Ooooooh Heidelburg!!
I am so envious!
I love that city!
Weather is very similar to Pacific Northwest, although they are having a severe heat wave this summer. It's on the Neckar river which makes it so beautiful, especially with the steep hills full of flowers, trees, or vineyards.
The Army services, housing, and posts are spread out across the southern edge of the city between Patrick Henry Village, Patton Barracks, and some others. Here's a list with
links. I spent some concentrated time in the area in 2002 because I was attending classes there. We also went to events at PHV such as the Christmas Bazaar, the German-American festival, and some of their flea markets. In fact, I have a friend who's pscing there from another location in Germany in a year. :thumbsup:
Easy trip from Kaiserslautern where you might be directly flying into Ramstein. It's a tourist city and can be rather confusing to drive around because it wasn't destroyed and rebuilt after the War like so many others were. Lots of cramped and one way roads. Some gorgeous areas, other's not so picturesque such as the train yards. :shrug-shoulders: But I always remember lots of flowers.
There's a ruined castle above the city
where they put on summer productions of The Student Prince and set off fireworks at regular intervals during that time for the "Illumination cruises".
The Christmas Market is fantastic. The walkplatz is a mile long car-free shopping corridor ending in the Cathedral market place
Locationwise for travelling and events, you are in an excellent location. There's even carseat checks
Just for example, here is a list of different 'events for
June. My suggestion for travelling with families is to look at the
USO tours & use them as an outline destination for your own expedition. You'll save money, go to the best places, and have a much more relaxing time not being on a formal tour especially with younglings.
These are just some suggestions for a daily outing eventually --
If you head east along the Neckar river, you can see and climb to castle ruins all along the route through the valley. It's one of those 'undiscovered' trips that tourists other than Germans don't see. Lovely villages with awesome food on the way.
Since Heidelburg is off the A-5 autobahn it is extremely easy to go north to Frankfurt, then branch to Cologne along the Rhein river.
Southern direction will get you to Switzerland within about 2 1/2 hours if you don't get 'staued' (traffic jam) which is fairly easy because it's a very old autobahn in places with narrow spots. France also sends all its non-local trucks into Germany instead of wrecking their very nice autoroute.
Karlsruhe (Carl's Rest) is a created city from the 18th century with lots of beautiful architecture. Baden Baden -- the place so nice they named it twice-- still has lots of elegant spas and places to luxuriate at. They are both just south of Heidelburg.
Stuttgart is about 2 hours away with a world famous zoo and park. There's also
Hollenzollern Castle to see that's a good daytrip too.
Rothenburg is a medieval walled city, but it's more fun to stay there than to try for a daytrip. A Very romantic and affordable place with an awesome breakfast is
Haus Gerberhaus they even take VAT forms (tax free) and have smoke-free rooms. But book early, it's extremely popular, free parking, and within walking distance of everything.
Then there's quintessential Bavaria with dear old
Neuschwanstein
I love the mountains, the hikes, the fields, but not the tourists, but it's really easy to visit when they're not around.
Visit the Tax Free and Utility office when you arrive. For a nominal fee of $75 you can enter the program where you do not pay tax on your Electric and Gas bill. Pays for itself in the first year. The fee is good for as long as you live there if you're on the economy... which I highly suggest for a richer experience, a bit more money, and a lot better quality of housing than being stuffed in apartments always worrying about parking spaces
From AAFES, you can purchase gas coupons for travel and convenience using your vehicle registration. The least expensive time is Sept-Oct & Jan-Feb. I'd stock up on a lot of litres since they can be used at Esso & Aral (only on autobahn for latter) + when they expired, they could be used on post/base. But it would save so much money from the fluxuation since they average US prices. People would complain about the slow decrease in August compared to the US, but never thanked AAFES for the graduated increase that never matched the jumps the US does in the Spring.
Because you're on a SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) you can use any US approved carseat in your vehicles. Just remember if they're German specs, top tethers are not customary.
Sorry to take up so much time. I'm sure this is information overload. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. We were Air Force at Ramstein, but overseas for 7 years. I'm kind of hoping to go back
but it's up to Mama military to decide in the next few months where we'll go after dh returns from his remote assignment that he'll leave for in Feb.