One weekend Lindsay, Drew and I went up to the town of Heidelberg, which is in the northern part of Freiburg's region (Baden-Wurttemberg). We left on a Friday morning, spent that night, and then took a train down to the Volksfest in Stuttgart for the afternoon and evening. Drew has a friend studying abroad there so we had her to show us around town, which was really nice.
Heidelberg was a really adorable city. Our hostel was in Old Town so we were right in all the action. You could tell that Heidelberg is much more touristy than Freiburg. There were souvenir shops all over the place in Old Town, whereas I haven't seen any in Freiburg, save the exceptional postcard stand. One
of the main attractions of Heidelberg is the Heidelberger Schloss (castle), which lays in partial ruins on the hilltop above the town. It's first construction dates back to 1214! I believe it's current state of ruin happened in the 17th century (don't quote me on that though). It is quite an impressive sight. Check my shutterfly page for pictures of us at the castle. The fact that it was in partial ruins made it cooler than if it were in full construction, in my opinion. Inside the castle is the world's largest wine cask. It is not currently in use, but it can hold almost 60,ooo gallons of wine!
In Heidelberg we also hung out on the famous bridge there that crosses the Nekar river. Across that bridge from Old Town is the Philosopher's Walk (philosophenweg), which is a picturesque amble up the hill. It provides amazing views of the city and the schloss. Overall, Heidelberg was really charming and fun to walk down the old streets (there is a more modern part of town, but we didn't spend much time there). We also ate some traditional German food at our hostel's restaurant. Schnitzel mit Kartoffeln! 'Twas delicious!
On Saturday afternoon we made our way back south to Stuttgart to meet up with more people on our program at the annual Volksfest. This was our version of Oktoberfest, because we couldn't make the real thing in Munich (too expensive and too far). Volksfest was a giant carnival/beer festival. There were a few large beer tents and a bunch of rides, carnival games, and food stands. We happened to b
e there on German Unification Day, so a ton of people had the day off and it was crazy crowded. We waited in line for a beer tent for 40 minutes when we finally decided to just forget about a tent and instead buy beer at one of the food stalls. And of course I ate more currywurst. I had it twice that day actually! Mmmmm... Anyways, we spent hours there just bumming around and having fun. The train ride home turned out to be a party too. It was insanely crowded, we had to stand in the aisles, and everyone was borderline drunk or drunk, so there was a lot of singing and loud talking going on. We met some Germans about our age and they started spewing off all the random things they knew about US culture, like Monica Lewinsky and the baseball. They were crazy. It was a lot of fun though, and we made it back safely (don't worry, mom :) ).
Heidelberg was a really adorable city. Our hostel was in Old Town so we were right in all the action. You could tell that Heidelberg is much more touristy than Freiburg. There were souvenir shops all over the place in Old Town, whereas I haven't seen any in Freiburg, save the exceptional postcard stand. One
of the main attractions of Heidelberg is the Heidelberger Schloss (castle), which lays in partial ruins on the hilltop above the town. It's first construction dates back to 1214! I believe it's current state of ruin happened in the 17th century (don't quote me on that though). It is quite an impressive sight. Check my shutterfly page for pictures of us at the castle. The fact that it was in partial ruins made it cooler than if it were in full construction, in my opinion. Inside the castle is the world's largest wine cask. It is not currently in use, but it can hold almost 60,ooo gallons of wine!In Heidelberg we also hung out on the famous bridge there that crosses the Nekar river. Across that bridge from Old Town is the Philosopher's Walk (philosophenweg), which is a picturesque amble up the hill. It provides amazing views of the city and the schloss. Overall, Heidelberg was really charming and fun to walk down the old streets (there is a more modern part of town, but we didn't spend much time there). We also ate some traditional German food at our hostel's restaurant. Schnitzel mit Kartoffeln! 'Twas delicious!
On Saturday afternoon we made our way back south to Stuttgart to meet up with more people on our program at the annual Volksfest. This was our version of Oktoberfest, because we couldn't make the real thing in Munich (too expensive and too far). Volksfest was a giant carnival/beer festival. There were a few large beer tents and a bunch of rides, carnival games, and food stands. We happened to b
e there on German Unification Day, so a ton of people had the day off and it was crazy crowded. We waited in line for a beer tent for 40 minutes when we finally decided to just forget about a tent and instead buy beer at one of the food stalls. And of course I ate more currywurst. I had it twice that day actually! Mmmmm... Anyways, we spent hours there just bumming around and having fun. The train ride home turned out to be a party too. It was insanely crowded, we had to stand in the aisles, and everyone was borderline drunk or drunk, so there was a lot of singing and loud talking going on. We met some Germans about our age and they started spewing off all the random things they knew about US culture, like Monica Lewinsky and the baseball. They were crazy. It was a lot of fun though, and we made it back safely (don't worry, mom :) ).
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