We visted friends in Brühl who took us to a park on the Rhine in Mannheim which has a great biergarten, a well preserved old monastery in Maulbronn and the popular city of Heidelberg which was never bombed in WW2.

Kloster Maulbronn is in a picturesque village about an hour drive SE of Heidelberg. It was a Cistercian Monastery until the Reformation. Since the Reformation it has been used as a school and as a Protestant church.

Our friend Ken cooked us the delicious meal you see: Pulled Pork Nachos. Ken and family were wonderful hosts. On our last night we had to hurry and leave Heidelberg and get to their favorite place for the German specialty of Spaghetti Ice Cream. I didn't try it because no ice cream is ever better than vanilla.