Day 3 - 05.14.11: Heidelberg Castle and the streets of Heidelberg
Heidelberg Castle
Today I woke up for the 8:00am shift of breakfast. There were many meats and cheese, as well as fresh fruits and cereal. After breakfast, I took my shower, which felt so nice after the two days of no shower. Then we all walked to the Heidelberg Castle. The castle was beautiful, set high above the city. We climbed up on a wall where we could look down over the whole town. What spectacular views! We explored the castle grounds and inspected the different parts of the castle. In the basement of the castle, we saw the largest wine barrel in the world, and we even stood on top of it. You can't see anything like this in the U.S. The castle is a reflection of the history of the region. Over seven hundred years, the castle had been struck by lightning twice, destroyed during several wars and then rebuilt again, used as a quarry to build other buildings, and finally restored to what it is today. Standing in the ruins, it made me realize how little I know about the world outside my own little sphere, and how much larger the world really is.
For lunch, we had a picnic on the terrace of the castle. We had pretzels, pretzel baguettes and pretzel rolls, turkey, ham, salami, various cheeses, strawberries, and a sort of coffee crumb cake that was delicious. Leaving the castle, we walked passed a playground that had a very large slide, and instead of walking down, we all took the slide.
For lunch, we had a picnic on the terrace of the castle. We had pretzels, pretzel baguettes and pretzel rolls, turkey, ham, salami, various cheeses, strawberries, and a sort of coffee crumb cake that was delicious. Leaving the castle, we walked passed a playground that had a very large slide, and instead of walking down, we all took the slide.
Heidelberg castle
Heidelberg Castle
World's largest wine barrel
Slide in park
Old Bridge over Neckar River
After Heidelberg Castle, we had the afternoon to ourselves to visit wherever we’d like to go. A group of us walked along a main street in Heidelberg and looked at a lot of clothes stores. It was interesting to see that there were stores here from back home like Esprit and H&M. There were also a lot of chocolate shops that we stopped to look in. Later in the day, Natalia, Katie and I walked around with some of the guys and checked out the other direction of the street by our hotel. We went to a bar/café, The Redroom, to use the WiFi. When we went out for dinner, the restaurant we planned to go to couldn’t accommodate us, so we had to find another place to eat. While we waited, we walked to the Old Bridge overlooking the Neckar River. We finally found another restaurant where we barely fit at the table. I had some delicious spaghetti and some of Natalia’s food, which tasted like a breakfast sandwich pizza, with eggs, cheese and bacon. Then we went back to the hotel and were on our own again for the night.
