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Published: April 25th 2019
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Driving through GermanyToday we have to move from the hotel to the airport Terminal 2 (we were at Terminal 1). We took a shuttle bus right outside of the terminal. When we boarded the bus it was relatively empty, so we put our luggage in the racks and got seated. Several people boarded, then a group of 3 young people boarded. One was carrying an open beer bottle. One was carrying a bag with beer in it and the other was just along for the ride. They were standing at the open door of the shuttle when an older woman boarded. She struggled to get on the bus with her luggage and almost knocked herself down with her suitcase. These three just looked at her and turned their heads. Marsha jumped up and kept her from falling and also helped her put her luggage n the rack. It just made us mad that they were standing right there and made no move to help.
At the airport, we were dealing with all our luggage and trying to figure out where we were going. We took an escalator to get down to arrivals and the meeting point. It seemed this escalator had more
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Outside our Hotel narrow steps and was fast moving. We were struggling with our luggage and trying not to hold others up and all of a sudden Marsha's suitcase toppled over. She lost her big mug which was full of precious ice....the first time she's been able to get ice since we left the States. She was so sad. I should have taken a picture but I was just thankful it wasn't one of us falling down the escalator!
Once we found the meeting point (airports here have a specific place called the meeting point), we took turns going to get breakfast. I went to McDonald's and got a delicious scrambled eggs, bacon, and English muffin breakfast. I must say it is fun to visit fast food places form the state and see just how different is their menu. Sadly there was no coffee. We waited at the meeting point until all the people from our group arrived at the airport. One group was delayed several hours so they would join us at our hotel. This is where we also met our tour guide for the remainder of the time we are in Europe. Her name is Mary and she is from
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Parked at the hotel . Reminded me of m Volkswagen days! the Netherlands.
We drove about an hour to Hotel Scheid in Schriedsheim, Germany. It is very near Manneheim and Heidelberg. Here we were assigned our rooms for the night, ate lunch (which included butter for our bread), and had a couple hours to unpack and rest before going to Heidleberg. We all took a nap as did many others in our group. We then boarded the bus and headed to Heidelberg.
Heidelberg is the 5th largest city in Germany and is home of Heidelberg University, the oldest and most prestigious University in Germany. It is also home to Heidelberg Castle which in ruins on a hillside above the city. We learned several very interesting stories about Heidelberg today. The first was how the college students tried to police themselves and had their own jail in the basement of a building. By day the students who were in jail attended classes but once classes were over they had to return to the jail. This all worked well until there was a major flood which flooded the jail and drowned all the students imprisoned there. According to a local we spoke with the jail is considered haunted.
As we
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Biggest Dandelion I have ever seen! Can't really tell by the picture though. were buying souvenirs a vendor told us the story of an effort that was made by pretzel vendors ( in the 1700's) to make al the pretzels uniform in size. A church that was being built had plans for vendors around the outside (which is they way it is today). The vendors carved a drawing (on the side of the church) so they would know what size to make their pretzels. there was a small size for lean years and a larger size for the more abundant years. If you bought a pretzel there ad thought it wasn't the right size you could put it up against the carving and compare the sizes. If you thought you had been cheated you could have the vendor thrown in jail and tortured.
Yet another story was about a candy maker (the oldest candy maker in Heidelberg). Fredolin Knosel, was a very popular fellow and his candy shop quickly became a place for young students to hang out. The young ladies attending finishing school there loved his chocolate creations and frequented his business. They were always escorted by their governesses. The young men of the university would flock to the store in
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In the back of hotel. Just thought the steps were interesting. hopes of exchanging secret glances with the young ladies but their governesses kept a watchful eye. These secret longings did not go unnoticed by Knosel so he created a special chocolate called the Student Kiss. It was given as a token of affection and was considered such a gallant gesture that even the chaperones could not object. We went to the shop to buy a piece of the candy. It was a cute little shop down a historic street in the old town part of Heidelberg. One of the girls working at the shop spoke nearly perfect English so I asked if she had spent time in the USA. She had been an exchange student two different years in the states. She insisted she take our picture holding the store sign. We also noticed that the shop was frequented by Duchess Kate and Prince William.
We loved the old town part of Heidelberg! There were narrow streets, lovely houses, brick streets, and quaint shops. There were so many restaurants and bakeries but we only had a short time to visit or we would have tried several of them.
Once we returned to our hotel we had a welcome
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The back of our hotel dinner in which we introduced one another and got to know a little bit about the members of our group. One the recommendation of another traveler, Shealyn tried the Fanta Orange. Wow is it great! Tastes like real
Orange juice with carbonation.
Now everyone is tucked in their rooms or already fast asleep awaiting the morning and a new adventure. Night all!
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