Castles and Bratwurst: The Best of Germany

After saying a very tearful goodbye to the tulip loving city of Amsterdam, we set sail for Heidelberg, Germany.  We cruised along the autobahn for a few hours and saw multiple sports cars fly by at ridiculous speeds. We eventually pulled into Heidelberg and were greeted with a picturesque view consisting of hundreds of tile roofs lining the large Neckar river on our left. To the right, the ruins of an ancient castle clung to the mountainside surrounded by moss covered fountains and far reaching gardens.

The Apothecary's Work space

I forked over 6 Euros to enter the castle ruins and was pleasantly surprised with an awesome view of Heidelberg. Upon ambling further into the castle grounds I walked through an narrow, dark passageway that opened into a large, brick covered courtyard. I was very excited to learn that the castle tour included an ancient apothecary museum complete with old recipes, strange measuring contraptions and a physician's "work space" complete with hundreds of tiny, separate drawers for every kind of herb and elixir imaginable.

After leaving the castle grounds I crossed a massive draw bridge and descended some steep, cracked stairs into the castle gardens. After a 10 minute walk, ambling along deserted sidewalks and  passing wooden benches, I came upon a larger garden than the rest with a fairy ring of trees in the middle and a moss covered fountain of a fat man gleefully shooting water out of his mouth. The large garden was designed for the purpose of walking, with paths criss-crossing everywhere and a beautiful view of the city available from many different points. It didn't take too much imagination to imagine German royalty strolling through these gardens hundreds of years ago.

The view of Heidelberg from the castle gardens

After exploring the castle gardens I headed back down to the city of Heidelberg for some quick lunch and an iced coffee. I ran into Beth, Gabby and Brenda at Starbucks and was able to duck in just in time to avoid a quick burst of rain. We then headed back to our hotel which was located about 30 minutes outside the city of Heidelberg and were all pleasantly surprised to see that our rooms had balconies, allowing us to shout back and forth about dinner plans and room arrangements.

For dinner we walked a few blocks from our hotel to a small restaurant with a sign for a Beer Garden. Here we encountered the largest and most difficult language barrier of our trip yet. The 6 of us Americans gathered around the large wooden table did not understand a single word other than "Bratwurst" on the menu and the German waitresses looked too intimidated to even approach our table. After nearly three hours and dozens of mis-communications, we were finally fed. I was happy to see that my order had been communicated well and my bratwurst, sauerkraut and potatoes were exactly the German feast I had in mind.

The next morning we departed for Luzern, Switzerland but first we had to drive through the famous Black Forest  (natural muse for such Grimm's fairy tales as Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood). I was disappointed with how little of the Black Forest we were able to see. Despite driving through it for almost 2 hours we never truly penetrated the woods and only saw the saplings and young growth which bordered the highway.  The name "The Black Forest" was given to these woods due to the fact that at the center, the trees grow so close together than sunlight rarely penetrates them, hence being dark and black 24 hours a day. I hope to someday return to Germany and spend much more time in the Black Forest, a hiking/camping trip would be amazing.

The Rhine Falls

We then stopped to take photos as the Rhine Falls, the largest plain waterfall in Europe. The falls weren't particularly high, but they were extremely wide. In the middle of the falls was a huge dark mass of jagged stone that had steps carved into it. A few brave people had paid a boat to take them out to the jagged rocks where they climbed to the top and held on for dear life as the falls hammered down on all sides of them. I can imagine how loud it would have been out there and if we had more time I would have loved to experience it.

After only a short 36-hour period we left Germany and entered Switzerland. One of my few regrets about the route of this trip was the short amount of time we were going to spend in Germany and my thoughts were justified during our time there. The people were friendly, the cities were extremely clean and the air just felt healthy. It was a wonderful break from the busy cities of London and Paris and I appreciated the natural beauty of the Rhine Falls and Black Forest immensely. Germany is definitely a country that I would love to return to.