across the French border. We had a nice time wandering in and out of several stores and made a few purchases.
Thanks for visiting! When's your next trip Mom and Dad?
