Jamie in Germany: Awesomness in Heidelberg & Cologne

Ben and I had a great time this week visiting other parts of Deutschland. First stop was Heidelberg. A very old town with some interesting history. The streets are absolutely charming. The OLD castle (which is mostly ruins now) sitting on the hill overlooking the Rhine was one of my favs. We didn't go inside but walked/explored the grounds. The construction of this castle first commenced in the 11th-12th century! And unfortunately was brutalized by the French and later by multiple lightning hits.
The world's largest oak wine barrel sits in the cellars of the castle too. Holding around 57,000 gallons of wine and made out of pure oak. The barrel also has a dance floor on top, thus the stairs on the side! Unfortunately, the barrel is empty now. boo...
I fell in love with this strange brass monkey statue holding a mirror. It sits by one of the main bridges crossing over the Rhine. I don't know what it is but it was fascinating.
We ran into some live entertainment (the band played American songs) in the city streets so we stayed and had some beer and brats. Of course!

Me looking at the piece of the Watchtower that was blown off during war.

A better view of the collapsed piece of Watchtower.

Me, hanging out with some statues

Ben enjoying the view of the Rhine from the castle

Heidelberg

THE Wine Barrel, magical! Dance floor at top!

We continued our road trip into Cologne which is a HUGE city. Besides the AMAZING and OLD cathedral that is in the city center, most of the city is pretty new because it was left in ruins from WW2. Okay, so...there is a medieval cathedral that was first under construction during the 12th century! It is huge. One of the tallest in the world and the tallest medieval cathedral in Northern Europe. It's one of those sites that is almost too much for the eyes to take in. Like the Grand Canyon or The Louvre in Paris. Anyways, an awesome site and it has a crypt too that you can explore but not nearly as big as the one below St. Peter's basilica BUT I love the eeriness of both.

There is also a lot to do as far as nightlife goes in Cologne. I wanted to try all of the restaurants, they looked fantastic. I would say...a lot of hidden gems could be found. Clubs and bars galore. Ben and I ate at an Italian restaurant (the menu was rolled up to us on a board) where he had a steak and I had tomato/mushroom fettuccini. As a starter we had delicious calamari that was served as I've never seen before- almost in small steak like pieces. Divine!