GERMANY - DAY 12

We left out hotel and headed off to see a cuckoo demonstration. They were amazing. The intricate carvings were impressive. We were informed that during winter when the village is covered in snow and the temperatures are freezing, the wood carvers sit in the cuckoo shop and carve the various faces for the clocks. Each piece of wood on the front of each cuckoo clock is made by a different person. It takes five to six weeks to make one clock. A cuckoo clock can have two or three weights hanging. One for the mechanism, one for the cuckoo and if there is a third weight it is for music. They were so expensive, not that we were interested in purchasing one.

We continued through the Black Forest marveling at the scenery. We arrived at the famous university town of Heidelberg built alongside the picturesque River Necktar where the first neanderthal man was discovered. We stopped in the city centre for lunch before traveling up to Heidelberg Castle for our group photo. The castle was awesome. Parts of it were in ruins, parts of it were under renovation and other parts where fine. Inside the castle there was the world's largest wine vat that holds 218 000 litres of wine. It took 130 trees to build it. We heard the story of Perkeo (a midget) who was the court jester who became the wine taster in the 17th century. It was the tragic story of how he died. He lived until he was in his mid eighties drinking only wine everyday. Anyway the doctor told him that he needed to stop drinking wine and start drinking water. Perkeo took his first sip of water and the next day he died.

The castle was awesome. The views of the city were breathe taking. Once the renovations are complete it is going to be spectacular. We walked past the Red Ox Bar, the oldest student bar in Heidelberg. They have a two kilometre long shopping street.

Back on the bus we headed back to Frankfurt. Back where it all started eleven days earlier. This trip has been fabulous. Paul has gone above and beyond to make this trip the best and he succeeded. Out of the all the countries we planned to see on this trip, Germany was on the bottom, but this tour has changed that opinion.

We all headed out to dinner for the final time as a group. We drank, ate and were merry. We met some really nice people on this trip.