Tübingen

Tübingen is the adorable little town that Sean has been looking for in Germany. Bonn is too big, too modern. Heidelberg has a nice castle, but is a tourist trap. This is what wikipedia says about the charms of Tübingen: "The highlights of Tübingen include its crooked cobblestone lanes, narrow-stair alleyways picking their way through the hilly terrain, streets lined with canals and well-maintained traditional half-timbered houses."

Cute little street:


Bridge to building (not the cutest one, a couple of planks which crossed a tiny canal to what can only be described as a hobbit-sized door):


Fachwerkhaus with lots of different dates on it and some sort of clock:


Rathaus with astronomical clock:


Markt am Rathaus:


We stayed at a hotel down the street from Schloß Hohentübingen. Here's the entrance to the Schloß:



We took an excursion (conference excursion) to Hohenzollern Castle, a 40 minute drive away. Here's an awesome day/night picture of it.

From afar:


It's a pretty steep climb to the top. The view:


The coiled path (through many gates) to the top:


The chapel and some of the central courtyard:


We took a pretty cool tour, which did not, however, explain this statue:



Then, it snowed.