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Heidelberg |
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This was my first view of the castle in Heidelberg (Pronounced Hidelburg). The fifth day of my adventure in Germany found me headed south towards this nice little town off of the Neckar River. I think this was probably the funnest day of my trip in Germany. In the morning Taramin's German friends came and picked us up, and we all went together to Heidelberg. Her two friends knew English well, so we had a good time talking about various things throughout the day. They had also been to Heidelberg before, and they knew a bit about it- much of which I cannot remember. I actually bought a book about the castle, but it is really big (i.e. I have not actually gotten to it yet). The above picture was taken in a square with the statue of Mary holding the baby Christ, standing on top of a globe supported by angels. It is really a nice statue. Here is the reverse angle from the castle. |
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The town of Heidelburg is actually split between the University and students, and the other side of the river which houses the well-to-do folks. The town is actually a big tourist destination, and I heard more American English spoken there than I have anywhere else since I have been to Europe. There were also a lot of Asian tourists there too. The big church in town we didn't really check out because we were busy doing other things. See the big towers on the bridge, well we actually made two trips to the bridge- one before we ate and one after. |
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Yeah, statues are all over this castle, and they are not religious in nature either. Most of the statues are of kings, princes, and lords of Germany. There was a castle reported constructed in the early 13c, but this one was built over it in the 14c and expanded later. The University in Heidelburg is actually one of the oldest in Germany, and it supposedly is a pretty good University. The castle was really more like a palace than anything, it was pretty grand. Here is a picture of me with Taramin's two German friends on the castle grounds behind the castle. |
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Later when I got thirsty from walking around, I went inside and tried to get a drink. The German guys there were trying to sell me this drink, but I was not THAT thirsty. |
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Yeah, that is a monster keg! The funny thing is, this was the small one! The larger one took up a whole room and had stairs you could climb to get on top. Supposedly they had only filled the larger one three times because it is so freaken big. Basically it is the size of the room I am standing in here. I couldn't get a good picture of the larger one though- you'll just have to go to Heidelberg yourself if you want to see it. As we were walking from the bridge to go to the Hard Rock Cafe Heidelberg- we couldn't resist- it actually started snowing! This was really cool! I decided to play Old Man Winter, and I tried to hold off the snow flurries. |
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Well, while I tried my best to hold off the snow storm, it came and sat on Heidelberg none the less. We quickly dodged into the Hard Rock Cafe, and I had this little pee-wee burger and a million fries. I felt like the main course was actually fries and not the burger- Would you like a little burger with those fries- Why yes I would! Anyway- here is a before and after shot of the bridge. |
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This was the only day that it actually snowed when I was in Germany, but it was really cold the whole time I was there. When I got off the plane in England everyone was bundled up and I felt like laughing- This isn't cold!
We ran around in the snow for a while which afforded me the time to buy a 'Schloss Heidelberg' (Heidelberg Castle) shirt with a knight on it and everything- yeah really touristy. After that we dodged into a small pub, and we had warm drinks and talked a little. Curiously, the German's wanted to know what I thought of hearing the German language spoken. I thought this was a strange question- it is not like I ever think "How does my English sound?" Even though I know California (i.e. Hollywood) English is really kind of looked down upon here in Europe (I have only got bad comments about it- it is not properly enunciated English, confusing to listen too, etc.). I guess I really could care less. Anyway- so this started an interesting conversation. Since I had been to Germany, people around me were speaking German everywhere I went. This was a different kind of experience for me to have all of the 'white' people around me speaking a foreign language. In California you really don't get that. So anyway- I had kind of this growing realization that some of my expectations of what to expect with Germans and Germany were really incorrect. In the end, I realized I got these 'expectations' from our national media in the US, and in the end they did not hold water to the reality of my experience in Germany. One of these 'expectations' was that the German language was an ugly or harsh sounding language. I very quickly came to like German, and I think it sounds more like English than any other language I had heard spoken. It makes sense considering they are related on the language tree. Conversational German sounds a lot like English, but of course I couldn't understand it. I explained this to the Germans, and I realized most of the exposure I got to anything German came from WWII movies- not exactly flattering portrayals. I told them my first couple days there I expected some police officer or some other official to walk up to me at any moment and ask for my 'payperz'.
Anyway- check in for my last update on my trip to the Roman city of Trier! |
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BACK ONE! |
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