Adventures in Heidelberg

So, to recap last night. Jeff and I walked over to the train station in hopes that we would find some food there as most places around us were closed. Lucky for us we found a small grocery store in the station which was super convenient! Jeff got some peppermint tea and rice crackers for his belly (what a sad dinner) and I picked up a questionable frozen dinner... lol. It had red cabbage (that I don't usually like but did this time), some small piece of meat and these dough balls that could have been potato... I'm not sure. Overall it was edible, that's it.

Our hostel here is great. There is a fully stocked big kitchen with cutlery, pots, pans, mugs, hot plates, microwave, toaster, kettle... You name it! This is the place we've been waiting for and it's too bad we're only going to be here a few nights. Oh well, Oktkberfest is calling - by the way, Jeff said I have to start prcticing drinking beer because we just can't sit at a table at Oktoberfest and he may not be able to do it... Great... Urgh... At least I can drink a beer really slowly!

Anyway, we've got lots planned for the day so time to have some breakfast (provided by the hostel!); Poor Jeff is back to his rice cakes and tea this morning, hopefully it helps.

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After breakfast we headed out to Marktplatz (Market square); we took the bus as it would be a fair walk to get there and then all the walking we had planned. We dressed in shorts and t-shirt, if you can believe it, as it was going up to 24 degrees, although everyone else out and about was dressed pretty warm - we must have stood out! It didn't matter though because as soon as it warmed up we sure were glad we had dressed cool :)

The streets in the old town are gorgeous, very picturesque with the many colours and shapes of the buildings along cobblestone roads. It was very pretty and a nice walk as we wandered around. We decided to visit the Schloss, or the castle, before it got too hot outside and I'm glad we went when we did! It was a very steep walk uphill on cobblestone which had us panting and sweating by the time we got to the top. Now, there was a lift of some sort that we could have paid to take us up there but I figured we are master climbers now so it shouldn't be a big deal... Jeff didn't agree, lol He's still pretty tuckered out from being sick, we're hoping today is the last day of not feeling so well. He has been improving - it would be great if he could have a beer at Oktoberfest in a couple of days.

Anyway, on our way up there was a lady dragging her bicycle up some stairs and I gave her a hand because it was packed with stuff. Lucky for us she was the guided tour coordinator and brought us into the castle and on a guided tour free of charge as her guests! That was very kind of her seeing as I only helped her up a few sets of stairs. Before we went on our tour we got to see this wine barrel that can hold up to 220,000 litres of wine! It was huge! We learned that commoners back in the day paid their taxes in wine if they didn't have money and so the wine in this barrel was pretty awful because everything all got mixed together. This wine was served to those in the banquet hall by a pump during events and was used to pay the servants (eventually there were spices and other things to help the wine taste better). That was pretty neat.

Our tour lasted an hour and we were taken through different areas of the castle, including a very "hygenic" double toilet that was outside the building (very ritzy for the times!), the banquet hall (which has since been rennovated and is rented out for special events... For 450 guests at about $14,000 for the night!), and a number of other rooms. We also got to see the dry moat and a room where the people played board games. Now, I couldn't tell you who lived there or the political history, even though I just learned about it (reminds me of school), but I won't forget the posh toilet... lol. I do remember that parts of the castle were gothic style and other parts renaissance but that's about it... Oh! And one guy who lived there was only in power for three years because he ate way too much when food was plenty and he ended up weighing over 400 pounds at five feet tall! I remember those details... lol

After touring through the castle we went to find the castle gardens but couldn't find them and by then we had made it back down the hill; neither of us was keen on making our way back up it, so we headed to the market square for a break. I found some pizza and Jeff munched on some terrible crackers, rice cakes and water (ewwwww). We're hoping he can try a little protein tonight as he's practically running on empty (he's having a nap right now).

We wandered through the shopping district, which looks the same as all the other towns we've been in, and found the old bridge to take a picture, then we hopped on the bus for home.

Jeff's resting and I'm going to read for a bit (I found a second hand English novel from a bookstore!). We'll head down to the supermarket to pick up some items for dinner later.

We've got some more things planned for tomorrow before packing up and heading to Munich :)

Hope you're having a good morning :)

Amanda

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We picked up dinner from the grocery store below us (I don't think I mentioned that our hostel is big because it's part of an old factory building so we use the cargo elevator to go down four floors when we're feeling lazy); Jeff had Uncle Ben's instant rice with tuna and I made some gnocci with beef boulioun cubes and a red pepper... A German man staying in the hostel laughed at my cooking ability and how I cut my pepper, at least I managed to feed myself!

We then booked a few hostels into October so we have a plan for the coming week or so, which is comforting :)

Time to hit the hay before more exploring tomorrow (the student prison!)

Night!