I survived the rough night and had a nice breakfast with the extended family in the hostel’s cafeteria. Actually, I took it easy on the breakfast, just sampling crackers etc., which was a shame since it was a typically luxurious German spread of meats and cheeses.
We gathered up the herd outside the hostel, took a few last pictures of the Trifels in the distance, and loaded up into the vehicles. Stefan’s planned activity for us this morning was to hike up the Ringelsberg, a small mountain nearby, which had a nice little cafe at the top. Typical German activity: sweat it up a long mountain hike, to reach the wine-soaked reward at the top. I was still feeling a little dodgy so tried to smuggle in apple juice as my drink, but Andreas busted me so I had to fess up.
The view was incredible. Miles and miles of farmland, grapevines heavy with fruit, ringed by the low, rolling mountains of the Pfalz.
And that would be the end of the big reunion! We said our goodbyes and split up. I joined cousin Susann and her family in their VW camper van for the hour-ish drive to their home in Heidelberg. Susann and family are a funny bunch — they’ve always been a very outdoorsy family, and so they only have that one big camper van as a family vehicle. 
If they’re not going on a long roadtrip somewhere, they’d rather just bike it or even walk it. Appropriately, the family business is a busy bike shop in central Heidelberg.
So, naturally, upon arrival in at their Heidelberg house (greeted by cat), we had a snack and then promptly set out on a hike around the neighborhood. The city of Heidelberg is on the Neckar River, nestled between two ridges, one of which climbs up behind their house. So we hiked all around, starting with a visit to a property a few minutes away that Susann and Peter would be building a new house on . 
Continuing, we went up to the top of the ridge for a view, down past an old monastery, along the river, and generally had a great afternoon exploring.
Late that evening, after a great dinner out at a local favorite restaurant, I bored my nephew Simon with space videos.