Where did the week go?

I am a blob.  It was Monday, and now it's Friday, and although I have cooked beef stew, baked chicken, bison burgers, a cake and assorted side dishes, I can't think of a single other productive thing I have done all week.  I have big plans to get the apartment finished and decorated before we start having people over for the holidays, but that would involve actual movement and apparently I don't want to rush into anything. 

Last Sunday, Sir and I took a quick afternoon trip.  We had heard about a restaurant and decided to give it a preview try, because we felt pretty sure it was going to be a definite destination when My Girl comes in December. (We were so right.) 

We typed the directions into Newman (the name Sir gave our GPS even though it's a girl's voice), and drove a very short distance, when suddenly the road just stopped.  Literally, there was a river in front of us.  The road went straight down to the edge.   Then we saw it - a ferry!  Newman gave us no warning whatsoever - just sat there passively waiting for us to continue.  So we checked Sir's pockets, and sure enough he had some Euro.  The most fun part was driving right onto the old, rickety ferry along with hikers and bicyclists EXACTLY AS IF WE HAD ANY IDEA WHAT WE WERE DOING, which we did not.

See Newman?  She looks so innocent.  Just drove us right to the water.  We quickly discovered that it was going to cost 1.60 Euro to get across.  Since we were already floating, we paid it.

Oh, dear.  Please ignore the old lady in the mirror.  She is just trying to take pictures of the ferry ride.

 Once we got to the other side, we were pleasantly surprised by a gorgeous park.  Germany is big on Sunday being a day of rest, which we really like.  Other than restaurants (and ferries, apparently) not much is open for business.  People had set up small portable picnic tables along the riverbank and were eating and watching the ferry, and snoozing in the sun, and thoroughly enjoying what really was a picture-perfect afternoon.  Newman led us through the park, right to the town of Ladenberg. 

What we are seeing with most German towns is an outer part that looks just like a modern city, but an inner part that is either pedestrian-only or you-wish-you-were-on-foot-because-the-cobblestone-winding-narrow-street-maze-will-drive-you-crazy.  Ladenberg is no exception.  Once we made our way back to the wider streets, we parked and walked the small old town area.

We did drive through there, and it was like stepping back hundreds of years.  Little did we know!

The town of Ladenberg dates back to the double digits, kids - my phone/camera picked a danged inconvenient time to run out of battery, and these are all the photos I have of this charming place.....but there were signs everywhere near that lovely church and cordoned-off areas which allowed us to look down to where the original bricks and foundations of the buildings that are still there have been uncovered.  40 AD.  90 AD.  200 AD.  This built by the Romans.  That built by the Romans.  Astounding.  There was the top of a column that may date even earlier. 

What amazed me most was that these stately, gorgeous old buildings are still being used.  Delightfully, two (the end of the catholic church shown above) and another beside it, are obviously schools.  My girl is going to love seeing the colorful paper cutouts all over the windows, the huge handwriting charts hanging inside in plain view.  Can you imagine the creativity being fostered in children who are learning while gazing out at architecture like this?  The cobbled courtyards have this funky modern playground equipment - it's so jarring, but so cool at the same time.  I wish I had more photos for you.  Trust me that this is a place rich in history.  All the huge marble slabs on the outside of the church had a timeline of historical events (all in German, but we could glean some of it.)  What made me laugh out loud is that the very NEWEST entry on the timeline is 1903!  I think we Americans forget how young our country is!

Ok, it's time to take the ferry back home to Heidelberg.

 Aren't you glad to know we had this lifeboat? 

 Poor picture, but I was trying to capture the picnickers - see their tiny selves?

Aaand, they're back.  We were wondering how many cars they would allow on this thing - you can see that the river is not very wide at all - the whole ride takes about a minute - there were 2 going over, and 4 going back - and the poor walkers and bicyclists were squished to the edges!  I really felt bad when the captain motioned us up within inches of those folks.

I'll save the tale of the restaurant for tomorrow's post.