We left Friday morning and stopped in Mannheim as I had read there was an Easter market there. (Most Ostermarkt's ended the week before Easter and we missed them.) I had a bit of trouble finding much info about this supposed Easter Market, so fortunately made back-up plans for our afternoon in Mannheim. When we arrived we found no sign of a market and everything in the downtown square was closed, except for the Starbucks and the McDonalds (which in combination made 3/4 of our crew very happy).
Good Friday was a gorgeous, sunny day, though, so we set off on the 20 minute walk from the downtown shopping district to Luisenpark And then proceeded to spend *5* hours walking and playing our way through the park. The park charges admission (5 euro per Adult) but was totally worth it: Playground after playground, boat rides, cafes, oriental gardens, flower gardens, a small aquarium, a small aviary, a butterfly house, and a plethora of barn animals. My critter-loving kiddos were in heaven. They both really liked seeing the owls and talking to the "Nemos" in the aquarium, and B LOVED the butterfly house (He simply calls them flies). 
The butterfly house was too crowded for the stroller, so I strapped him into his carrier, which he doesn't mind. I think it makes him feel like he's more in the middle of everything. I showed him if he held out his arm, a butterfly would land on it. He'd get so excited when the fly landed that he'd, of course, squeal and scare it away, and then would demand "more, more". Fortunately the butterflies obliged, and I'm pretty sure thelocal population enjoyed watching him more than they did the butterflies. I have since potted some flowers outside to hopefully attract some butterflies to our backyard this summer.We trudged back to our car, rather tired, and managed to make it the 30 minutes down to Heidelberg in time to meet friends for dinner. We stayed at an apartment at the Army Base in Heidelberg. I was disappointed, at first, to not be able to find an apartment in town on Easter weekend, but it turned out to be good as the base has a TGI Fridays like restaurant within walking distance of the hotel where you can get decently priced food, with a varied and somewhat healthy menu, and a game area where the kids can run around. They must have known trouble when they saw it coming, party of 7, with 3 under 5, 'cause they sat us at the table for 12 right next to the arcade games, without us even having to ask :)
Every time we go off somewhere, I marvel at the fact that my kids will sleep in any bed we tell them too --B in a loaner pack in play, shoved into the kitchen, C on a pull out sofa in the living room-- and sleep all night without complaints. B's getting a little harder to take places as he needs to be entertained more now than he has in the past, but by and large they are phenomenal goers. Saturday evening, we ended up strolling down-town Heidelberg, in a light drizzle, looking for a place to eat. A local saw us perusing menus and suggested we stop into the Italian place across the street. So we did. It was a very small pizzeria, with only high tops and barstools, not sure how that would work with B, but it was time to eat, time to get out of the rain, and at least I knew an Italian place would likely be able to give me buttered noodles for my less than adventursome eaters. B took it in stride and sat on his barstool like a champ, sharing pasta and pizza with big brother, while mom and dad got to take in a well-deserved beer, as well as the charm and local color.
Backing up a bit:
Saturday morning, we started the day with a visit to Heidelberg's Castle. We only explored the courtyard and a few ancillary buildings, because like so many other castles in Germany, to actually see the inside of the castle you have to go on a guided tour. (We like Scottish castles much better, b/c you can explore them on your own.)
Unfortunately, we were in no mood for a guided tour Saturday AM. I hadn't had enough coffee and was grumpy. We were slightly discombobulated because our plan to find our friends at the top of the castle, didn't quite work out. We couldn't park at the parking lot closest to the castle because our car was too tall, so we had to park further away and therefore had the stroller with us instead of the baby carrier. (Just FYI -- castles and strollers, sooooo not a good fit). *And* turns out we left the camera battery charging back at the hotel room. All things considered, we skipped the guided tour, and just saw what we could on our own. One thing we did see was the largest old wine cask in Germany, approximately 58,000 gallons, fwiw.
After the castle it was 20 minute funicular ride up to the top of the mountain. The cafes at the top were open and they had a wildpark I'm sure the boys would have loved, but it was windy and at least 15 degrees colder up there (and D didn't have a jacket), so we made a quick trip up, judiciously snapped a few pics of the view with our barely-hanging-in-there camera and a caught the next train down. We grabbed heavenly falafel in a local square while C and B chased the birds and climbed in the fountains. C climbs in every fountain he can, water or no. I swear it's a testament to how much these rule-abiding Germans either like cute kids or need our tourist dollars, 'cause I'm amazed we haven't gotten kicked out of anywhere yet for his fountain frolicking. After a brief siesta back at our apartment we meandered downtown Heidelberg, stopping at the student prison, where faculty routinely locked up academic miscreants for 3 days to 3 weeks for anything from poor class performance to pranks --there's an idea--and then, onto the aforementioned pizzeria for dinner.Sunday we braved the gusty winds and went to nearby Schwetzingen castle, dubbed the "Versailles of Germany".
It was lovely. Because we had an especially long, cold winter, only the daffodils and the cherry blossoms were in bloom, but I can imagine what it would be like in full bloom. Again , we only toured the gardens as the only way to get into the castle was on a guided tour (and I'm not sure the lady selling the tickets would have sold our crew tickets for the castle anyway), but the gardens were good fun. 
Plenty to look at and lots of places for the kids to run, play and climb -- I swear my two can turn just about anything into a playground. 
Sunday evening we drove to Dilsberg Castle and walked the very steep hill from the parking lot to the castle itself. (Somehow I always end up carrying B when we have steep climbs?!?!) This castle is really just ruins, but Dilsberg is picturesque and the views were great, if somewhat stormy. The town below in the picture is Neckargemuend and it was our next stop. 
Originally, I had planned to stay in Neckargemund, but the apartment I thought I had a line on, wasn't available, but I still insisted we stroll through town. As you can see from the pics, it's full of old, lopsided, half-timbered houses. Apparently, houses were built with wider second stories to lessen the land tax. The house in the picture dates from 1569. (For some perspective, 1569 is just about 50 years before Plymouth Rock, 40 years before Jamestown, and 15 years before the first colony at Roanoke). After our sightseeing, we hungrily headed back to our family friendly watering hole for a late Easter supper. (The only place in Neckargemund we could find open was an ice cream store and we decided it wouldn't be the most prudent choice to stuff our already-tired kids full of sugar)
A fun weekend, and one that fits into my "other" life as well, as Mark Twain spent 9 months living in Heidelberg and writing his second travel Journal A Tramp Abroad. (D wondered why we kept seeing Mark Twain books in all the store windows) I'm currently reading his first travel journal, Innocents Abroad and will get to Tramps soon enough
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