Mannheim
Today we opted out of riding our bikes. I wanted to see Heidelberg Castle and OJ had already seen it 25 or so years earlier and didn’t want to go.
Here’s how rusty my German is. I got us on the train instead of the tram. Now this normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but I did tell George it would be a bit of a milk run. That my friends is an understatement. It was nothing but a milk run! We detoured so much it wasn’t funny.
In the end, we took a route that took us through the German countryside. I won’t make that mistake on the way back. Train route 5 had two lines, one that went through Weinheim and one that is a straight shot to Heidelberg. Well, thankfully we took off at 9:30 because you know I got us on the one that took the longest route.
It was fun though. We got to see a lot of small towns along the way. 56 stops later, we finally made it to Heidelberg, but I was freezing. First stop H&M to buy a sweatshirt for me. Then we had a nice long walk down a pedestrian walkway filled with shops and cafes. We wandered down until we came to a direction board. I needed the restroom. Of course they are on every other corner, and we took off in search of one. There were 3 on the street we chose so this should be easy to find.
No such luck! By this time, George found a bush and I said I would suffer through until the castle. There had to be one there. So we carried on walking. We got to the gate and saw that it was straight up hill. Now, I quit smoking over 7 years ago, but I still don’t own my lungs. This hurt. I imagine it was much like what it would have been like to climb from the valley below to our castle. Why is it that most castles are built on hilltops?
We got to the top and paid our entry fee of €9 each. And then we walked up more.
He was so thrilled by this barrel that we had to go back inside and take a look. The barrel in the photo to the left is a normal sized one. The one to the right is massive! But even bigger still is the one inside the room below! It holds xxx liters of wine! Now that is impressive.
We then walked around outside and took a look at some of the sculptures that are adorning the walls. I am beginning to get sculpture envy now. I can’t wait until The Lovers is uncrated and installed.
From here we took a walk around the grounds until we came to a bench to have a bit of a picnic. It was truly a magical afternoon. I was sitting with my lover on a bench dedicated to Johann Goethe and his lover. Can it get anymore romantic?
After lunch, we saw a statue of Bacchus and a grotto that had been dug out of the hillside. It reminded me very much of our garage.
The round tower of the castle had slipped and 1/2 of it had fallen over. I’m so glad Antonio fixed our long slit before we arrived in Italy. I can just see 1/2 of our tower falling off. I am guessing the maintenance fees on this place are astronomical. And just look at the thickness of those walls!
The view of the city from the castle walkway was magnificent!
After we had taken in the view, we decided to head back to the ship. We were in no rush as the ship was docking here over night so we wandered back down the pedestrian area where I stopped for a currywurst.
We got back to the train depot and had issues finding the right train. I saw a conductor and he told me which way to go. We found train 5 that was taking the fast route and hopped on it. As we were traveling, it stopped at a station and the doors wouldn't open. When they eventually did, most people got off. We of course knew we had to stay on to continue back to Mannheim HBH. WRONG! I looked up after 3 more stops and saw the number of the train we were on changed to 25. I saw where it was headed and realized we were on yet another milk run. Back to Weinheim for us.
Some of the graffiti was nice.
Our adventure came to an end after about another hour. From here we walked back to the ship for dinner .
After, we decided on an early night for tomorrow we ride again.
No comments:
Post a Comment