Weekend with Mr. Mike in Germany and beyond

Mr. Mike and I had an amazing weekend together. He has been there for 2 and a half months (leaves back for Lafayette next weekend!) doing some counseling on the American army bases around Germany. So while I was in Spain, I thought it would be a great idea to take a quick weekend trip up to see my girlfriend's dad. Here, let me take you through our awesome weekend through pictures.

First off, however, before I got there Friday evening, I flew this route through Europe. At this point, I was right over Geneva when...

I flew over the Swiss Alps. Wow.

We ate in a nice restaurant in the airport and got to talk about Marcus and Hannah, his counseling crazy stories, and some of my first experiences in Madrid including finding Young Life here. Then we drove to Heidelberg and I got checked into my hostel.

The next morning, he picked me up in his car 9:00 and we went to breakfast. Very nice place as you can see. We got to talk a lot more here about how his counseling work has been here in Germany. 

Then our day really started. We treked up into the city center of Heidelberg and up to the iconic castle of the city. 

What a view! Click any of the pictures to enlarge. Highly recommend that.

This castle was epic. This was sort of like the moat. The picture is taken from where we were standing on an outside wall.

We walked all the way around the huge castle and saw this vista with the colorful houses on the other side of the river

And that's where we took our first picture together

We continued walking beyond the castle took in this panorama with the castle and the city and the river and the houses on the other side. Just wow. From here we explored some more and then walked back, going on a walkway under the castle. We then went back into the hauptstrasse (city-center), eating some gelato, looking in shops, getting some Christmas presents for people like you, and taking general refuge from the drizzle and rain that started to come down. Eventually, 

we got to the other side of the river. This is looking back at the castle and city from the other side of the river. On this side of the river starts a 300 year old trail called...

The Philosopher's Way.
We spent 2 or so hours (on top of the 3-4 hours we had spent hiking around the castle and town) on this trail. It was so good to be beyond the city busyness and in beautiful nature for a while. Man, it's been a while since I've been in true nature for a while. We had a lot of good conversation here too...story after story. All weekend, everything was very fluid, easy, and comfortable. After this dozen of miles we walked, we were ready to eat!

We went to a little city outside of Heidelberg hoping to dine at this incredible steak and potatoes place. We got lucky getting in as every table was reserved for the night, but we got there at 5 pm so they could sneak us in before some tables got there.

And THIS is the draw. When I got this steak, it was raw on this stone. However, that's a HOTTTT stone and it never cooled down. You cook the steak to your own liking AT the table! Quite and experience. Delicious potato too even with an exorbitant amount of sour creme haha.

 This is my favorite picture of the weekend.
At this meal, we got to talking a lot about Becca and me. We talked honestly about our relationship, our struggles-- her parent's part in that-- and the future. It was exciting. 

From there, we were ready to call it a night. He made sure, before we left though, that I got to see this column that has been standing since TWO A.D... Jesus Christ! 

The next morning we went to Mandy's. It was a railroad car converted into a diner and served all American food. Good for those on the army base missing home. Elvis and Johnny Cash and others everywhere, music and memorabilia. Here we also decided what we were going to do for the day...

Little did we know, we would wind up in Lafayette! Nah, jk. It was just a mall. We DID go somewhere unexpected though...

We went to Strasbourg, France! 

I'm really glad we could squeeze it in (like these buildings are obviously doing) to our weekend. This was our Sunday. We drove almost 2 hours to get there and then another 2 to drive back me back to the airport for my 7 pm flight. 

We really enjoyed the city (sort of a mix between Amsterdam and Venice, I thought), my first roasted chestnets mmmm, using my French again for the first time in years, the fantastic Notre Dame Gothic church there, some more gelato, some crepes, and plenty more conversation. 

We enjoyed all 22 hours we had together. We had the whole weekend, but that's how much raw time we spent together. It was beyond what I expected in fun and conversation. It was a real treat.

Love you all,
Andrew

P.S.- Next week is the halfway point of the semester. wowsers.