Monday, July 20, 2015

Heidelberg

I picked Ben up from work at 4 pm last Friday with two goals: attending the LDS Temple and eating at Chipotle in Frankfurt, Germany by 7:30 pm.

We weren't sure if we would make it to the temple in time (due to traffic and the length of the drive) and I was secretly not sad knowing that this would guarantee a trip to Chipotle.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), we made it to the temple just in time but wouldn't leave the temple before Chipotle closed. I spent a lot of mental energy reminding myself what was most important that evening.






Ben tried fruitlessly to console me as we walked a few blocks away from the temple to a Chinese Restaurant that makes lots of money off hungry mormons and our bishop and stake president who tell everyone it has the best Chinese food and peking duck ever. We were soon joined by an American couple from Ramstein who had also attended the temple that evening. We ordered our take-away and swapped stories of living abroad (I was secretly mad they can eat at Chipotle whenever they want), and then we sat on a bench in front of the temple enjoying Chinese food that tastes amazing because you haven't eaten in 10 hours.

And then we drove another hour to a Marriott Hotel in Heidelberg.

I'm usually pretty intense about our itineraries when we travel and it was really nice to have a lengthy list from Mike Taylor (who has served a mission and lived there for several years with his wife and family) of must sees, dos, and places to eat.

Secretly, however, the best part of the trip for me was sleeping for 10 uninterrupted hours.

Sometimes, when I get up 17 times throughout the night to put Aksel back in bed (because he thinks he can wake up whenever he wants to, flip on lights, wander around the house, etc.) or Ingrid decides she needs to wake up and be rocked back to sleep, I shut my eyes and remember what it felt like to wake up last Saturday morning and then I feel better.

Back to Heidelberg.

We wandered down to the lobby, saw breakfast was over, asked for a map from the concierge and then walked to the river to catch a water taxi into the Old Town of Heidelberg.

This is when Ben said we should bring our rain jackets. So I ran back and got them. Then this is when Ben said he wished he had his sunglasses. Not his Ray Bans but his Maui Jims. So I ran back and grabbed his Maui Jim case. Then I realized he hadn't put the right sunglasses in the right case. So I ran back and got the right sunglasses. This is when I realized I might miss the water taxi so I started running faster. I made it back as the taxi was docking. Then I punched Ben in the arm.



We spent the day, shopping, walking, eating, hiking, climbing, photographing, castling, and enjoying every second of our last getaway before Lilly leaves us and returns to Utah.




















Ben kept cursing Mike for every stair he had to climb and I secretly thanked him. Then we sent Ben's mom a picture from inside the Kathe Wolhlfahrt Christmas store with the hope of luring her to Europe this winter. Then we tried on an obscene amount of lederhosen at TK Maxx. It turns out lederhosen and Joseph Smith have a lot in common.



Back to Heidelberg.

Germany is easily my favorite European surprise. I had no idea how lovely, intriguing, diverse, and enchanting it would be. Heidelberg is beautiful and romantic and it was the perfect place to spend a day without a double stroller.

Thank you, Mike, for making it so easy to enjoy such an incredible city. Thank you, Lilly, for being unbelievably capable and amazing and taking care of my babies. And thank you, Ben, for spending a weekend doing whatever I wanted (even if it meant exercising and quenching your thirst with Fanta). I love you all.

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