Heidelberg Trip #2

Steffi's Hostel is bright and inviting.

In Germany, the college semester does not end when Christmas break begins. I know, isn't that crazy? These poor people have to worry about homework and exams while they are trying to enjoy Christmas and New Year. In my program, we don't have to worry about grades or anything with our classes. We just have to go to class, try and understand it, and get a feel for the student life in Germany. With that said, I was actually able to enjoy my two week Christmas break. My break was from Dec. 22 to Jan. 8. I stayed in Magdeburg the first week of the break for Christmas with the family and such but after New Year it was time to explore Germany a bit. Me and my friend decided to make a trip together. I started by first going to Kassel where he lived. We then travelled together to Heidelberg. That was the first stop on our trip. We booked a hostel room very last minute but it worked out great. The hostel was one block away from train station and it was very clean. We even got a two-bed private room so that we didn't need to sleep with 4 or 5 strangers. Breakfast was also inclusive at this hostel so we didn't need to worry about buying groceries in order to have something to eat first thing in the morning. It was called Steffi's Hostel and I highly recommend it if you ever visit Heidelberg. It is walking distance from the main street and it was not very expensive.



We first arrived at night in Heidelberg so we really just unpacked our stuff at the hostel. We did shortly go into town to get something to eat at one of the restaurants that night but all the interesting shops were closed by that hour so we had to wait for the next day to go into them. Our first and only morning waking up at Steffi's was pretty cool. I hadn't been up that early in a while but the prospects of the day were enough incentive to drag myself out of bed early. We went upstairs to where breakfast was served. The way the sun was spilling over the mountains and through the tall buildings into the city was really cool to see from the breakfast room.

After breakfast we ventured into the town to sightsee. If you recall, this is not my first time visiting Heidelberg. I had visited once before during my Radolfzell days. Things were a lot different this time. It was much colder and a lot less lively. The last time I was in Heidelberg, the streets were filled with people (I can only assume many of them were tourists) and the weather was warm and sunny. Some of the shops we had seen the first time were now closed. I think they were shops that were set up specifically for the tourist season. Last time I was in Heidelberg, I visited the castle. This time, I did not do that. If you've seen a castle once in Germany, you've seen it a million times. Me and my friend opted to wander around the city and climb the church tower. Climbing the church tower was something that we did not get to do last time so we both really wanted to do that. The church itself is very interesting. The church has shops literally built into the church on the outside...and these aren't cute little handmade trinket shops. These are what I call "crap" shops. They are the shops that sell German flags and Oktoberfest hats as well as any other really cheaply made item that a tourist is bound to buy. I was very surprised that shops like these would be allowed to be built into the outside of the church.

Do you see the "crap" shops around the church?

Picture taken at the top of the church with the castle in the background.

The inside of the church was also very interesting. Not sure why but the original stained glass windows must have been damaged or destroyed somehow because the new windows contained modern artwork. It looked almost as if the city allowed local residents to design the windows or something. Why not? The church is a part of the city so why not let the people have a say in how it is decorated.

In this window, one can clearly see a picture of what looks like a pilot maybe.

Last time I was in Heidelberg, I saw a store that was full of gummies. Not just any gummies though. These were gummies that were shaped like beer glasses and tasted like beer. My first day in Germany at the Sparkassen Akademie (where the whole CBYX group stayed our first night in Germany) I got to try these gummies because each room had a small bag with about 3 gummies inside. I had been on the lookout for them ever since. When I first saw this store in Heidelberg I was so excited that I had the chance to buy a whole bag and maybe send it home for my family. I decided not to buy the gummies that trip because I thought I would have an opportunity to buy them later in the year. Wrong! This second trip to Heidelberg contained no beer gummy shop. I am assuming it was there during the first trip because Oktoberfest was around the corner and the shop was capitalizing on the tourism and the seasonal interest in beer. January, however, is another story. Not so much tourism and Oktoberfest is a long way away. So I was unable to acquire some beer gummies this trip but my search for beer gummies in Germany continued. Stay tuned.

My friend Adam, thank goodness, noticed this sign. Jelly doughnuts called Vampire Kisses? Just a little strange.

If you remember, I took a picture just like this for my first post on Heidelberg. I made a point of trying to replicate pictures from last time to see how time has past. It's the infamous brass monkey of Heidelberg.

You can usually tell if a place is touristy by the number of Starbucks it has. Heidelberg has two on just one street. You can also tell if it is touristy if the baristas automatically start the conversation in English...which they did at the Heidelberg Starbucks. Having worked at Starbucks for 5 years prior to my time in Germany, it is always interesting to me to go to Starbucks in other countries to see what is similar or different. Me and my friend needed to use the internet so we decided to go to Starbucks for some coffee, a bathroom break, and internet. I ordered something that I had tried many times during my work years at the coffee giant. A regular coffee and a chocolate cream cheese muffin. It tasted just like I was back at work.

Just getting some work done. 

A very beautiful Starbucks...where people let their babies crawl on the floor.

This is also a great place to mention the great length that Germans go to to ensure that people do not get to go to the bathroom for free. Usually in Germany, public bathrooms (gas stations, train stations, etc.) have gates that require payment to get through. It usually costs 50 Euro cents or something like that. The reason being that water is really not cheap in Europe. If you are a customer at a restaurant, it is free to go to the bathroom but the bathroom is usually located at the way back of the restaurant so as to ensure non-customers are not able to reach it unnoticed by the employees. If there happens to be a nice employee working you might be able to use the bathroom for free if you are not a customer or else you might need to buy something or pay a small fee. The Starbucks me and my friend visited went to great lengths to ensure only customers used the bathroom. When you bought something, your receipt had a code on it. You needed this code to go to the bathroom there. The doors each had a keypad by them where you had to enter your code in order to open the door. They meant business!

Do you see the keypad between the doors? Also the "D" stands for "Damen" and the "H" stands for "Herren" which is the equivalent of "Ladies" and "Gentlemen".

One day in Heidelberg (after having already visited the town before) was enough for me and Adam so that night we decided to head to Freiburg. The city is famous for being quintessential old German and for being nestled in the Black Forest. So that night, we got our things from Steffi's Hostel and headed to the train station and caught a train to Freiburg.