Return to Heidelberg

Heidelberg is the first European city I ever visited, back during a 1998 whirlwind Chorale tour of Europe.  We visited 5 cities in 16 days, something I would encourage anyone should do...once.  Fascinating, eye-opening...and EXHAUSTING!  In any case, I was excited to return to this charming town, although the experience of a two thirty-somethings booking their own stuff and figuring out their own rail transportation is quite different from being herded with 50 other college students on a tour bus.  This time, I saw Heidelberg more as a real city and not just a idyllic European town.

We got into Heidelberg mid-afternoon and wanted to take advantage of what seemed like would be limited nice weather.  We took off across the Necker River and climbed the hills across from Heidelberg to Philosopher's Way (Philosophenweg).  It's a strenuous walk, rewarded with a beautiful view as you climb the hills.  As we hiked up, I was reminded of the travel journal I kept during that Chorale tour, in which I wrote, "Those philosophers must have been in good shape!"  

Heidelberg from Philosopher's Way

Sun setting on Heidelberg as we walked down
 Schlanegenweg (Snake's Path).

We had a traditional German dinner at Brauhaus Vetter under the recommendation of my friend Brian, and it was delicious!


The next day we visited the Heidelberg Castle.  Parts of it in are in ruins, while parts of it are still intact and open for tours, which we skipped this time around.  We just explored the grounds on a ticket that combined a trip up the Heidelberg funicular with entrance to the castle.

An example of the castle ruins.

Kevin and the castle.

Tracie hanging out of a tower with Heidelberg in the background.

The former "big barrel" for storing wine,
which wasn't quite big enough...

So here is the new, improved, bigger barrel!  See Kevin
on the top?

Included in our admission was entrance to the Apothecary Museum, which essentially showed the development of the pharmacy in Germany.  You can still see remnants of that history today, with real pharmacies ("Apothekes") being separate from what looks more like an American drugstore, and looking very official.  I was most entranced by this scene of a historic apotheke:

Complete with rats and kitties to catch them!

There was also an evening Christmas Market on the castle grounds, which was really lovely.  It probably had more handmade goods than any other market we'd been to.

Castle courtyard at night.

I had flamlachs...salmon staked to a wooden plank
 and cooked over an open flame.  Yum!

And, of course, some gluhwein!

And then...onto Ulm, of course!

Across and along the River Rhine

Before leaving Cologne, we crossed the railroad bridge to the other side of the Rhine River to get the best views of the city. Take a look at this railroad bridge:

Kinda looks like a glass mosaic, doesn't it?  Or, at least, that was my first impression.  Now, look a little closer...

They're locks!  "Love locks," which I had never heard of, but are apparently a somewhat new but widespread tradition.  How sweet!  If only we had known!

Once across the bridge, Kevin took 75 photos that essentially amounted to this:

And, the previous night, we had also crossed and took the exact same photo, only it was dark:

During the day, while Kevin was taking his 75 pictures of Cologne, I became fascinated with a puppy trying desperately to get his person to play with him, while she was busy texting.  He stopped being as persistent as soon as I got out my camera, of course, but this is still pretty cute:

It was time to move on to Heidelberg, but not before the most exciting part of the trip so far (for Kevin): riding the train!

Waiting excitedly for the train.

We had decided it would be most economical and convenient to get a German Rail Pass.  Luckily, Deutsche Bahn had a promotion that allowed us to splurge for first-class for pretty much the same price as second-class, which came in super-handy with our two-weeks worth of luggage.  Kevin and I could both wax poetic about the convenience of European rail, but I think that's for another post.  

Tracie likes the train, too!

After her experience with German rail this summer, Kevin's cousin had strongly recommended reserving seats on the train (which costs a few euro extra), but we threw caution to the wind and had absolutely no problems (yet).  We were the only two in a first-class compartment for six, and it didn't seem that anyone needed to share with strangers.  Of course, this was a weekday during the (somewhat) low season, so it certainly might be different in the summer.

We took a longer, more scenic route along the Rhine to Heidelberg by making sure to route our trip through Mainz.  This was definitely worth it.  It took about an hour longer, but we passed through several scenic villages and a number of castles atop the hillside.  It was too late in the season for us to do a Rhine castle cruise (they seem to only run through October), but this was a pretty good substitute.

Next stop: Heidelberg!