Heidelberg, Germany
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
Heidelberg was our last stop on our European trip. It’s a pretty city that actually reminded us of Salzburg – about the same size and population, a large castle with great views overlooking a river spanned by several bridges, lots of pretty churches…it really seemed a bit of a déjà vu (with the exception that buildings in Salzburg were mostly white with black roofs versus the ones in Heidelberg which have reddish roofs – actually everything looks reddish in Heidelberg).
Our highlight was the Philosophenweg (Philosopher’s way), a path on the hills on the northern side of the city. The path is lush with greenery and gardens and has great views over the Old Town and the castle. We walked it on our first day and thought Heidelberg must be a wonderful city to live in.
The next day we walked the old city and visited the castle, finding both pretty. If you sense a bit of disinterest in that description you’re probably right – on closer inspection Heidelberg didn’t enthrall us. Too many tourists and too many tourist shops and tourist restaurants. We found it didn’t have that “Germaness” that attracted us so much to places like Regensburg, Fussen, or Bacharach – it just got lost among the touristyness of it all (I think I just invented a new word there..). But I think my perception is also skewed by the fact that 1) Heidelberg was our last stop (I think our minds were halfway home at that point) and 2) we didn’t sleep well in Heidelberg (more on this further down). So maybe I should be more generous to Heidelberg, it is actually quite a lovely city…
————
We stayed at Hotel Hollander Hof while in Heidelberg. Perfectly located, beautiful hotel, amazingly friendly staff. But I’m giving it 2 out of 5. And that is being generous. Why? Again, like in Venice, they didn’t have AC – we had to open the windows to get some air in the room. Our window was 4 floors up over an Irish pub. 2 nights of shouting and laughing and smoke drifting into the room – it totally ruined our stay. For 125 euros a night there is no excuse: if you can’t get sleep (objective #1 for a hotel room) then there is no reason to recommend the hotel.
————-
The primary reason we finished our trip in Heidelberg was logistics. Lufthansa has a shuttle service (“shuttle” – it was actually a mini van) from the Crown Plaza in Heidelberg directly to Frankfurt airport starting at 5:30 am. It got us to the airport in an hour and a half where we took our Air Canada back home.
* Air Canada is affectionately called Air Confusion. I call it Air Crap. If being: a) useless (and proud to be) and b) bad-tempered were qualities, then Air Canada and its personel would be the #1 in the world. On behalf of all Canadians, I apologize to all foreigners flying AC.
Auf Wiedersehen Europe!
f_thomae