We had the best weekend in this beautiful city of Heidelberg! Just an hour train ride and we spent the night with our friends T.J. and Jessica and their adorable 6 month old, Penelope. Sam and my initial reaction was jealousy. We were wishing we could live in such a picturesque place. Mainz really does pale in comparison to Heidelberg in terms of aesthetics. However, we decided Heidelberg has an unfair advantage for two reasons.
1. Heidelberg was not bombed during the war at all while Mainz was completely leveled. So of course Mainz lost that cute German town look.
2. Heidelberg is very hilly while Mainz is terribly flat. In Heidelberg you can stand in the Altstadt and see the riverbank and up to the castle and the vineyard hills and the forest on the other side of the river. In Mainz all you can ever see is what i right in front of you.
So, we have forgiven Mainz but we definitely enjoyed the fantastic sights while we were in Heidelberg. We took so many pictures, this is just a fraction of them. Once again, the camera doesn't do justice.
The trip started off a LITTLE rough when Sam and I got on the wrong train...oops! We learned an important lesson: Just because you are at the correct platform and your train is supposed to leave in two minutes it does NOT mean you should get on that train.
Our train was scheduled to leave at 8:39am. We came to track 5, the correct track, and there was a train already there. It was 8:37 and so we figured we should get on. As soon as we did, the doors shut and the train left and we thought, "Wow I'm glad we got here in time, this train left 2 minutes early." Just to make sure everything was right, we asked the lady next to us if that train went to Heidelberg. "Entschuldigung, wissen Sie ob deise Zug fahren nach Heidelberg bitte?"
NOPE. We were heading towards Frankfurt. The opposite direction. Rats!
Well, after a couple train changes we ended up in Heidelberg just an hour after we should have. Unfortunately we did miss the tour of the city but T.J. and Jessica were great and they gave us a tour of our own; I was impressed with how much they were able to tell us about the the Altstadt.
This is the classic picture of Heidelberg from above. You can see the bridge over the Neckar River, the Altstadt and if you look really hard, the castle up on the hill.
In the middle of the Altstadt was the old student prison! They really kept students here if they broke the University rules! The entire building was covered with drawings and written messages from the students.
Walking up to the castle we saw this huge tower that had been accidently blown up. It happened to be where they stored the ammunition. Can you see Sam and T.J.?
This is a tower made for defense of course but the very top was nice and had windows. The king wanted Shakespeare to perform there. It was unclear whether or not that ever happened.
This is called the FUNICULAR. A one cart train that takes you up the mountain to the top which we were told had the best view of the city. You will soon see the second "oops" of the trip.
Well, here it is, our view from the top. We knew it was a little foggy that day but we figured by noon it would have cleared up...oops!!!
This is the huge tower at the top that we almost missed because we couldn't see it till we were almost standing next to it!
Oops number 3 could not be prevented of course however Sam just barely crossed over the age limit. Although he is a student, he did not get the discount because of his age. He gave the lady his student ID and she looked at him and asked, "Wie alt sind Sie?" How old are you? Dangit!
The main part of the castle as we walked in. This is the only part of the castle that has been restored. The city decided to leave the rest how it was to be a historical landmark.
The largest wine barrel I have ever seen!!! In that time the wine was more safe to drink than the water so people drank more wine in one day than most people drink water in one day now.
We could see the homes on the hill with the vineyards from across the river.
There is a legend about this footprint in the concrete:
There is a legend about this footprint in the concrete:
Version 1: The castle was on fire and a soldier was late on getting the memo so he had to rush to put his armor on and then jump out the window above and this is where he landed.
Version 2: A soldier had a lady in his room and he had to jump out the window quickly so they wouldn't get caught.
This is a sign we saw in the train station.
Oh yes, we can't forget opps number 4. The one thing I was most excited about in Heidelberg was the Hans Prinzhorn Museum. It was the main focus in a book I recently read called Agne's Jacket. The book is about people with schizophrenia who are put into psychiatric wards and then use art to express themselves because no one can understand them (very abbreviated explanation). Anyways I love psychology and I loved that book. I bought it before we left for Germany having no idea that the museum the author refers to was in Heidelberg. I was so happy to learn that this museum is real and it is still open to the public and in close proximity to Mainz.
The museum is the largest collection of artwork wherein the artists were all in psych wards at the time of their creation- over 200 pieces of artwork. Agnes was one of the artists who expressed herself by sewing words and symbols onto her jacket.
So Sunday afternoon we are walking up to the museum, I see the sign, I can hardly wait, and then we see the small notice taped to the locked door: Museum temporarily CLOSED due to a seasonal change of exhibits. oops! Not open until November. I blame this oops on the museum. We checked the website for the opening hours...no warning of this.
Well overall the trip was wonderful! We had a blast exploring a new city and spending time with friends. We definitely plan to go back before we leave Germany.
Thanks T.J. and Jessica!
No comments:
Post a Comment