Road trip to Heidelberg with Jeremy, Eric, Bianca, and Shawn. Great group making the car ride fly by as the anticipation of visiting another new city built! The Vampire ball was the main event Saturday night, costumes packed and tickets bought we still had time before the ball that day to explore the city of Heidelberg. New to us, but Bianca and Eric had lived there for 7 years so definitively were awesome tour guides for us. Once we arrived, we settled in to Hotel Zur Alten Brucke and then set out to walk the town. The sunshine was out and the city was hopping. Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination due to its romantic and picturesque city skyline, including Heidelberg Castle and the baroque style old town. Also, home to the oldest University, dating back to the 17th Century but due to the bombing during the war was rebuilt in the 18th Century. We stayed right in Old town next to the Alte Brucke, the old bridge, a beautiful 18th Century bridge with towers on the end referred to as the "student jail". Built as long ago as the 16th Century, it was used to keep mischievous students of the streets for three days to a month at a time. Now days the student with the best grades is selected to stay there for the semester.
We had delicious Korean food for lunch. I did love the wide variety of foods that Heidelberg has to offer, versus the standard German, Italian of Amberg. After exploring for the day we went to dinner at Palmbrau Gasse, excellent German food and beer. http://palmbraeugasse.de/en/
The Ball of the Vampires (Ball der Vampire) is the celebration of Fasching, Germany's Mardi Gras or Carnival. The historic Congress building, Kongresshaus Stadthalle Heidelberg, was the perfect, eerie, spooky setting for the ball with a maze of different rooms featuring a live band in each one. Dancing and drinks were flowing. We had a wonderful time with a fun group of people to celebrate the night with. After the ball we stopped in a couple bars on our short walk back to the hotel.
The next day we went to breakfast and then walked the ridge with panoramic views of the city, the ridge walk is called Philosophenweg Heidelberg. The trail is paved and very well marked. Many stopping points with benches along the way. Incredible, breath taking, and stunning views.
Near the river, Neckar, on the North side of the Old Bridge there is a really cool monument, the Heidelberger Liebesstein, made of Odenwald stone. We put our heads through and people have added locks on either end proclaiming their love for forever. As the legend goes, couples can fix an engraved lock to the stone to seal their eternal love for one another. According to the old tradition, couples close the lock together and throw the key into the river. If you look through the love stone you can see the romantic landmark of the city- the Heidelberg Castle!http://www.heidelberg-marketing.de/en/experience/sights/liebesstein
We tried our first Bock beer of the season at Kulturbrauerei Brewery right in Old town before heading back to Amberg. They renovated the old Schaaf brewery resulting in a great mix of the old brew-house and new modern day brewery. The building has also been turned into a hotel and restaurant. http://www.heidelberger-kulturbrauerei.de/en/ We will be back to this gorgeous city!
No comments:
Post a Comment