Having had many trips on the German autobahn on this holiday we decided that the 'avoid motorway' function on the sat-nav maybe a good idea. It was a wet Wednesday and the appeal of driving through small town Germany, on back roads appealed much more than dealing with lots of spray and heavy traffic. It would take longer, but it would also allow us to enjoy the passing scenery at a more sedate speed.

After a coffee stop here, a lunchtime snack there, we chanced upon a brown tourist sign pointing towards Modelbahnwelt. My German is sufficient to decide that this could possibly make for a decent mid-afternoon stop before arriving in Heppenheim!

Modelbahnwelt says it is the largest model railway attraction in southern Germany. There were some massive model railways, most seemed to be in some state of construction. It wasn't quite a Miniatur Wunderland (in Hamburg), and it probably needed some work to make it a much better place to visit, but it made a welcome diversion.

Arriving into Heppenheim was another 'wow' moment. The historical Altstadt was crammed full of timber framed buildings set around the Markt Platz. Our hotel, the Goldener Engel, was slap bang on the main square and our room overlooked the lovely main town square. This was just what we needed as a final place on this trip - somewhere very Germanic - even if it was still raining.

Our first night in Heppenheim saw us eating at the Schwan restaurant that serves up Hessian (an area of Germany) style food. This it seemed to be mainly salads, schnitzel, sausage/wurst and burgers served with a range of local wine. This seemed pretty much like every other German restaurant if honest.

On the Thursday morning we had a nice walk around Heppenheim itself. It was still damp and it was raining on and off. It wasn't really the best weather for exploring the old town area, so we headed out in the car.

The drive to Heidelberg, a city we had visited previously, took about 40 minutes, but there were two reasons for a making a return visit here. Number one, was the Lindt shop as we had ran out of tasty chocolate balls, number two was to visit the Körperwelten exhibition.

Having loaded up with chocolate, there was time for a traditional Germanic lunch before heading to the Körperwelten exhibition. Körperwelten, or Bodyworlds in English, is something that both Heather and I have wanted to see for many years. The exhibition, which is all about human anatomy, features real bodies that have been through a process called Plastination. This enables all of the muscular, circulatory and bone structure of a person to be preserved and presented for viewing. It really was interesting and we were pleased that we could see this in Heidelberg.

Heading back to Heppenheim it was rush hour, so the autobahn was busy, but the cars were still whizzing along at great speed. The Germans do like a bit of fast driving!

We got back to Heppenheim with enough time to pack our bags before having a last walk around the old town and heading to a Tapas bar opposite our hotel for our final evening meal in Germany. The food was good, but there seemed to be garlic in just about everything (and lots of it), we must have still had it seeping out of our pores in the morning. Interestingly, the waiter was from Bradford originally - it's a small world!

After a rather uncomfortable night - mainly as a result of re-tasting garlic - it was time to leave Heppenheim and head to Frankfurt Airport for our flight back to Birmingham.

After a final 30 minute blast on the autobahn we were soon at the car hire drop off point at the airport. After using the self tagging system at Lufthansa's check in area we were free to roam the airport for a couple of hours before boarding LH954 to Birmingham. The flight was busier than the outbound journey, but still only at about 50% occupancy for the short hop back to the UK.

Even though this had not quite been the trip we had originally planned - Germany can't quite deliver the turquoise seas of The Maldives - it had been a really good trip away to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary. We were really pleased to have got away and enjoyed a little bit of travelling at this most difficult time.

Will we manage anything to replace our next planned holiday in December? Who knows, but we will certainly try our best to make the most of whatever we can do!

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