Today we rented a car, and headed south from Darmstadt. We drove along the "Bergstrasse", which is a road which follows the edge of the Rhine valley through lots of tiny little towns.

In one, Benzheim, we stopped, got out and enjoyed the traditional German architecture. The houses and cobbled streets were absolutely adorable, and we took some pictures (sorry, not digital!). Nearby there was a castle, which we also visited. It's name was Auerbach Schloss - it was built in the year 1276, and was renovated near the end of the 19th century as a gift to XXX. The castle was lots of fun - it hadn't been turned into a tourist trap (no guides, no entry fee, no ugly fences to keep us from commiting suicide), and we were the only people there. It was a prime example of a very functional castle - I'm sure it would have been very easy to defend.

After we had had our fill of the castle we continued on our way, and stopped again in another town, this one named Heppenheim. There we saw Even More Architecture and were intrigued by the fact that the town seemed to have communal bathrooms - apparently some of the houses were too small to have their own.

Next stop, Heidelberg. Heidelberg is famous for a) not having been bombed to bits in the second world war, and b) having a huge, mostly intact, palace looming above it. We walked all around the palace, and visited it's courtyard. It was very impressive, but didn't quite have the "cool factor" of the Auerbach castle - it was obviously built to show off wealth, not to keep enemies at bay.

After Heidelberg we drove through the Obenwahl forest, and stopped at a small restaurant in the middle of it for beers (Árni, who was driving only got coke). The forest had lots of trees.

Once we got home we dropped Unnur off at Árni's place, and then the two of us went to vacuum the car and return it to the rental. Wonderful day.