Crazy busy weekend! I'm uploading 199 more photos for you guys right now, so enjoy! There's a lot of the mountains nearby, just to warn you. I'll try to give you a rundown of the weekend, but I did just label all those pictures (well, I did about half last night) so we'll see how it goes.

Friday: I had my normal Friday morning hour and a half of class. After that I came home and ate noon meal (I'm sick of the lunch/dinner and dinner/supper debate) with my family. I was excited because my host dad asked if I liked sausage. Heck yes! Finally, real German sausage, cooked by real Germans in a real German house! We were also having a soup, so I was pretty sure I would enjoy it as much as every other meal I've had here. I was slightly disappointed though, as the sausage we had was what the Germans call "weinerwurst," or "frankfurter". That's right, I had a German hotdog. Don't get me wrong, it was still tasty and better than an American hotdog, but it still had that slight hotdog flavor. The soup was vegetables with a sour milk sauce (I think something was lost in translation there), but it was pretty tasty. After that, I took a nap. It was a nice nap, as most naps are. I then got ready to go to the fancy supper thing. Either I have lost weight in my feet, or I had much thicker socks on when I tried on my dress shoes that I brought with. At any rate, it was a painful walk to the restaurant, but the free wine made up for it. The food was pretty good, but I can't get into the cooked spinach I seem to be getting lately. The guinea hen I had was pretty good though, just a thought for you Mom and Dad :) . We also had some pretty tasty dessert, with strawberry sorbet and strawberry rhubarb stuff. It's the height of strawberry season here and I could not be happier. The strawberries are all so sweet. I need to find out what variety they are so I can grow them back home. After we were all done eating, most of us went back home, me included. I just can't/don't want to party like some of them, especially when my feet are screaming at me.

Saturday: I was very excited to finally get to sleep in, since I haven't really had a chance to. However, my sleeping in only lasted until 9, which is only about an hour longer than normal. I putzed around and finally left the house around noon. I made it to the bus stop for the trip to the Schwetzinger Gardens with about a half hour to spare. Go me! The castle in Schwetzinger wasn't all that impressive, until you consider that it used to be a hunting lodge. The gardens were amazing though. We only saw one half, but it was still good. I might go back and see the other half if I have time or a free day. I took quite a few pictures there, so you can peruse them. After we got back to Heidelberg, we had about hours to kill and dark skies threatening us. We were going to go eat at an authentic German sausage place, but they only had outdoor seating. We decided on... Pizza Hut. Now, before you yell that I should be trying more 'German' type foods, keep in mind it was one of the cheapest places on the main street, it was about to rain, and pizza in Germany is different than pizza in America. For starters, the ingredients seem fresher. At any rate, it was a tasty pizza and we got to sit inside eating while the rain past. We still had some time to kill so the other Amy and I went to an ice cream place and then towards the little touristy shops. I window shopped for souvenirs for people and broke down and bought an umbrella. It's pretty nifty and wasn't too expensive. It also came in handy on the cruise later. I decided I'm going to buy my Heidelberg souvenirs on Monday since I have some other stuff I have to do down that way. Don't worry if I don't get you a souvenir, I'm planning on bringing home plenty of chocolate. We finished up and went back to the river for our cruise. I sat up top most of the time and towards the end wished I had remembered to grab my sweatshirt. I toughed it out and took lots of pictures. Some guy even proposed to his girlfriend on the boat. It was cute, but a bit too public for my liking (Someone out there might want to be taking notes :) I like you.). The castle 'burning' was amazing, but my pictures don't do it justice. I need to talk to my photographer friend and see how I can improve my camera, 'specially for night shots.

Sunday (Today): No big plans for the day. So far I've eaten breakfast and played with my photos. I need to learn how to make the pretzel buns, they're amazing. I'm going to look for a German cookbook tomorrow when I'm shopping. I'm also addicted to fresh mozzarella and just fresh food in general. So, mom and dad, if you want to start raising milk cows and making cheese, that would be great! :) We just ate, and for some reason that I have yet to figure out, Germans love Thai food. It's pretty tasty and all, but I'm not sure why they've taken such a liking to it. Next on the agenda is homework and then Germany plays Poland tonight. I've got my new soccer shirt on and I decided to be a German and not shower today. That, and I'm lazy anyway. Maybe I'll go hop out in the thunderstorm that's about to start. Well, good bye for now!

Quick Edit: I changed the blog template. Let me know what you think. I like the way the text is laid out on this one better, but I'm not the one that reads it.