Blogs from Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe - page 9

We stopped for a few hours between the Rhine Valley and the Black Forest in Heidelberg. What we noticed in Heidelberg, other than that the castle was very cool, was how many Americans were there. Between tourists, students studying abroad there, and the nearby American military base, it seemed like one out of every three people were heard talking was speaking English. We spent some time browsing through some shops in town, enjoying some Thai food for lunch (yum), and then we headed up the hill to visit the castle. The castle is in ruins and has only been partially rebuilt, which I think made it more interesting than some of the perfectly restored castles that we've seen. The castle is also home to the biggest wine vat in Germany. It holds something like 58,000 gallons, ... read more

Hi all, Sunday morning Jessie and I got up early to head north to Heidelberg in the state (region) of Baden-Wurttemberg. Its about 45 minute drive from Frankfurt, when you are going 100+ mph on the autobahn that is! Several cars were smoking past us, probably hitting 140 or 150 on the speedometer. Dont even realize how fast you are going though, because you are just sticking with the flow of traffic. Heidelberg is truly adorable. Quaint, picturesque, and just what you would picture when thinking of a classic little European town. Much of Germany was destroyed during WWII, yet Heidelberg was one of the few, if any, that was left in tact. Soaring, beautiful gothic style churches are all over, surrounding by weaving cobblestone pedestrian streets and small little alley ways that are populated with ... read more

Gueten tag! Yay back to a country where i know a few phrases!!! HALLO!!!!! Got into this great small (size of GB) town last night on the recommendation of miss Aly! So far I'm loving it! I'm in old town - which is mostly a pedestrian shopping/cafe's street running parallel with the beautiful river that goes through town! At the top of the hill there is an awesome huge castle looking down on the valley and town! The first night i found myself watching the rugby world cup again at an irish pub and having a great time cheering for the Irish! The bar was called the Dubliner, and it had about 12 rugby and soccer jerseys on the wall, as well as some signs for the pittsburgh steelers! Weird. And then I saw it.....a Brett ... read more

The trip from Luxemburg to Heidelberg was our most complex train journey so far. There was no direct train service between the two cities so Kerrie had to search our rail timetable to find what she thought was three connecting trains (but turned out to be four) in order to get to Heidelberg on time. First it was a train that went briefly into France to a place called Metz. Then it was a train from Metz to a Saarbrucken just across the German border. This train consisted of only a single carriage and was quite full. Then a further change took us to Kaiserslauten (that famous place where the Socceroos beat Japan 3-1 in the World Cup 06). Here we had only a 3 minute stop and had to run to catch the next train ... read more

After a week in Ireland with my parents and my aunt, I flew (along with my parents) to Switzerland. Switzerland was as beautiful as ever, and I had a great time exploring a new bit of it, as well as visiting with relatives and paragliding (which I have wanted to do since the last time I was there. By the way, it was totally worth it; absolutely amazing!). From there, we drove to Heidelberg where I will be calling my home for the next 7 weeks. The city is quite cute, especially the old part of town, and the view from the castle is incredible. After a few days, of exploring the city, my parents left to fly back to Colorado, and I moved into my new apartment (which I have to admit is a little ... read more