Heidelberg

After a lovely Christmas Day, the fam and I went down to Heidelberg, a city located south of Frankfurt. It’s near a large American military base, and it was surprising to hear so much English spoken after being in a small, relatively isolated town in northern Germany for so long. Perhaps it’s sort of fitting when this is the town in which Mark Twain worked on a little something called Huckleberry Finn. Bam! That’s right, you just learned something today.

As was the theme for the whole of my family’s visit, it was cold and rainy (and considerably colder than in Bielefeld). Even in the rain, Heidelberg is a beautiful city, with numerous great places to eat.

The first night, we ate at a pub-ish restaurant called Löwenbräu. It. Was. Amazing. It has a casual atmosphere and great beer. I had a dish that included goulash, spaetzel and preiselberries.

On our last night, we had dinner at Sahara, a Mediterranean restaurant with (I think) Turkish, Spanish and Lebanese offerings. The perfect antidote to the cold weather.

A couple of Heidelberg highlights:

Heidelberger Schloss – This castle is way old, and it took many a beating in its day. Now you can travel there to see an enormous wine cask and an apothecary museum, and then knock those two things right off of your bucket list. It’s a bit of walking to get up there, but it offers a great view.

Old Bridge – check out the historical (and not so historical) high-water markings for the Neckar River. The bridge was damaged in WWII, but has since been rebuilt and preserved.

Philosopher’s Walk – Academics and philosophers traditionally liked to walk around here and think some deep thoughts. We, however, thought our deep thoughts from the safety of a warm cafe.