Just when you thought the weekends of stimulating cross-country journeys were finished, we managed a knockout. Steph and I (sans Hobbes, sadly) ventured to Heidelberg, Germany, last weekend to meet one of Steph's best friends from college, Missy, to experience an authentic German Christmas Market in full swing.Early Saturday AM was uncharacteristically busy as we showered, packed an overnight bag and hustled outside an excited Golden Retriever (Hobbes hates the sight of suitcases unless he's going somewhere with them). I'd freely say that I was (and sometimes still am) excited about a car-less lifestyle but, man, the convenience can be priceless. For example, compare simply hoisting his hairy blonde butt into a back seat vs. walking 1/3 mile to purchase his ticket (dogs ride for 1/2 price) then taking a bus to the train, train to the city, waiting 15 minutes in the drizzle, then a final bus ride to friends Dave and Heather who graciously agreed to babysit Hobbes. Hobbes and Vera, their English bulldog, begin a comedy routine upon his arrival as she (about 1/5 his size) immediately rushes to guard her food bowl (smart move), he counters by stealing a toy and then when she slowly draws away to protect other toys, they simultaneously realize the food is unprotected and sprint headlong towards the bowl, sliding on the hardwood a la Scooby Doo, nearly smacking into each other and their heads into the wall in the process.
Leaving the show, after another brief walk/tram/train ride we reached Zürich's main station early enough for a coffee and cornetto (Italian version of the croissant) before the BIG train departed for Germany. The journey north to Heidelberg takes 4-1/2 hours over 200 miles with one brief transfer in Karlsruhe (see map at end of post). As a brief aside, I have a theory about what I call "Life's True & False Test." If you were periodically administered True & False tests throughout your life with questions regarding events, say, 5 or 10 years distant, I maintain everything you'd guess True would turn out False and vice versa. A classic example: a question regarding a weekend meeting in December in Germany with one of Steph's best college friends, now living in Essen, Germany for nine months as a visiting Political Science professor on a Fulbright scholarship with Steph and I living in Zürich. Um, let's see, had that question been posed of us while downing Purple Passion and Fuzzy Navels (blech!) at a 4:30am "Breakfast Club" before a Purdue football game fourteen years ago, I'd have guessed False.
Arriving at Heidelberg's main station, Steph and I instantly deciphered the bus maps (hey, we're professionals) and bussed to our quaint Old Town hotel to meet Missy (her husband, Mike, now working in Frankfurt, was unfortunately recalled to the U.S. for business and couldn't attend as originally planned). Hungry and sober, we immediately hit the nearby Christmas Markets for a solution.
Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination (sorry, Rick Steves) for Germans and foreigners alike due to its sizable Old Town--in December featuring five different Christmas "market" areas with stalls selling mostly food and drinks and some trinkets--and an enormous castle looming on a hillside over the town. The featured food is sausage (surprise!) and drink is Glühwein, inexpensive (read, cheap) red wine mulled with honey and spices and served hot--every booth serves its family recipe, of course. One particularly flashy booth lured me (not the ladies) with its special Feuerzangenbowle Glühwein, which my pocket dictionary translated as "Fire-Pliers Punch," where a large agglomerated fruit core (apple?) is doused nonstop in flaming schnapps which drips into the vat of cheap mulled wine. Hangover, anyone? Also available with any drink was a Schuß or shot of schnapps, a word we definitely won't teach to certain future visiting friends (Leys).
We toured several markets through the afternoon and evening, stopping occasionally at interesting bars to warm up with hot tea, cold beer, real wine and real food. Later Saturday night, wandering downtown in the cold, we happened upon a perfectly suitable and reasonably hip German restaurant for soup (always cream-of-something), salad (gigantic!), dessert (apple strudel) and coffee. Sunday morning we breakfasted in the hotel's lovely dungeon before attacking (well, not literally) the castle and its gardens. Pictures to elaborate:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2hd8fyj.92c7507b&x=0&y=il6qbr
Steph, Missy and I finished with another stroll through the (then drizzly) Old Town and a fantastically delicious ham & cheese and/or Nutella crepe before again bussing to the trains home to Zürich and Essen. Missy and Mike--due to their visas expiring next summer--travel frenetically around Europe every weekend so we hope to rendezvous again somewhere soon.
Steph and I found some humor recalling our completely coincidental summer 2006 vacation to Germany/Switzerland for the World Cup, during which we differentiated almost nothing between the cultures. On this trip we found Germany oddly similar to Swiss-Germany in many ways and subtly different in others, hard to describe. One glaring difference was the prices--after a tactile adjustment to handling bulky Euros instead of slim Francs, we discovered that a lot fewer Euros buy the same stuff as many Francs; the Euro purchasing power was slightly greater even after the whopping 1.6 Francs-to-1 Euro conversion. That's good news for future European travel as fears of a fleecing by the strong Euro evaporated (once you're used to Swiss prices, that is). The other now-obvious difference is language, with the Germans enunciating their words smoothly compared to something-stuck-in-my-throat Swiss-German. And the Germans are bigger people, taller and stockier and, yes, fatter, more similar to Americans; the Swiss are slighter, more Todd-sized.
On the train home, Steph and I passed two hours by chatting the ear off a very nice German guy, unfortunately for him stuck in our same compartment; he was returning from supporting his native Frankfurt soccer team to home near Basel (Switzerland). Once back at Zürich's main station, our laid-back Sunday evening consisted of another short bus/walk/tram/train/wait at airport/bus ride to retrieve our Retriever and return home.
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1 comment:
The story about Hobbes and Vera is too much, but knowing Hobbes, that food of Vera’s would be a huge draw! Your True/False test is so True! Although the scenario you described is totally unlikely for most of us, who would have thought that Troy would ever work in Australia, or that Trent and Amy would take Spanish classes in Guatemala? Who are these little globe-trotting Hergy kids?
Heidelberg looks wonderful. Guess we need to add that one to our ever-growing list of places to visit in 2008. Your pictures are terrific – looks a little cold, however. Not to rub it in, but it’s been 83 degrees here lately. A good, old South Carolina winter!
I was hoping the Swiss would be more Swiss than German. Remember, you’re quite Swiss/Danish on the Jensen side, thus your stature. You come from good stock!
Oh, and don’t drink too many of those “fire-pliers” – they sound lethal!
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