Day 4 : Heidelberg - Titisee - Rheinfall

We woke up early ....

View from my balcony ... 

Got ready and went out for a walk. 

The hotel

The street looked pretty quiet since it was so early ....

Breakfast was served on the 19th floor .... there was a pretty nice selection of food .... 

One of my platters ... 

Heidelberg, Germany 

And off we went to Heidelberg that morning. Heidelberg is one of the most well-preserved old towns in Germany. It is also a university town, home to the oldest university in Germany. But then, we did not visit any historical university buildings at all.

We did, however, took a walk to the old town .... 

Martktplaz - behind the fountain is the Church of the Holy Spirit

The hotel was built in 1592, and is one of the very few buildings in Heidelberg to have survived. 

And caught a glimpse of the ruins of the castle up on the hill ....

The castle ruins 

We walked on the old bridge ... the view of the river from there was pretty awesome.

The Neckar 

One of the most notable items on the bridge is the statue of a monkey holding a mirror. The legend surrounding this curious statue tells us that it symbolizes the fact that neither the city-dwellers nor the people who lived outside the city were better than the other, and that they should look over their shoulder as they cross the bridge to remember this.

Lovely stone pavements all over the Old Town 

The Old Bridge
It was built in 1786 over the Neckar, the first stone bridge to be constructed.

There is a very famous water lock here on the river - a mechanism for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on waterways. And that morning, we did manage to see the water lock operate. 

Titisee, Germany

After Heielberg, we drove to Titisee, a lake at the Southern Black Forest region of Germany. So apparently, the major businesses in Titisee are run by the Drubba Family ... so we ate at its restaurant and shopped at its outlets. 

We had lunch first ... and it was sumptious!

Sausage, pork knuckle, sauerkraut and fries!

Loved the succulent meat and crunchy pork rind, and the sausage was equally tasty; I liked the brown gravy which was served separately too! 

Irresistable Black Forest Cake
Loved the rich cream and that punch of flavour from the kirsch. I gobbled up my slice of cake ... and then happily helped another tour member to finish up her slice of cake too. Lol. 

So there was this cuckoo clock demonstration after lunch ...

Pretty cute! 

The clocks were lovely, and they could be shipped home .... but there was no need for me to get one

Instead, we bought Victorinox peelers at about 4.00 after tax rebate, and I bought a Longchamp pouch for €27.20. We had to purchase €100.00 to qualify us for the tax rebate. 

Titisee - the lake 

It looked quite beautiful ... only that it was a really hot and sunny day .... and I couldn't stand the piercing sunlight .... 

Couldn't resist a gelato at only €1.00 - pistachio flavour .... 

Rheinfall, Switzerland
After Titisee .... we headed to the Rheinfall in Switzerland .... purportedly the most beautiful fall in Europe ....

Rheinfall ... I thought the view was more spectacular from the top .... 

We spent just a little bit of time here before driving to our hotel .... it was a long drive because of a terrible traffic jam. 

Movenpick Egerkingen Hotel
No aircon! Thankfully there was a fan! The lights were quite dim and the pillows were terribly soft

I did, however, had a good night's rest! 

No meals provided for dinner .... we were asked to eat at the 2 restaurants at the hotel. Down the road from the hotel was a McDonald's outlet and also a Subway outlet ... but both were closed by that time. I wasn't that hungry ... my friends had cup noodles which they'd brought from home. I had Milo and biscuits .... and that was sufficient for me. End of Day 4.