Heidelberg - July 2014

Every morning for the two weeks I was in Germany, I'd wake up and think, "I like this country. A lot". I loved the attention devoted to dedicated cycle lanes separated from both automobile traffic and pedestrians. I loved seeing the honor system at work, especially with public transportation. There are no barriers and no turnstiles, but everyone has a ticket because they understand that the honor system can only work in an honest culture. Clean cities, excellent mass transit, a high tolerance of the English language, decent beer, blankets provided at beer gardens in case it got chilly, and a fine food scene (in Berlin, world class cuisine). So, of course, we had a very satisfying two weeks in Germany.

After the seductive buzz of Berlin, we found ourselves blinking in disbelief at the "can this be real?" beauty of Heidelberg. Just take a look at that picture. 

A high speed ICE train allowed us to experience one of the great marvels of the 20th century (still making its way to California, hopefully before another century passes) and deposited us in Heidelberg on a blistering July Sunday afternoon. Our apartment was a quick walk from the train station, in the Bergheim neighborhood, which had a relatively peaceful, suburban air about it. We quickly unpacked and then headed straight for the old town (Altstadt). What a pleasant walk it turned out to be. One that will stay in my mind for a long time. The River Neckar bisects the city and flanking its banks are attractive buildings. Framed by green mountains, with a fairy tale castle looming over the city, Heidelberg is blessed with a serious "wow" factor! As we meandered through buildings and parks parallel to the river, I said to Daryl I could easily imagine spending a month of summer vacation here. In fact, an academic quarter of Sabbatical would be even better. The prospect of a full week in this city thrilled me.

In Heidelberg we had quite a change of pace from Berlin. Daryl was here to do some heavy duty math with his colleagues at the university, and I saw this as an opportunity to catch up with my reading and writing. So we very quickly settled into a routine for the week. After breakfast Daryl dashed off to the university and I stayed at home. When I needed a break I either strolled over to a nearby café or hopped on a tram or bus to the Old Town. In the late afternoon I did some food shopping and then made simple meals which we ate as soon as Daryl returned. After dinner there were still several hours of daylight and we took advantage of this by going on long, long walks exploring the many interesting and beautiful parts of this city. We ended the day at a beer garden where we sampled the local brews and experienced German night life in midsummer.

Our apartment was on the 3rd floor of the middle apartment building with balconies. The owner's tasteful sense of style made this spacious apartment quite a satisfying base. Thank goodness! It rained for much of the week while we were there, so being stuck indoors was not a problem for me at all. I relished the time to read and write, without the pressure to be a tourist. A travel card allowed me to hop on a tram or bus whenever I felt like going out into the world. I made a daily trip to the food market, a most entertaining place, so that we could have healthy vegetarian meals.

This medieval castle inhabited by the Wittelbach dynasty for over 400 hundred years is Heidelberg's most famous landmark - Heidelberger Schloss - and the main reason tourists come to the city. It sits above the Old Town and is visible from everywhere. I took a funicular up here and enjoyed walking around the ruins, and the very lovely gardens, dodging droves of tourists, many from Asia. The world's biggest wine barrel resides in a cellar here. I sampled some wine - semi sweet and refreshing, served with an ice cube - that is still produced here.

Wandering along the two kilometer pedestrianized stretch of road into the Altstadt is the traditional way to get to know Heidleberg. On the Sunday that we arrived the place was flooded with tourists. Cafes and bars were chock-a-block and the squares were very active. At Universitiplatz there was an African market on. Numerous booths carried African clothes, musical instruments, and crafts. Drumming and music added to the festive air. All over the Old Town the city throbbed - but in a considerably scaled down way to Berlin. It was great fun to take in the fairy tale like architecture of the city and study dinner menus. As the light faded, so did the crowds. This came as a surprise to me. In Berlin, the opposite happened.

The main square - Marktplatz - toward the end of the Old Town, is a perfect place to enjoy a drink. It's at the foot of the castle and surrounded by attractive buidlings like the townhouse.. There's a pretty fountain in the middle with a statue of the Madonna. The numerous outdoor cafés create a pleasant summer buzz. We had nightcaps - Schnapps for me - here on our last evening.

After surveying the limited restaurant options for us on the day we arrived, we found a Middle Eastern place called Falafel. A platter for two had a yummy combination of dips, veggies, and falafel. We pigged out on this satisfying meal right in front of the stunning 12th century Peterskirche, the oldest church in Heidelberg.

During our week in Heidelberg we had most of our dinners at home. This gave us the opportunity to sample the goodies at the food markets and bakeries. Loaves of hearty, healthy bread studded with seeds feature prominently in bakeries. And bakeries were ubiquitous. A few excellent ones were around the corner from our apartment. This meant fresh breakfast pastries were a little too easily accessible!

I was delighted to see chanterelle mushrooms at the grocery store quite inexpensively priced. Back home in Santa Barbara, due to a few drought years, we have been deprived of these wild mushrooms. So I gave myself full permission to overdo it, i.e. buy chanterelles daily!

The food stores were well stocked for vegetarian customers. There were lots of soy products like schnitzel and sausages, so it was pretty easy to prepare simple dinners. Adding a salad and green vegetables to sautéed chanterelles and a soy "meat", with wholegrain bread and dry Riesling made for reasonable meals. Since we didn't have much in the way of seasonings, and we were aiming for quick meals, we were fine with the blandness. In other words NOBODY complained. Nobody dared complain! But, hey, the local Riesling - crisp, a little dry, with just the perfect level of fruitiness - made up for any shortcomings.

Every evening after dinner, we took long walks along the river. A large green space on the north side was quite the social hub of the city. We strolled across the soft grass, sniffing the sweet, moist air, enjoying its mildness, and mingled with locals engaged in various summer activities. People throwing frisbees, sunbathing, picnicking, kids playing in the water-park, and of course, a strategically situated beer garden so that parents could relax with a drink while their kids played on nearby equipment.

One evening we hiked up the Philosopher's Walk. The sky was a friendly blue and the air temperature at 7:00 PM was perfect. The trail started out in a very upscale neighborhood (Neuenheim), then continued along the slopes of a mountain. Higher and higher we trekked and the city views stunned us in direct proportion. Along the way we saw a little garden with colorful flowers. Sitting here, in this peaceful refuge, surrounded by sweet scents and brightness, with splendid views of a beautiful river, a stunning bridge, attractive architecture, and the majestic castle, wouldn't you expect great philosophic ideas to emanate?
We could have continued on the trail all the way to the top of the mountain, but we turned onto the very windy trail that took us down to the Old Bridge. From the bridge we descended on the steps down to the river. Back on the north side, but near the Old Bridge, the views in front of us were the prettiest yet of the city.

There was such an air of romance right at that moment. At 9:00 PM it was still light, people were up and about either standing on the Old Bridge taking photos, or strolling hand in hand along the river, or just chatting and laughing. The air was still ... and sweet. We wandered over to the beer garden in the park beside the river and smugly drank some well deserved Heidelberg beer. How many miles had we just walked?

Earlier in the week when I went to a wine shop for a decent local  Riesling, I learned about pear schnapps. Schnapps is a local digestif and comes in a few different fruit flavors, pear being the most traditional. I loved it. I loved that it was dry, yet the pear flavor was distinctive. What a perfect nightcap to end each wonderful day of that week!

And coincidentally, what a perfect metaphor for the ending of this blog.