Castle Eberbach, Porsche, and Mercedes Museums

The Eurail solution worked. I have a ticket to Rome. I'm going to try to do a day trip to Pompeii when I'm there. The downside is the train ride is almost 3-1/2 hours long. Leaving me only a few hours to actually enjoy the ruins, even if I leave really early. But I did it with Cork, so I should be able to do it with Pompeii.

Anyway the last two days have been pretty exhausting. Yesterday I went to the Mercedes-Benz museum here in Stuttgart. It was really cool, lots of historic pieces. Engine parts and models from way back before there were cars, when it was all theoretical. It was kinda cool to see a 5hp engine from the 1800's. The Porsche museum was more of a showroom. Most of the cars in there were racing winners, and classic favorites. There was also a replica of the original 356 No. 1, which was pretty cool. As well as a Porsche brand tractor. Pictures will be up on Facebook eventually.

Today I went on a day trip to Eberbach. Frommer's recommended it as a cool ruined castle up on a small mountain just outside Heidleberg. The town was really cool and small, with a beautiful church. It took me a while to find the path up to the castle. It probably would have helped to lookup the German word for castle BEFORE leaving. The hike wasn't too tough, a little steep. When I got up there were some beautiful ruins. I couldn't go to the watchtower in the back though, due to reconstruction efforts. Apparently the castle was destroyed by some spoiled noble in the 1400's to prevent anyone else from stealing it. The guy had "too many castles" and it was a "money sink". Tough life, what terrible problems he had. Anyway, it gave a great view of the town and valley. Again pictures will be on Facebook. Tomorrow... LEGOLAND!