Heidelberg was everything it should be

Today we went on a tour of Heidelberg. We took the train there, which is covered in our pass (=free). The train ride only took twenty minutes. It was so picturesque. Everything that I expected to find in Mannheim - quaint houses with flower boxes, outdoor restaurants that look like they have been handed down through generations, winding cobblestone roads - it was all in Heidelberg. We walked up to castle on steep, steep cobblestone road and took in the amazing views of the town and countryside. For 1.5 euros we got to go into the castle courtyard and the surrounding buildings. It was the most bang for my euro (buck would not be appropriate in this situation) that I have spent yet. There were some ruins, old defensive gates, detailed architecture, and several wine barrels that could keep an army of alcoholics happy...read: the smaller one was probably about fifteen feet high.

Afterwards we went to lunch in the town. We all ate bratwurst with some form of pommes, sauerkraut, or kartoffel salat. I got the kartoffel salat. It is not like potato salad in America because the base isn't mayonnaise. The base was more oily with a sauce on it. it was lighter and the pieces were slices of potato. I liked it. Also the bratwurst was much whiter than American sausage. The casing was thinner and not as creepy. As a nod to Dr. Overstreet, we tried Rattler beer, which has lemonade in it. It does not make the beer taste like lemonade, but just has a sweeter taste. I enjoyed it more than any of the other beers I have had in the United States.

To get back to Mannheim we took the street car, which took forty minutes. We thought it would be more scenic, but just ended up looking like the Midwest. On the other hand, we answered Erica's question of "do Germans jog?" The answer was yes; sometimes in inappropriately short shorts. On the train ride I sat next to a woman who was from South Africa, but now lived in Germany part of the year and Venice, Florida for another part of it. We talked for several bus stops, and just further concentrated my impression of the Germans as a friendly people. She spoke three languages fluently and a bit of another, which is somewhat common in Europe. It makes me feel remarkably uncultured considering I know English, and have a two-year olds verbal skills in Spanish. I'm hoping that by the end of this summer I will be much more fluent in German, and will cease having performance anxiety whenever a native German speaker talks to me in a normal speed. I know that we will go back to Heidelberg several times this summer. We will definitely have to go back on a weekday. Today was Sunday, and many stores were closed.