Day 12 - "Hot Sex Toys"

Jane left for work, leaving me a delicious salmon salad for breakfast. I took the bus, got on at the front and proffered my 5 Euro note to the driver, who looked at it for a minute, rolled his eyes, sighed, and finally snatched it from me and gave me my ticket. That’s it, brother. I’m not paying for another bus ticket. If I get caught, I am playing d-u-m. By the way, sitting at the bus stop has become pretty interesting - at my back is the Neckar river, where I often see big Rhineships, and across from me is a lovely chalet up on a hill, and a stone cross with a carving of Jesus (Jesus at the Bus Stop.) No church in sight, although there must be one. I took pictures of the cross and the chalet, and later in the week got some pictures of the Rhine Ships.

Picked up Mike from his hotel and we walked across the street and bought some grapes and the biggest, most beautiful blackberries I’ve ever seen. We walked down to the weird candy store where one window is a dummy in a dentist chair. We went inside. What happens is, you wait in line, and when it is your turn, you point at what you want and the owner puts it in a bag. The owner was in his 50s or 60s, and he had a beard combed into a Mohawk! On a side street we saw some really interesting vegetables, one looked like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli, with these weird, intricate florets.

We strolled down a back street and saw a curry take-out that looked like a good possibility for lunch, and we also found an English language bookstore (their card reads: "Presence with Word: Where Physical Meets Abstract). Down an alley there was a place called Brot & Salz. I was curious about it (it means Bread & Salt) so we walked down there. It turned out to be a church-run food pantry. I asked one of the volunteers whether they had any clients who speak English and he said, yes, there was an American woman, so I gave him a bookcrossing book to give to her.

We went down to the department store Kaufhof and Mike got a new “arm band” (wrist watch strap) and he did it all in German. We cruised back up the Haupstrasse. The Save the Children group is gone, but Medicin Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) has moved in. I miss my Von Trapp. Also, the strasse was teeming with LDS missionaries in their suits and ties. At one point there were about 20 of them grouped together and singing hymns in German in nice harmony. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Heidelberg! We also passed a store which caused Mike to take a picture. He has such a dirty mind.

We went to the Indian restaurant and had a great lunch for about 10 Euro total – I had chicken korma and Mike had chicken tikka masala.

We stopped into a liquor store to get Mike a bottle of cherry liquor, and we asked the owner why we had been unable to find any potato vodka in Germany. He said they don’t import it to Germany, it’s inferior to the grain vodka they import. At a little Chinese place I bought a tiny Lucky Cat for Nancy.

We needed Heidelberg Cards so we set off to find the Tourist Office we had found the day before. We finally located it, and I said to the girl, “I want one card, for 2 days.” I held up my index finger for “one.” Then I repeated myself and held up my thumb in the European way to indicate “one.” She very snottily said, “You don’t have to repeat yourself, I understand English.” So I said, I wasn’t repeating for you, I was practicing for me. Even snottier she said, “Puh. Practicing your English?” I said no, I was practicing how to show numbers; in the U.S. you hold up your index finger, here you hold up your thumb. She wasn’t ready to give in so she said, “in some cases.” Puh. Then, as it happened, they didn’t have any 2-day cards left so she sent us to the Rathaus (City Hall). Before I left I bought a Gluckschwein (Lucky Pig) for Jaime.

We got to the Rathaus and two really pretty girls sold us our Heidelberg cards. There was also a little art exhibit, some painter who makes great use of triangles. The Rathaus is in the platz near the Holy Spirit Cathedral, and across from the Kornmarkt. While I was waiting for Mike to use to the WC, I got a drink out of a really pretty water fountain that was carved from marble. While I was taking a drink I looked up and was amazed to see that there was a nautilus fossil embedded into the marble. There is a picture of the fountain, then a close up of the fossil.

After that we went to an internet café to check e-mail and so forth. We also stopped at a grocery and got the coldest bottled beers we’ve ever had in Europe. We found a keramic (ceramic) store tucked in an alley and went in - they had beautiful pottery and jewelry.

We coordinated with Jane to meet at the Bismarckplatz and go to an Italian place near there for dinner. We had gotten some leads on books released in Heidelberg, and some were near Bismarckplatz. We met Jane and walked around looking for bookcrossing books and checking out the restaurant. Decided to walk back up the Haupstrasse and eat at the Dubliner. On the way we stopped in a café where a bookcrossing book had been released and we found it!

We had a great dinner at the Dubliner – German specialties with great homemade “chips” (French fries) and good beer. It was one of the best meals we’ve had and very reasonable. Funnily enough, we at German cuisine at an Irish pub. Jane and I had gone to the restroom and there was a vending machine selling “hot sex toys” for 3 Euro. After dinner Jane ran down there and got one.

We went up to Mike’s room, totally rearranged the furniture so the bed was sideways and each of us could lie on it and watch a movie on Mike’s laptop. We watched Tootsie and then when Jane and I were leaving she passed the “toy” to me and I put it under Mike’s water glass in the bathroom. HAha.

As Jane and I were walking down the Haupstrasse this man came up to us and said, “May I ask you a question?” If he hadn’t been nicely dressed and with two women, we would have freaked out, he was such a “close talker.” Man!

We got back to the Chump Dump, watched our 15 minutes of City Slickers and went to bed.