Travelogue 1995 / Episode Six

Travelogue Deutschland 1995 / Episode Six

Have a Happy Hostel Morning!
Morning came quickly. Everyone was rudely awakened by the army-like announcement over old PA speakers, blaring through the building. Good morning hostel guests, its time to wake up and prepare for breakfast being served now in the cafeteria, exclaimed the male voice in both English and Deutsch. We rose slowly and prepared for another day in Heidelberg. Martin and I packed our things after getting dressed, so that we could easily move our gear to the car by the nine oclock departure deadline set by the hostel. Martin left the room a bit earlier than I, so he could retrieve our hostel cards before eating [very important since theres usually a massive line after eating], then we met near the cafeteria line for breakfast. After staying in Bonndorfs excellent hostel in 93, Martin and I judge all other hostels by that standard. There, the building was clean and new, rooms were well appointed, breakfast was great each guest received a tray with a coffee pot, bread, cheese, butter, and meat. This hostel operated a bit more like an army facility [I was thinking along the lines of M*A*S*H*] with long lines, industrial style tableware and trays, industrial style food and watery coffee and tea in giant stainless steel containers. The breakfast was decent and even filling, but after the precedent set by the hostel in Bonndorf, lesser breakfasts are more difficult to overlook.

Another Day in Heidelberg
After breakfast we gathered our things, wished the Norwegians a good trip home and carried our gear to the car for stowing. Soon Wolfgang arrived in his car, though he suggested that we take the bus into the city, since the night before he had received a ticket and had not noticed it until arriving home. We just missed a bus into the city, because I thought that I had left my sketchbook on the car roof when Martin had been carrying it. So, we began the morning with another walk, this time several kilometers into the city.

Long-Lost Relative?
Actually, the walk was better in the long run, because I found quite an interesting house and street along the way. As we approached the river, I noticed a street sign ahead with the name Erwin-Rohde Strasse. I was a bit surprised at that and took a photo of the street sign thinking that my family would be interested in seeing the sign. As I looked closer, I noticed that the house on the corner had a plate mounted to the west facing wall, and moved closer for a look and photo. Sure enough, Erwin Rohde had lived in this house and had taught philosophy and religion in the mid-to-late eighteen-hundreds at Heidelberg University. I wondered if he might have been a long lost relative...

A Walk Along the High Western Bank of the Neckar
Near the river, we began climbing the hills leading to the higher roads and park, directly across from the city and castle. Wolfgang told us that we would have a great view of the city from this hill on the opposite side of Heidelberg. It was a steep road that led up into the hills [more walking] so we stopped just about halfway from the top of the hill, to have a look and take a breather on a park bench, in the shade.

The High Park Over Heidelberg
Soon we arrived at the top of the hill and began entering a secluded and peaceful city park,that looked more like a forest. Trees lined the roadway and kept the whole area cool and shady. A small stream flowed through the park, down to a small pond at a lower level below. It was a nice change of pace from all of the city-walking that we had done wednesday.

A Bus Ride Back to the Cars
The walk back down to the river edge was a nice one, though steep there were beautiful houses built right into the hillsides all along the sloping street. We stopped for a moment at the bus stop on the corner, where Wolfgang checked the schedule. We still had several minutes before the bus would arrive. With the extra time that we had, we began walking south to the next bus stop. There we found a ticket-spitting machine where Martin and I bought tickets for the bus. Wolfgang already had a yearly pass for the trains and busses that he used on his daily ride into the office so he didnt need a ticket. A few minutes later, the bus bound for the downtown main bus/train station, arrived and we boarded it. A few minutes later we arrived at the Heidelberg Zoo and our cars. We spent a few minutes planning the next stop for the afternoon over some mineral water.

Castle Schwetzingen
The next location on the visit to the Heidelberg area was the castle at Schwetzingen. The castle is a smaller copy of the palace at Versailles, France. Martin and I followed Wolfgang to the outskirts of the city where he parked his car on the side of the road and jumped into our vehicle. Schwetzingen was a small town that seemed to be a popular tourist attraction license plates in the parking lot were from all over Germany. From the parking lot we walked to the castle, where there was an interesting sculpture in bronze in the square. It was of an old woman selling asparagus and a small boy and his dog on the opposite side of the table buying some probably for his mom. It seemed to be a very popular sculpture, with many visitors taking photos in front of it.

Lunch Break and the Castle
We stopped at a small outdoor cafe across the street from the castle and ordered lunch. Wolfgang found a copy of an international newspaper [written in English] so that I could catch up on the latest news while waiting for lunch to arrive. After lunch, we took the short walk across the street to the castle, where Wolfgang bought our tickets into the garden portion of the castle. From the front, the structure looks like Versailles at least that was what Wolfgang told me anyway. He mentioned that German kings in the eighteenth century liked to build mini copies of Versailles, probably because noble living was so boring otherwise. As we ventured into the back of the complex, we stumbled onto marble statues of Greek gods and goddesses hidden behind bushes manicured into square-edged shrubbery that seemed like a life-sized maze. Farther on in the garden were several other buildings one was a copy of an Arabic mosque and another appeared to be an old ruin of a tower. The mosque was being restored, but the old tower appeared to be built as an old ruin. Much of the buildings seemed somewhat poorly built and in need of repairs. We returned to the flower garden in the center of the park, which was really beautiful and I sketched the palace. I was getting very tired from all of the walking, so I didnt spend much time on the sketch within five minutes I had finished. After about half an hour of laying on the grass in the shade of some square-cut shrubs, we decided that a coffee might be just the thing to wake us up, so we left the park. We walked back to the car and Martin bought a ticket for more parking time,then we found another cafe on the market square to have coffee. There we spent an hour talking, drinking coffee, watching tourists walking to the pseudo-palace or having photos taken by the brass sculpture of the asparagus lady.

Back to Zavelstein
Wolfgang had to be back home, so we drove him back to his car on the side of the road and said farewell. It was about a two hour trip back to Zavelstein. Well, somehow we passed the exit for Phorzheim, and we ended up in the southern portion of the Schwartzwald. Making the best of our mistake, Martin and I decided to drive to Zavelstein on the smaller state roads instead of on the Autobahn. We passed through several nice little towns, many with multiple hotels for vacationing visitors from other parts of Germany and France. The road wound through the forest, into valleys of green grass and onto breathtaking mountain tops above the Schwartzwald. It was really beautiful, as the sun set over the tree-lined mountains along the road to the Northeast. We took a break in a small town along the way eating some bread from Heidelberg with one of the jars of Nutella that Christina had given me along with the last of the cherry juice and mineral water that Martin had in the cooler. Soon we were back on the road, arriving in Zavelstein at about ten in the evening. It was a great feeling to be back again, with a restful weekend ahead of us. Martin's mother had something for us to eat when we returned. After dinner I was quick to climb into bed and fall asleep.

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