Heidelberg

My friend Joe, who is studying abroad at the LSE for the year, took a month to travel around Europe. I was lucky enough to be around when he did his German part of the trip, and we decided to meet in Heidelberg (which is between Freiburg and Frankfurt). Too bad the day was cold and rainy, because Heidelberg is gorgeous! I would have loved to wander around a little more, but it was just too cold.

I had a heck of a time trying to get to Heidelberg. Though it's only an hour away, it took me almost three to get there. All of the northbound trains run through a town called Offenburg, and apparently there had been an accident in Offenburg, which meant that everything was canceled or delayed. I made it, though, with a roundabout route and some good Denglish (Deutsch/English) conversations and detective skills.

Joe, his friend Colin and me, all wandered around Heidelberg and the Schloss (castle), which is ruined from WWII...we think. We actually didn't want to pay 3 euro for the guided tour, so we took ourselves around. The castle also has a pharmacy museum, which we didn't see, and a GIANT keg, which we did. The keg is way too big to be useful, and probably did not do good things to whatever was inside of it. Apparently they discontinued the use of the keg because it leaked.

After the castle, we found a cute little pub called BeerPretzel (in German). We all had traditional German food - soup, flammkuchen, wurst - and beer. This wasn't just any beer. It was beer out of a horn. Look at the pictures if you don't believe me. Colin was so excited to get beer out of a horn, and Joe and I almost died laughing when it showed up and the other tourists around us stared in complete shock. It was definitely worth it.

After lunch, we found the university prison. Heidelberg has the oldest university in Germany, and plenty of history that goes with it. Until about 1930, the University had its own prison - kind of like extreme detention. The students were imprisoned for anything from singing drunkenly, to bathing naked in the fountain, to harrassing girls or pigs. For the first two days in the prison they were "starved" on bread and water, but after that they could have their friends/girlfriends bring their food. The prison was also BYOB: bring your own bedding. Not so bad, if you ask me. Apparently they had to shut it down, because students were using it as a place to hang out and play poker, instead of taking it seriously as a punishment. They also used it as a chance to perfect their graffiti skills, and the entire prison is covered in family crests, frat names, latin sayings, and drawings.

Heidelberg Schloss

The remains

Joe!

View of the city

Not the giant keg, surprisingly. My pictures of the giant keg weren't very good, though, because it was so dark. So imagine this keg times 3, and that's how big the keg was.

Fixing my wet shoes

The river and surrounding hills

Drinking out of a horn!

The most famous example of graffiti in the prison.

Colin and me, listening to the information about the prison