Heidelberg is about an hour's drive south of Frankfurt. I went to fourth grade there at Mark Twain elementary school the year that President Kennedy was assassinated. The castle hasn't changed a bit. It's been crumbling since the 17th century.
The skies cleared by the time we walked down to the city proper.
The medieval bridge gate is almost as iconic as the castle.
We walked halfway across the classical stone bridge, past a statue of the prince who had it built after floods destroyed the earlier wooden structures. I didn't see any locks.
A 15th-century German poet mentioned a bridge monkey with a mirror so the tourist-savvy city fathers erected this statue in 1979. Touch the monkey's fingers, and you'll return to Heidelberg one day. If you touch the mirror, you'll get rich. Any wonder it's so shiny?
And if you touch these mice, your fertility will increase.
There's plenty to see in the compact, quaint city. Florian says it wasn't bombed during the war because an American general liked it so much.
Florian couldn't resist a lesson at the Lindt store.
He also suggested I bring this brand of chocolate back for some of my housemates in the Pines. Meow.
It has one of the most famous libraries in the world.
The interior is pretty ornate, too.
Storing knowledge has remained a constant from the age of papyrus to hard drives.
We explored the city a little more looking for the perfect place to eat.
After studying numerous menus, Florian selected a gasthaus.
The decor made me wonder if my parents ever had patronized it.
Florian treated me to a beer and a delicious dinner. A group of much older German men sang songs in another room while other diners played cards. Very convivial.
We split a flammekueche and I finally got the spätzle I have been craving since childhood. Sehr gut!
After dinner, with a little help from the GPS, we found 11G Holbein Ring. I lived there from 1963 to 1965.
They say a man's home is his castle. Don't you believe it in Heidelberg!
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