Living the Travel Channel

These are the views out our hotel window. We were right next the train station, as you can see. It was very convenient, since we didn’t have to deal with taxis, buses or trams to get to and from the hotel. We slept with the window open. Since I had lived as a child next to a train track, the thump, thump, thump of the trains was familiar and kind of soothing.

In the hotel, there is a vine that begins on the sixth floor and travels down the stairwell all the way to the bottom.

Beautiful houses down along the river. Below is a statue of some heroic fellow, I know not who.
Below is proof of high culture in Germany.
Below is the other side of the train station, rather pretty architecture.
Below, just a general picture of the river (Rhine) and Germans out for a walk on the weekend.
We arrived in Koln late Friday night. Unfortunately, I was already feeling sick. Saturday, we went out for a little while, but I was clearly not well, so went back to the hotel and Paul went out on his own for that afternoon. After throwing up and getting a nap, I felt better and was able to get on with sight seeing. Sunday night the same ailment hit Paul hard. We were to spend all day Monday in travel back to Dubai — which meant a train ride to Frankfurt and a plane ride after that. It was a very hard day for Paul and I was worried we wouldn’t make it, but we did. He is still sick, poor thing. We attempted to upgrade our flight to business class, but were not able to do that. Luckily, there were empty seats next to us, so Paul could lay down and get a little sleep. We are too old and decrepit for travelling economy class anymore. We have vowed to travel business class in the future, but that may cut back on how much travel we can afford.

Despite our illness, we did still manage to do a few things, so more pictures will follow. It is a challenge to organize and post pictures because my camera stores them in completely random order. I usually take two of everything because the first picture tends to be too blurry to use. Even the two identical pictures are separated, so it takes a while to figure out what I have and what order they should go in.

Here are some miscellaneous images to wrap up before we move on to Koln.

Here we can see that they are capable of providing soft facial tissues, however, the toilet paper is capable of standing up on it’s own. That is not a roll of t.p., but just four sheets. I think it was brawnier than Brawny paper towels.
Below we have evidence that not all the construction cranes are in Dubai. We saw about 4 cranes during our trip. It’s funny how they stick out to us now.
Unfortunately, all the night time pictures I took were blurry, but I thought you should see how pretty it is all lit up.
Below is the big frying pan where they cook up steak and onions and serve them in a sandwich. Paul loves this pan. He loved the steak, too, but I think he loves the pan more.

Unfortunately, my camera became uncooperative while we were at the castle and claimed that the memory was full, so I did not get very many pictures.
We took the guided tour. Below is a model of how the castle looked at it’s peak.
This is a model of how it looks now, after years of war and neglect. They have done some restorative work, but some areas are hollowed out shells or not even that.
Below is one of the walls in the restored section. I thought it was interesting to see a mounted head with a painted on body.
If you want more info on the castle, Wikipedia has a lengthy entry (but you didn’t hear it from me.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_Castle

Welcome to Heidelberg. This is the Galeria Kaufhof, a major department store with a tram and bus transit area in front of it. Notice all the bicycles. They are everywhere.
A closer view showing some of the Christmas market booths. Great sausages, mulled wine and sweets.
The Galeria Kaufhof has a glass elevator and these are shots from there.

Here is the Hauptstrasse. A main street primarily for pedestrians (vehicles venture here only to make deliveries). It is a long and pleasant walk and the Germans do walk a lot.
Street musician playing Christmas music on steel drums.

Proof that sushi is everywhere. This was one of three or four sushi restaurants we saw.
Paul and Professor Bunsen, of bunsen burner fame.
Heidelberg is a very pleasant, low key town. We highly recommend it. The food is great. The weather was exactly what we were hoping (although a little snow would have been nice). It hovered around 40F and was rainy.

History is all around you everywhere you go in this city. The buidlings are hundreds of years old (the ones that survived WWII, anyway). We went to one of the museums. There was a Roman settlement here and the Romans built a massive bridge across the Neckar river. The museum has several of the timbers from that bridge on display. It amazes me to see something biodegradable like that that has survived and to be able to touch it.

Here is Happy Paul, happy to be in Germany. This is the Frankfurt train station and we are waiting for our train to Heidelberg. Notice that he is wearing two coats. The temperature hovered around 40F and rainy, so was not as cold as we had expected. Only needed my gloves when the wind came up.
If you are wondering where the Marlboro man has gone. He has moved to Germany.
Here is Happy Paul in Heidelberg. The Holy Ghost Church is to the left. Markt Platz with it’s Christmas market is ahead.
Christmas market, one of many.

Holy Ghost Church and Christmas market.
Our hotel – Hotel Zum Ritter, built in 1592.
The views out our hotel windows. The Heidelberg Schloss (castle) up the hill and red roofs as far as the eye can see.

We ate at Vetters restaurant (more than once). Above is the view out the restaurant window and below is the 1/2 pig order Paul ordered and ate. Two large pork snitzels.