Heidelberg, Germany

After we left Ken and Marlis in Kiedrich, we gave my friend Steffen a call to tell him we were on our way to Heidelberg to meet up with him. Heidelberg is almost directly on the route back to Kempten, so it was easy to stop off for a couple hours and see him. I think he was expecting us a little earlier, especially since he was surely exhausted after just having flown overnight from the US to Germany, where he was visiting friends and travelling around the US for a few weeks. Oh well, we both agreed that it's not every day I'm passing through Heidelberg, Germany, so we stopped to see him anyway. We had actually planned to stay with Steffen for a weekend later in June, but our plans changed when we lost a weekend of travelling together, because Laura has to go back to New York for work.

Steffen was a classmate of mine from my graduate program at the University of Florida a few years ago. He grew up in Germany but wanted to attend college in the US, and Gainesville is where he landed. We went through the undergraduate business school together too, which means we probably had some classes together, but I didn't know him then. Directly after undergrad, we enrolled in the same master's program for International Business, which is when I met him. After completing that program, he moved back to Germany, and a couple years ago he found a job in Finance with Heidelberg Cement, which moved him to this part of Germany.

Our trusty navigation system led us directly to Steffen's apartment in just about an hour, where he and his girlfriend, Eva were waiting for us. After some quick introductions, we all hopped into our car and headed toward downtown Heidelberg. We parked near the main, pedestrian-only street and then walked through town toward the Neckar River, Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) and Heidelberger Schloß (Heidelberg Castle), the city's main landmarks. We walked over the bridge to get a better view of the hillside castle, but as luck would have it, the bridge was covered in scaffolding, and part of the castle was too (therefore, the picture above is not one I took, but an idea of what it would have looked like without the scaffolding - I did take all the other pictures here). Steffen actually told me that the scaffolding on the bridge was new, it wasn't there before he left for the US a few weeks ago. As we stood on the bridge, Steffen gave us a few options - walk up the hill on the other side of the bridge, where some Celtic ruins lie, to get a great view of the city; visit the castle; or just walk around town and grab something to eat. The first option involved about an hour walk that Laura wasn't up for, and we probably didn't have time for anyway if we wanted to get back to Kempten at a decent hour. We also decided against the castle, since it was nearing closing time. So we just walked around some more to the main square where, of course, a big cathedral stands. Steffen also pointed out Heidelberg's oldest building, now Ritter's Hotel & Restaurant. We also saw the castle a little closer up from the main town square.

The Heidelberg Castle is huge, sitting atop the city on a tree-covered hill. It has a bit of a rocky past, which explains why part of the castle is in ruins and some parts of the castle look totally different than others. The castle was originally constructed in the early 14th century, housing the Prince Electors after 1329. Over a period of almost four centuries, the castle had some rebuilding and additions, ranging in style from Gothic to High Renaissance. This is mainly because the castle has been destroyed three times, twice by war in 1622 and 1693, and once by lightning in 1764. The castle does look impressive from the outside, but we ran out of time and had seen enough castles for the weekend, so we didn't see the inside.

Although Laura and I weren't hungry, Steffen and Eva were starving. So we went to an Italian Restaurant in the main square, where they ate pizza and we just had a beer and enjoyed the evening and some conversation with the locals. Steffen and Eva told us about what they do in Heidelberg (she actually commutes 1.5 hours to work in Stuttgart each day), and about the city, while we told them about our experiences thus far living in Germany. I thought Heidelberg was a very nice city. It was certainly picturesque, seemed to have plenty going on, and a nice size with a population of about 145,000. Steffen likes it there, but does not seem to love it (sounds about like mine and Laura's view of Atlanta). One of the main reasons he doesn't like it so much is because of the people (apparently he has some rude neighbors), the part of town he's in (a bit away from the main action because it's so expensive inside the main city area), and he prefers to be in an even bigger city. Heidelberg is one of Germany's main college towns, home to the University of Heidelberg, so there are a lot of young people, and a good bar scene. Established in 1386, this is Germany's oldest and most prestigious university. It is a public university with about 27,000 students, originally established as the third university of the Holy Roman Empire. This was also the day of Germany's first game in the Euro2008 soccer tournament, so we could definitely feel the excitement of the people in the city, everyone dressed in black, red, and yellow, waiving German flags, etc.

After Steffen and Eva finished their pizza, we walked down the main pedestrian street to their favorite ice cream place, where Steffen treated us to some good ice cream. Then we headed back to the car to drive back to their apartment. We probably should have hit the road right away because it was going to be very late when we got back, and we were already really tired, but Steffen invited us inside for a cappuccino. Their apartment was very nice, and I was amazed at how spacious it was - of course, this is in comparison to the little box we've been living in the past month. Even though Steffen was exhausted, he wasn't going to miss the Germany vs. Poland game which began at 8:45pm. He actually asked if I wanted to stay and watch the game, and just head back in the morning. If I was on my own, I'm sure I would have, but Laura had to be at the office in the morning. Unfortunately, we didn't have more time with them. We had a good time with them, and Heidelberg seemed like a nice city. Who knows, maybe I'll find time to squeeze in another visit before we leave.



After a nice, but short visit with Steffen and Eva, we hit the road just before the start of the soccer game. I was having a tough time keeping my eyes open on the way back, so I probably shouldn't have been going as fast as I did, but I kept it over 180 km/hr most of the way and we made some great time. We made it back just in time to see the celebration in Kempten - Germany had just defeated Poland 2-0, and lots of people were driving around town, honking their horns, beating their drums, etc. The irony of this, was that both goals were scored by Polish-born, but now German citizen, Lukas Podolski. I'm sure the celebration went on into the morning, but we were so tired that we were able to sleep right through it. This is only the beginning of the tournament - there are two games per night for the next month or so. I'm sure Laura will be sick of soccer by the end of this tournament, but I enjoy it and it gives us something to do at night.

Next Up: Munich (I'm starting to get a little behind on the posts, and I have a lot going on in the next couple weeks, so the next few could come a little late)