Travelogue 1995 / Episode Five

Travelogue Deutschland 1995 / Episode Five

Final Breakfast with Mats and Chris
Today we had a bit tighter schedule than before, since Mats and Chris both needed to leave for work by 8:00 Wednesday morning. I was glad to have my little el-cheapo alarm clock, to wake me up on time. We all met in the kitchen for a final breakfast, again enjoying strong coffee and rolls, with my favorite spread Nutella. Nutella is a chocolate and hazelnut creme that tastes great on German-style bakery rolls Of course thats only my opinion... It was a quiet breakfast I think that we were all a bit tired from the late night on tuesday. As each of us woke up, the conversation increased. We talked a bit about our plans for the rest of the week and their upcoming holiday on a northern island of Germany on the East Sea.

Pack it up, Sack it up, Take it on home boy...
We finished packing a few things away into our bags before leaving. Mats said goodbye first, thanking us for the visit and the fun times in Marburg. We were both glad that he was willing and able to be our tourguide for the last few days. Martin, Christina and I then gathered our things together and left the apartment and walked to the car. We then said goodbye to her as well, thanking her for the great fun and hospitality. Before I left she gave me some German coffee and two jars of Nutella to take back to the States. We then hopped into the car and waved goodbye on our way to the Autobahn.

On to Heidelberg
We guessed that we would run into a bit of traffic on the road to Heidelberg, and we did run into some. On one part of the road to the Autobahn, there was a little roadwork that set us back about half an hour, though we were already going to be in Leimen earlier than Martin had expected.

An Early Arrival
Well, our arrival time in Leimen was earlier than expected Martin told his friend Wolfgang that we would be at his house around eleven that morning and we had arrived at nine-thirty an hour and a half early. Martin and I decided to visit the house anyway, since Wolfgang might be there. Martin rang the bell and we waited for a few minutes no answer at the door. A few moments later, Wolfgangs mother and nurse walked up to the door. Martin said hello and found that Wolfgang was not around I told Martin that he was probably off doing errands before our arrival at eleven. Martin told them that we would come back later and we walked back to the car.

A Visit to a Leimen Street Cafe
Martin was a bit worried that Wolfgang was away or might have had to work after all, but I suggested that we could just find a street cafe and spend the hour relaxing while Wolfy was away. He agreed and we parked the car closer to the center of town and walked into downtown Leimen. A few blocks away we found a nice cafe, with a view of the fountain in the open courtyard in which the cafe was facing. We both had a coffee and talked while waiting for Wolfgang to return from his errands. Kids began playing on the fountain which appeared to have been designed with them in mind there was a dragon that spat water from its mouth that the kids could sit on and two knights standing nearby with holes in their face armor so that kids could put their faces into the holes. At eleven, Martin and I walked to a phone booth and gave a call to Wolfgang he was home and had been swimming in a nearby pool, expecting us to arrive at eleven oclock. Martin was pleased that everything was going to work as he had planned.

A Second Visit to Wolfgangs Flat
We returned to Wolfgangs apartment and rang the buzzer a second time. This time he answered the door, said hello and invited us inside. His mother has Alzheimers and his father is in a wheelchair, so Wolfgang shares an apartment with them taking care of them in the evenings when the nurse is leaves for the day. Once we were inside, I could hear the banging and sawing from above workers were adding another floor to the apartments. Wolfgang said that he did not like the noise but was looking forward to added rooms. We sat down in his living room and talked about what the plans were for the day while drinking some mineral water and juice. Martin and Wolfgang talked in German, since Wolfgang really does not use English much, He seemed to have a much harder time thinking of words and constructing sentences than Martin did and I could relate to that.

Onwards to Heidelberg
The plans were set we would first check on the Youth Hostel and our reserved beds, then visit the old city and the castle of Heidelberg. We left the apartment saying so long to Wolfys mother and nurse and climbed into the car for the trip from Leimen to Heidelberg. The trip into the city went quickly I watched the scenery while Martin and Wolfgang talked in German. It was interesting that as they continued to speak in German, my comprehension of the language increased. I was glad to see improvement in my German, but I realized that it still needed a lot of work. Soon we had arrived in Heidelberg using side roads that Wolfgang knew. Within a few minutes, we passed the old castle of Heidelberg, perched high above the Neckar river on the edge of the Oldenburg Mountains.

The Youth Hostel is Closed
Passing the old city, we turned east towards the dormitories for the University of Heidelberg. Near the zoo we found a parking spot and followed a path next to the zoo, into the Jugendherberge or Youth Hostel. At the from door,we found that the door was locked and the hostel would not open until one-oclock that afternoon. We decided to visit Heidelberg first,then return to the hostel at six for check-in since we already had reservations.

Back to Old Heidelberg
The trip back to the city was quick, but finding a parking spot was very difficult. Fortunately, Wolfgang knew the city well especially the best places to find parking. We found a small spot near the Heidelberg Press factory for those who dont know this company, they make famous printing presses and have been in existence from around the invention of printing in Germany. It was a bit of a walk to the old city [the next two days are probably my personal record for walking in a 48 hour period, something like twenty plus kilometers] the walk took about fifteen or twenty minutes. I really like old cities, like Heidelberg and Marburg, because of the narrow cobblestone streets, small shops and interesting historical landmarks that fill the streets. Heidelberg was a bit more of a tourist city than Marburg people were walking everywhere and there seemed to be more of a shopping frenzy than in Marburg. I saw a very wide variety of people here Asians, Europeans and Americans walking around.

To the Top of The Hill and the Castle
After walking through part of the old city, we began the climb up to the castle of Heidelberg. There were two ways that we could go up on streets or stairs. After all of the stairs in Marburg, we decided to take the street route up to the top. I think that either way up is a lot of work, because even the streets upwards were extremely steep, so the stairs probably were too. I told Martin and Wolfgang that this kind of climbing was Great practice for biking. Soon we had reached the top of the steep graded hills and could see the walls of the heavily-built castle. The structure looked more fortress-like than castle like I guessed that the architect must have intended to portray strength he had done a pretty good job in my opinion. Still, the castle was invaded by the French in the eighteenth century and almost destroyed much of the outer surfaces were battle-worn and broken, with one turret broken off and covered with moss. The inside of the castle could be seen through the windows of the ruin, so a large portion of the interior was mostly empty. We decided against going for the tour of the place, since I and Martin had done so on our last visit to Heidelberg, two years ago. Instead, we opted for a walk around to the side of the castle, in the garden on the parallel ridge. I wanted to do a bit more sketching and thought that the castle would make a nice subject. I spent about twenty minutes to a half and hour, sketching the northern face of the structure, while listening to people passing behind me. There was a nicely situated wall from which I could easily perch my sketchbook and work on my drawing.

Lunchtime
After finishing my drawing, I sat for a while with Martin and Wolfgang. We wanted to get something to eat since it was already one oclock. We began the walk back down into the city and stopped at an Italian restaurant that Wolfgang chose. Inside, we each ordered something to drink and lunch, and talked a bit about the city Martin and Wolfgang spoke for a while in German while I enjoyed my lunch. Across from our table was a wall with autographed photos of famous people that had visited the restaurant none of which I knew. After lunch, we explored the city streets some more, stopping at several shops along the main street from time to time. At one point in a square, there was a quartet that played Vivaldi and it sounded very nice in the open courtyard. The humorous thing about it was that playing on the street is forbidden but this group had a sign hanging above them on a post, providing official permission to play for 10 minutes. In another part of the city, Wolfgang showed us the house of a famous political figure from Germanys past he was an old socialist president of Germany from the late 1800s and into the early 1900s. The house that held the museum was his living and working quarters while the president. Throughout the house were old newspaper headlines, video clips, and other remnants of his life and work. The house had an open-roofed patio in the center of the building, where there was a small cafe. I imagined that socialist party members probably came here to argue politics over coffee.

Back to the Hostel
At five-thirty or so, Wolfgang had to take the train back home to spend some time with his parents, then he would rejoin us at eight that evening. He told us how to return to the car and then hopped on a train. Martin and I walked back along one of the main streets in Heidelberg, back to the car. On the way there, we picked up some bread and a special type of onion, mushroom and bacon pastry, called Flammkuchen, which is available as a specialty from that region of Germany. It looked a lot like a pizza, cut into wedges with a higher crust on the back edge. When we arrived at the car we relaxed while eating our pastry and drinking some water that we had brought in the cooler.

Back to the Hostel...Again...
After eating, we drove back to the hostel and waited for a few minutes before the student/receptionist returned to check us in. After showing a reservation card, Martin had to fill out another piece of paper and then we submitted our hostel cards to the attendant. The price was right Martin paid 19.50DM as a student and I paid 24.50 for an adult. Our room was on the second floor room two-fifty-eight. It was a bit smaller than we had hoped, but it was a bed none the less. We left the room for the car, to gather our things and leave them in the room to save ourselves a bed. When we returned, there were two other guys that had staked out beds in the same room [there were 6 beds in the room 3 bunk beds total] so we dropped our things on one of the bunk beds Martin took the top bunk and I took the bottom. We got into a conversation with the other two guys and found that they were from Norway and had been riding the trains through Greece, Eastern Europe and Europe on Eurail passes. They spoke good English which was a nice break for me after on-the-job training in German. They mentioned that they were happy to have found a spot in the hostel after sleeping on trains for most of their tour.

A Rest Stop
Tired from all of the walking, Martin and I went back out to the car and took some mineral water and cherry juice to the area behind the hostel for a little while. As we sat and talked about the trip, a peacock came walking right up to us, looking for bread. At one point it hopped up onto one of the chairs near me, looking for food. Upon finding nothing to eat, he jumped back down and wandered around the patio looking for bread crumbs. We knew that Wolfgang would be arriving at eight or so, so we put away the cups and empty bottles and walked back to the room to prepare for the evening in Heidelberg. Just as we closed the door to the room, Wolfgang opened it back up again he had found the room we were staying in at the reception desk.

An Irish Cafe in a German City
This time Wolfgang did the driving into the city, and soon we were at a small place called OReilys an Irish place in Germany. They had a nice little terrace just outside of the restaurant, so we made ourselves at home there and ordered something to drink. It was interesting conversation and I found that there were about thirty thousand US Army personnel living in Heidelberg and the surrounding area. Right in front of me, three servicemen sat talking in English. A few minutes later, about five more guys rolled up on mountain bikes. I knew that Frankfurt and Hanau had bases, but did not know about the US Armys presence in Heidelberg.

A Walk Along the Neckar
After finishing our drinks, Wolfgang suggested a walk along the rivers edge because there is a great view of the old city and castle from the opposite side of the river. We agreed to this and began walking to the pathway that ran alongside the Neckar. It was a very nice night not too cool or warm and the lights did indeed glow and reflect in the calm waters beside us. We came to a point where the street went up and the path became darker and narrower. It seemed like a good place to get robbed which switched my city-boy instincts into action. We had no problems along that stretch of river edge but I wanted to be prepared for anything.

The Old City at Night
When we reached the old bridge, we climbed back up to street level and crossed the structure. The bridge was destroyed by the Germans in 1945, just before the Allies got to Heidelberg. That may have been part of the reason that the city was not destroyed during World War Two. I especially like this bridge on the end just before entering the city, there are two tall rocket-like posts with stripes on them, that stand on either side of a arched gateway. They almost appear to be candy-canes in an odd way. The city looked much different in the dark the streets that are parallel to the river are lit well, while the streets that run perpendicular are quite a bit darker. Not was many people were walking around in the evening but there were quite a few passers-by. All of the shops had already closed at six that evening, but several restaurants and cafes were open for business until twelve or one. Along the narrow streets sat people in chairs, talking and enjoying coffee and other drinks. At one point we passed by a kid who was trying to earn a few extra marks by playing the blues on his harmonica. Heidelberg was an interesting place to be at night.

Back to the Hostel...AGAIN!!! :)
By the time we reached the car, I was tired from all of the walking as well as Martin. Wolfgang started his VW Golf, and with the effortless ease of a longtime resident, sped us back to the youth hostel. We said Tschuss [something like Ciao or Later on Dude in German] until thursday morning. The hostel was still very alive at eleven-thirty in the evening, with kids hanging out all over the grounds of the complex, talking and laughing. After climbing the two staircases that led to our room, we entered the darkened space, to the sound of sleeping people. I did not want to flip the lights on and wake up the happily sleeping hostelers in the room, so I opened the door instead, allowing softer light from the hallway to fall into the front of the room. We got ready for bed as quietly as we could and I fell into a deep sleep. What a day!

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