Saturday, September 11, 2010

From Castles to Sauerkraut - A Day in Heidelberg

Heidelberg Castle
A luxurious bus took us on a 30-minute trip from the dock to the university city of Heidelberg this morning via the autobahn! The “suggested speed” on the autobahn is about 90 mph and those who go slower apparently are not well thought of. We did not see lane changes as frequently as we see in LA, but I cannot imagine either of us driving at 90 mph. DH has a hard time with 70 mph.  Glad we decided not to rent a car on this trip.

A view across the Neckar River
The earliest recorded reference to the town of Heidelberg is in the year 1126, but the buildings and churches of the old city date to medieval times. Heidelberg is a delightful town with narrow, winding streets as we have seen elsewhere on our trip. One of the distinct features of this town, however, is that the houses in the old city all have red roofs. Lovely!

The bus climbed up to the castle which overlooks the city, and we spent about an hour on a guided tour. The castle is not intact; large sections have been destroyed over the centuries through warfare. However, you can still get the feeling for what it must have been like in its prime. Our guide delighted us with the stories of those who had lived in the castle.

Beer Tap at Jacobs
We opted to stay in town for the day instead of returning to the boat. We found a small restaurant, Jacobs, for lunch and ate bratwurst and sauerkraut with a Furstenberg beer. The sauerkraut was unlike any I have ever had. It was almost creamy and very mild. The beer was great!

At 4 p.m., a bus took us back to the boat which had passed the afternoon cruising from our morning dock to Speyer. Cocktail hour was approaching, so we chose to bypass Speyer and relax on the Felicity. Oh, no -- the bar has run out of Bombay Sapphire! We had a fun dinner with a couple from the Miami area and Joan and Ken from Nova Scotia. Quite a riot to compare stories of how the couples met.

This has been my favorite day so far.  I just love this town!

The castle above the streets of Heidelberg
There are lots of noises during the night which Doug manages to sleep through. Are we perhaps going through more locks at night?

No comments:

Post a Comment