Teresa had to go on a business trip to Heidelberg Germany. The University of Maryland was doing accounting training for its overseas personnel, and Heidelberg was the chosen location. I, being the gentleman that I am, volunteered to take some vacation time to ensure that she had someone to carry her suitcases from the lobby to the hotel room and back....
We got in to Germany after a very long flight over Siberia. Due to logistics, she had to catch a flight a few hours before mine, so she got to Germany before me. We arrived on a Saturday night, and spent Sunday with her friends and colleagues from Yokota Air Base checking out the local Christmas Festival. From right to left, Teresa, Chris and Emi.
Here is Chris and myself. It was raining lightly, and the hotel let us check out a few umbrellas. Behind us is one of many booths set up for the Christmas festival. The one right behind us was selling hot roasted nuts...mostly sugar and candy coated...it smelled great!
Here is what a typical city street looks like in Heidelberg. The buildings date mostly from about 1800, and the roads are a bit on the narrow side. Most of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th floors are residential appartments.
The main street in the "old" part of Heidelberg is called the "Haupstrabe", which means main road in German.
It was pretty cold the entire time we were there. We were in Southern Germany, which is up in the mountain area. Even in the middle of the day with the sun shining down, it was right at or below the freezing point.
Chris, Teresa and Emi look back for a photo.
The Haupstrabe runs about 2 miles long thru the center of the old town. Old buildings, some dating back to the 1600's line the side. Every year from mid November thru Christmas there is a famous Christmas Festival. Fortunately we were there right in the middle of it!
A scenic view of the stret and some festival booths.
A sunday afternoon shot of people shoping. Easily half the booths were selling food of some sort.
The other half sold crafts, souvineers and clothing.
Candy booths were also very popular, and the huge amounts of freshly cooked cookies and other baked goods was staggering. And the smell in the air! Wow.....
Just off the Haupstrabe all along the way were very old and very large churches.
On the far eastern side of the Haupstrabe, on a hill overlooking the city is the famous Heidelbeerg Castle ruins. The oldest part of the ruins date back to the 1050's...
On the other side of the river from the old town section is the city of Neuenheim. I hiked to that section of Heidelberg about 3 or 4 times during my stay. During the day Teresa would be in class studying, while I explored Heidelberg and the surrouding areas. At night we would have dinner, do some light walking, and then call it a day. I heard some muttering about "not fair" a few times....:)
Here is one of the hills above Neuenheim. Hiking along some paths in these hills takes you to the top, where two ancient monastery ruins are. There is also the ruins of a Nazi amphitheater.
There were beautiful jogging paths and large park areas along the river Neckar which runs right thru the middle of Heidelberg.
I took quite a few pictures of houses and buildings in Germany. I really like the architectural design of them.
Another German house in the Neuenheim district of Heidelberg.
Here is a shot from the north shore of the Neckar river lookingover into the old town part of Heidelberg. In the summer there are cruise ships that go up and down the river.
Although there were not any cruise ships, there were a good number of crew boats going up and down the river during the day. In addition to its famous ruins, Heidelberg is also famous for its University, one of the oldest in Europe.
Heidelberg University is also famous for it's fencers. I tried very hard while I was there to find some, and perhaps have a match, but I found out that the university is now spread out over several cities, and there is no "main" campus. It was very hard to even find people who knew where the fencers hung out.
Here is a colorfull booth that was selling beeswax candles, soap and other beeswax products. I guess the owners were minding their own beeswax! hah.
Here is a booth selling chocolates. I tried quite a bit of German food and candies...and they were all pretty darned good!
Another candy booth....
AA candle booth, and incense booth and a clothing booth.
This dish, called a "Champignons & ....." was sauted mushrooms and onions, a heavy gravey, topped with a creamy garlic sauce, and a slice of bread. For about $4, it was a pretty darned good meal. Very tasty, but very heavy. It is better to split this dish with someone, as it is too much for one person to eat by themselves normally. Very very tasty dish!
Here is another street shot of the Haupstrobe.