Jane dropped me off at the castle on her way to work. I took a different walk down this time. I had read on Virtual Tourist about a secret hidden sliding board, and I was determined to find it. I did eventually, but it was too overgrown to get to. (Not to mention that the Virtual Tourist who told about it also said his friend broke his leg going down the slide. Considering I was still recovering from a broken arm, it didn't seem like a great idea.)
I was way to early to pick up Mike, and I had my breakfast with me, but I wanted a cup of coffee to take with me to sit outside and eat. I walked up and down the Haupstrasse looking for a cup of take-out coffee, which eventually found - a tiny cup for $4. Where is 7-11 when you need it?
I got to the KornMarkt and sat down in the sun to eat my breakfast. It's so pretty there - the golden statue of the corn goddess is beautiful, and behind her, up high on the hill are the ruins of the castle. Then to my immediate right is the Rathaus, and to the right and behind me, the Holy Spirit cathedral. There was a group of well-dressed people standing around and chatting in the square, and I thought boy, they had one heck of a party last night if they're still at it! In a little while a guy pulled up on a bicycle, and it was the German Tim Yannayon. Everyone else was dressed in suits and dressy dresses, "Tim" was wearing a typical black forest outfit of a boiled wool jacket and Tyrolean hat (if you don't know what one is, there's a picture above.) Clearly, everyone knew "Tim" and he went around kissing everyone, including the men. He was so at ease and so friendly, and he even looked like Tim! Shortly after, a bride and groom showed up, and then I figured out what was really going on! Jane told me later that this is the typical thing - marriages take place at the Rathaus on Friday with a small group of family and friends. The bride and groom went into the Rathaus alone. About 20 minutes later, the rest of the party went in. I watched as 2 other brides and grooms and families did the same.
I walked down to Mike's hotel, and on the bench in front of his hotel there was an apple! I thought Mike left it for me, because every day he brought me a piece of fruit. It turned out to be an Apple from God. We had a little time before we needed to be at the dock for our cruise, so we went over to the internet cafe.
We left the cafe and strolled down to the docks to buy our tickets for the cruise. The cruise took about 3 hours, and took us to Neckarsteinach (the town where we had had dinner at Schiff and climbed a castle) and back. We got on the boat and found a good spot on the open air deck. There was a dining room inside, and you could sit either on the bow or the stern in the open, or inside. We were at the stern sitting outside, and it was beautiful, warm and sunny.
We started out by passing by the castle and other historic Heidelberg building on the right, and on the left you could see the Philosoweg, or "Philosopher's Walk." (More about that later.) Also on the right was a beautiful old abbey. As we passed different sights, there was a recording telling about the sight. I think it was in German, English and French.
During the cruise, we had to stop several times at locks and wait for the water to either raise us or lower us in order to be able to continue. Mike and I both were fascinated by the process, and how quickly the lock worked. At one lock, we were waiting to be lowered, and in the lock right next to us, a Rhineship was waiting to be raised. We got to watch the whole process, as this HUGE Rhineship, which barely fit into the lock, came up to river level.
As we traveled down the Neckar, we saw some water birds - heron, egret and ducks. We also saw several riverside campgrounds.
Eventually we made a turn in the river and first a large hill was directly in front of us. This turned out to be the village I had seen from the Hinterberg ruins. I had speculated that there were castle ruins on it - it sure looked like there was something big and old over there! It turned out to be the walled village of Dilsberg. The voice-over explained that the town had survived intact because of its fortress walls. There is a castle there, as well as several churches. I later found out that Mark Twain spoke of it at length in his book, "A Tramp Abroad."
On the left bank, we began to see the castles we had discovered several nights ago - first the Swallow's Nest (Schadeck), so beautiful up on the hill, followed by the Hinterberg, then the Mittelberg and finally the Vorderberg. When we climbed the Hinterberg, we could see 2 other castles, but from the ship we could clearly count all 4.
We had become friendly with a big friendly Australian who was on vacation with his wife and some friends. He lives on 50 acres in Australia! Behind us were two American women. I heard one of them say, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!" So I turned around and said, "Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?" We had a good laugh. They were from Denver.
The boat docked at Neckarsteinach, right in front of the Schiff. We then realized we could have arranged it so that we would get off there, cruise the town, and take another boat back to Heidelberg. Oh well. Instead, we went into the restaurant on the boat and had lunch - weinerschnitzel and wurst, with beer. It was pleasant enough, but the food was not great.
The boat turned around, and we set off again for Heidelberg, doing the locks in reverse this time. Got off the boat, waved goodbye to our Aussie buddy, and headed up toward the Hauptstrasse.
Mike wanted to go to the internet cafe, but I had heard a hot rumor that there was a tower in Heidelberg which you could climb. (Overheard from the Denver ladies.) I went from church to church, and finally found out it that the tower was in the Holy Spirit cathedral. I hadn't stepped foot in it all week, because I could never find where you were supposed to go in! With the little stores tucked into its sides, it wasn't easy to find an entrance.
I went in and walked around the main floor of the church, which was quite beautiful, with gorgeous stained-glass windows, some very modern. One had references to Einstein, including E=MC2. On a stained-glass window in a church! I thought that was great. There were also some crypts, beautifully carved. After wandering around a little downstairs, I went over to the desk where a woman said, "To the tower?" and I said, "Off with her head!" She actually laughed. I bought a ticket to go up to the tower and started up the stairs. First you get to a second level where (I think) the choir must sit, and you can look out over the first level. Then I continued my climb.
It was one heck of a climb, too, boy. After a while, the staircase became a very narrow stone spiral, with the only thing to hold on to a rope threaded through eye-bolts. A young couple passed me on their way down, but otherwise I was alone. As I got toward the end, I thought how glad I was Mike wasn't with me - I don't think his knees could have held out, plus he would have had to practically bent in half to get up the last flight or so.
I emerged onto a narrow walkway which went around the entire top of the tower. And I was all alone! The view was beyond spectacular. I could see all the way down the Hauptstrasse, and if I looked across toward the castle, I was looking right at the funicular. You can see in my pictures how really steep the funicular ride is.
While I was standing there, I decided to call Jane. Jane and I have climbed more towers in Europe than we can count (I think we climbed every tower in Prague), and I knew she would wish she was with me. While I was on the phone with her, the church bells, which were right behind me, began to toll! Wow! That's a perspective you don't often get.
When I climbed down (with my head still attached) I got into a really nice conversation with the lady at the desk. She does city tours, and had some suggestions for me. I had been unable to find the "Witch's Tower," which is the only remaining original gate to the city, and which was used for torturing and killing witches. She told me exactly where it was. She also suggested very highly that we go over to the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Walk) that evening. She said because it was such a beautiful day, and the sun would be setting on Heidelberg, it would be a beautiful view.
I left and walked over to the Witch's Tower, which was located inside a courtyard of the old University. That's why I hadn't been able to locate it until then - it's not often open to the public. I was lucky to be able to go inside and get a look at it. There were students all over, and all over each other. I guess it's a popular make-out spot. (As Thomas would say, "Get a room!") This tower was part of the defense system and was built as a guard tower in 14th century. But, when the witchcraft hysteria started, as in so many other towns thoughout Europe, the poor women were thrown into prison. They weren't trusted in the regular prison, after all, they might cast a spell to make everybody escape. So many a guard tower was transformed into a witches' tower. The one in Heidelberg was changed once again, after World War I it was turned into a memorial tower for Heidelberg students who had died on the battlefields.
Went to pick up Mike, but he was napping, so I did a little shopping. There was a yarn store down the street (Wolle Roedel) - every day I had stopped to look at some beautiful appliqued tablecloths, so I went down there to buy a table cloth for Barbara. Also wandered into an antique store (Antiquitaten) on a side street where I found a fabulous antique pendant with sepia photos on each side. I had bought 2 of these while I was in Prague. I looked at the tag and it said 9E. I said, "Noin?" and the woman said, "Ja, noin." I said, "MOIN!" She actually laughed.
I strolled down toward the train station, to a park I had found before (by the pond with the heron.) I had about and hour and a half to kill and was tired of walking, so I had stopped at DM and picked up a bottle of water. I found a bench in the shade and spent about an hour relaxing and reading my book. I could see a building crane way up in the sky as I sat, and watched the construction for a while. Eventually I started back toward the Hauptstrasse, but on the way I stopped into an art store and asked about some paintings of Heidelberg. The clerk let me go through several drawers of small framed paintings and I finally chose one of the castle ruins for Pat as a birthday gift.
Met up with Mike and Jane, and as we had ample time before we were due at the Bookcrossing meetup, we drove over the Neckar to find the Philosophenweg, as recommended by the guide in the Holy Spirit cathedral. Got a parking spot, and began to walk up, up, up...it's a beautiful walk, but VERY steep. When you get up there, you are directly across from the castle ruins, and it is a very cool view. There was a weird shrine we couldn't figure out, and there was also a very interesting tree that had us fascinated. I got a picture of the tree. There were lots of people strolling the Philosophenweg, and some joggers. We enjoyed the view for a while, then came back down.
We drove over to the new campus of Heidelberg University where we walked across the campus, behind many dorms (where partying was going on) and to a cafe to meet with the other bookcrossers. There were about 25 bookcrossers there, and we were very warmly received. The food was good, and because it was "student food," cheap. I had pizza, Mike had salad, and Jane had a pasta dish. Naturally, we shared everything. When we eat together, the plates do "musical chairs."
I had been invited by bookcrossers Poppy17 (Angelika) and Calisson (Odette.) They both spoke English and were very friendly. Other bookcrossers didn't speak as much English, but when it comes to books, there wasn't too much of a barrier. The table was loaded with books to share, and I brought my own stack of books to swap. Conversation was lively, and the German bookcrossers were impressed that I am #11 worldwide in number of books registered. They said I was a "celebrity." (In my own mind.)
After lots of picture-taking we left, dropped Mike off at the Dubliner, and Jane and I drove back to Charm School and had martinis and watched Mr. Mom. Jane says make sure that when it came on and she said, "Michael Keaton is so young!" I said, (in sing-song) "So were we once!" (You have to know the movie by heart to understand that quote.)
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