Rothenberg ab der Tauber to Heidelberg, 6/14/09

So on a river trip, like on the Grand Canyon, you anticipate the trip for weeks and then suddenly there you are, on the boat, going down the river, and before you know it you are running Lava Falls and motoring out toward the last camp around 222. Same here; we've been planning this tour for a year, and now here we are on the penultimate day, for me at least. Spent a great night in our wonderful, modern, very European room, then went down to a great breakfast; the rest of the tour have to walk from their tiny old rooms in the old hotel, ha! Little victories. After breakfast, walked back to the main hotel with our bags, waiting for the bus. Doves coo'ing, cats dozing in the sun, an old guy sketching the bike that decorates the terrace. Very pleasant scene all around. Today we'll drive along the Castle Road, the burgenveg? Can't remember what it's called, but it's the road to Heidleberg that passes under numerous castles. We could have taken the autobahn and gotten there faster but Steve wanted us to see the castles, and that's great with me! Radec the driver objected, of course, since it's harder for him, but hey! This is our tour, Radec, suck it up and do your job.

So if steeples are a symbol of political power, what does that say about McDonalds, whose signs are far higher than any church steeple that we've passed in any small town?
Later, at Neckarzimmerin, a small town along the Neckar River, which is the one that runs through Heidelberg. Very pretty valley, neat homes and villages, vinyards, and a glass works, which is why we stopped. Even though it's Sunday, they opened up just for us and to make a few sales. So everyone goes into the glass works to watch the glass blower (and there's some weirdness going on; the owner of the shop and the glass artist are divorced and don't talk to each other, or something? Who knows?) I got distracted by a camping store with a big rack of kayaks and canoes outside, and lots of boats inside the store, which was unfortunately closed. It was called the Germania Faltbootwerk, or folding boat factory. Intriguing! Outside on the boat rack they were strapped down with a cam strap that had "Bavariaboote" woven into it, like NRS on some of the straps I have. How I wanted that strap! I was tempted to try to liberate it in the name of the Colorado River, but didn't want to get busted; they probably had a security camera.

So while everyone watched the glass blower and then shopped for glass trinkets (and how do you get glass home without it breaking?), I wandered behind the store to the banks of the river. A big, industrial looking river; just downstream was a big lock, and they were locking a bunch of pleasure cruisers through. That sure would be nice! It was pretty cool to see the river, at any rate.

Later, in the Heiligeistkirche in Heidelberg, waiting for an organ concert to begin. The rest of the drive was very nice, down the Neckar valley, past Unter Vier Burgen, "under four castles," where Rachel and I hiked up to a couple of them ten years ago. We came into Heidelberg from the other side of the river, which was very scenic; beautiful valley, I could definitely come back here and spend more time. Steve pointed out where he used to hang out when he was a student here; there were a bunch of students hanging out in the sun by the river, drinking beer, playing frisbees, smooching. Looked great! I love university towns. So he coached Radec through the narrow streets to an illegal drop off at a public bus stop right by the Alte Brucke, the old bridge, where the Heidelberg Monkey (actually a baboon) is found. Of course everyone had to stick their heads into the brass monkey for pictures, but I wanted to walk across the river, which we did.

We walked around a bit with Steve, then got our instructions on when and where to meet and so on, and split up. As we were walking down a little street there was a cutlery shop, so I ended up buying a camo Swiss army knife; couldn't resist. Becci found a phone and called her mom and Mariela, as she is planning to meet with them later. So after we walked around the Marktplatz a bit, we found a good doner shop and
had one at an outside table. Thence over to universitatsplatz, the University square, and looked in a bookstore and around the campus a bit; wouldn't it be great to be a student there, or have an internship or something? We saw the spot where the witches were burned back in the middle ages, and then made our way through the throngs to the Marktplatz, where we were to meet out local guide for a tour of the schloss.

L: our group in Heidelberg





R: Ruby and Brooke enjoying doner