Day 3
Today was fairly nice. We got up early and had a very good breakfast at the hotel--all included for $35. An amazing value, even if the wireless wouldn't work! It was much easier to navigate during the day, and the little town next to the hotel, Weinheim, turned out to be quite nice. We wandered through it, then down B3 toward Heidelberg. We stopped at the next town, xxxxxxxxxx, which had a lovely park around its scholss. A bit later we stopped in another little town to get some castle pictures.
We entered Heidelberg much by surprise, as at first it didn't seem any different than the other little towns we had been passing through on this regional highway. We stopped and parked at the main train station, where someone who was leaving their parking space was actually nice enough to walk up and give me her parking ticket! Sometimes this country continues to amaze me. We went to the tourist office there to get some information--it's such a tourist trap they even charge you for maps. We still had no place to stay, so we visited the station's internet café and looked up some places (it's still so hard to find wireless!). We ended up just going with Fodor's recommendation, Hotel Kohler, a decent place slightly outside of the busy Altstadt. The room was $99 with breakfast, and even better, parking was only $5! Granted, it wasn't quite as good a value as Waldschloss, but that's just hard to match.
After unloading and having a bit of a rest, we went out to find lunch. It was already 3 PM--a very bad time to try to eat in Germany as most places close from 2:30-5:30. Luckily we came a cross an Indian deli-type place, which--while probably one of the worst Indian restaurants I've gone to--was at least a nice change. The Bananalasse was excellent, though! As they didn't take credit cards, we barely had enough money to cover our bill (I think we used every last coin we had), so while our Laam Tikka was cooking I ran to get some money. Exiting the bank, I was accosted by a guy from "Save the Children Deutschland," who seemed very disappointed that I didn't have time to go talk to him, although at least he didn't start speaking in English to me! I wanted to tell him that I've checked Sally Struthers on her flights to LA a couple times, and she never bothered me! Oh well.
After eating, we just wandered around town, visiting various sites mentioned in the book and exploring on our own. It really is a nice, little town, in spite of the tourists. I'm really greatfull it's not the high tourist season, though! We stopped in an internet café for a couple hours (I know, but sometimes it's just hard to pull me away!), where we booked a hotel in Munich for 2-4 Oct for only $55. Not bad considering Oktoberfest is still going on. It remains to be seen whether we'll have a place to park there though! After that we just wandered around most of the rest of the night. Got some lovely pictures of the Schloss at night. We shared some Pad Thai at this little place where "dining for one is not permitted!". I think we saw at least 4 Thai restaurants here in Heidelberg, which was a nice surprise! Unfortunately I think Germans are as afraid of spice as Minnesotans. After dinner we just wandered back to the hotel, watching the young-folk go out and about. I think I could handle going to school in a place like this. I crashed almost immediately after getting to the hotel, I think around 10 PM, and didn't wake up until 8. It was nice to catch up on some much-needed rest. Well, that's all for now. It's Saturday morning and we're about to go tour the Schloss before heading off down the Nekar toward Stuttgart, hoping to find a place to sleep for the night! Tschüß!
We entered Heidelberg much by surprise, as at first it didn't seem any different than the other little towns we had been passing through on this regional highway. We stopped and parked at the main train station, where someone who was leaving their parking space was actually nice enough to walk up and give me her parking ticket! Sometimes this country continues to amaze me. We went to the tourist office there to get some information--it's such a tourist trap they even charge you for maps. We still had no place to stay, so we visited the station's internet café and looked up some places (it's still so hard to find wireless!). We ended up just going with Fodor's recommendation, Hotel Kohler, a decent place slightly outside of the busy Altstadt. The room was $99 with breakfast, and even better, parking was only $5! Granted, it wasn't quite as good a value as Waldschloss, but that's just hard to match.
After unloading and having a bit of a rest, we went out to find lunch. It was already 3 PM--a very bad time to try to eat in Germany as most places close from 2:30-5:30. Luckily we came a cross an Indian deli-type place, which--while probably one of the worst Indian restaurants I've gone to--was at least a nice change. The Bananalasse was excellent, though! As they didn't take credit cards, we barely had enough money to cover our bill (I think we used every last coin we had), so while our Laam Tikka was cooking I ran to get some money. Exiting the bank, I was accosted by a guy from "Save the Children Deutschland," who seemed very disappointed that I didn't have time to go talk to him, although at least he didn't start speaking in English to me! I wanted to tell him that I've checked Sally Struthers on her flights to LA a couple times, and she never bothered me! Oh well.
After eating, we just wandered around town, visiting various sites mentioned in the book and exploring on our own. It really is a nice, little town, in spite of the tourists. I'm really greatfull it's not the high tourist season, though! We stopped in an internet café for a couple hours (I know, but sometimes it's just hard to pull me away!), where we booked a hotel in Munich for 2-4 Oct for only $55. Not bad considering Oktoberfest is still going on. It remains to be seen whether we'll have a place to park there though! After that we just wandered around most of the rest of the night. Got some lovely pictures of the Schloss at night. We shared some Pad Thai at this little place where "dining for one is not permitted!". I think we saw at least 4 Thai restaurants here in Heidelberg, which was a nice surprise! Unfortunately I think Germans are as afraid of spice as Minnesotans. After dinner we just wandered back to the hotel, watching the young-folk go out and about. I think I could handle going to school in a place like this. I crashed almost immediately after getting to the hotel, I think around 10 PM, and didn't wake up until 8. It was nice to catch up on some much-needed rest. Well, that's all for now. It's Saturday morning and we're about to go tour the Schloss before heading off down the Nekar toward Stuttgart, hoping to find a place to sleep for the night! Tschüß!