#BeaumontTravels: Germany + Italy + Switzerland, Summer 2018: Day 9

Greetings from Heidelberg,

This is our last day in Germany - very sad.

Today is another travel day as we go from Lucerne, Switzerland to Heidelberg, Germany - a trip that should take about 5 hours.
Breakfast was at 7:00 and since the food was just OK yesterday, we stopped in town and picked up a chocolate croissant and some apple strudel. So add some orange juice, coffee, and hot chocolate from the hotel and our breakfastwas great.

Bags out by 7:45 and we departed at 8:00.

The traffic was heavy all the way to Heidelberg. We made our first bathroom stop around 11:00, a quick stop (1/2 hour) no food - just a snack then back on the road. Around 1:00 we stopped again for another quick stop but this time we had to find our way in, it was really odd - the bus had to park in a hotel parking lot and we had to go through the hotel. But once we got in it was a real service plaza with a McDonalds so the girls were happy. Sheila and I bought a pretzel and shared a coke.

Back on the road again, sounds like a song, into traffic and we finally made it to Heidelberg around 3:00 - a little later than expected.
Heidelberg is a city on the river Neckar with a very long history, in fact, it goes back about 600,000 years since the oldest human fossil in Europe was found there. The Celts built a fortress in the area around 500 BC and the Romans arrived around 50 AD.

The medieval town of Heidelberg was established around 1190 AD and in 1386 the city founded a university, the oldest one in Germany. Sometime around 1241 AD, a castle was built to protect the city and that was our first stop. Made out of red sandstone, the castle was known as one of the most beautiful examples of Renaissance architecture before it was blown up 3 times and hit by lightning several times. So the castle that we visited is partially restored but mostly ruins. Still very impressive.

Heidelberg Castle is probably most famous for its 2 big wine barrels. These really big barrels were built in 1751 when people paid their taxes in goods. So if you lived in an area that specialized in winemaking, you paid your taxes in wine. The largest barrel can hold up to 58,000 gallons of wine - that is a really big barrel.

After visiting the wine barrels we walked through the castle to the exit and our funicular ride down to the town. It dropped us off at a plaza with a beautiful overlook of the river.

Walking through the Altstadt, Old Town, we passed several important sites including the Bridge Monkey, a bronze statue of a monkey dating back to 1979 commentating the belief that there has been a monkey in the bridge since the 15th century. We finished our walk at the Holy Ghost Church, at least that’s what Silvana called it. This church was our meeting point since it is located at the top of the Hauptstraße. The Hauptstraße just happens to be the longest continuous shopping street in the world and we just happen to have a couple of hours before dinner. So you know what that means - free time.

At 6:15 we met at the church and walked to the Schnookeloch Restaurant for our final dinner together. The restaurant was interesting, pictures on the walls many of which were of different college “fraternities” over the years - looking very militaristic. The food was great! Wehadmaultaschen, or “mouth bags” - a cross between a ravioli and a pierogi - filled with cheese, spinach, and potatoes in a rich cream sauce. We also had a salad and pudding for dessert. A very nice last meal.

Then we walked back to the coach for our ride to the hotel. Once at the hotel, we unpacked the bus and said a sad goodbye to Horst, our bus driver. He had taken very good care of us for the last 8 days.
Then to the rooms to repack our luggage and get some sleep. I asked the girls to come back down to the lobby at 9:00 so they could sign a “Thank You” card for Silvana - she was excellent and really made our tour a great one. While the girls signed the card we sat around and talked about the trip, probably for a half hour - it was really nice.

Some of the girls went looking for snacks and the others went up to their rooms while Sheila and I took our usual spot in the lobby. The plan was to complete our journals while watching the door, but Silvana came over and joined us so we bought her a glass of wine, her only one of the trip, and talked for a couple of hours. What a nice way to end our tour!
Sometime around midnight, we headed off to our room to get ready for our trip home tomorrow. The end of another busy day.

Talk to you soon,
Bob