There were many aspects of Germany that I loved, especially our time in Heidelberg. After coming from Moscow, it was nice to be in a quaint small city, to relax and soak in some sights as well as culture. Hotel Leonardo was in an excellent location and was in close walking distance to downtown Heidelberg and the “walking” street. Let’s just say our time in Germany through us a few surprises, some better than others…..hahah
For starters, upon arriving, I knew I needed to get some wash done. There we were…9 guys with trash bags of laundry in search of convenience and wash….as always, we found our self lost and in need of directions….and of course some women looking out our bags asked if we were looking for the laundry mat and proceeded to supply us with directions. How could she be so assuming that we needed to do wash…that could have been our life possessions for all she knew? Regardless, we finally found the wash facility and for a small (ridiculous) fee, we got everything washed….dried…and folded…yeah, I said folded (for a fee). I had to do what I had to do. J Needless did I know that the promised same day service would be incorrect, and I would be stuck with no clothes for the next day….well, I did have the stale underwear, t-shirt and shorts I had been wearing for some time now. Logically….what do you do???? GO SHOPPING! A few Euros later….I had a new polo and some lovely (horrible) Euro undershorts.
There is so much to do here in Germany. The one day we took another trip to Mannheim and to Frankfurt to do a few lovely corporate visits…
First stop was the Daimler-Benz plant to see the production of Mercedes buses and coaches. What an interesting thing to see. We really had fun poking our heads around the plant watching the process of buses be made practically all by hand with over 4 miles of wiring!!!
Next stop was the Deutsche Bank and the European Central Bank…both of which were truly incredible, especially with the recent crisis going on in Greece. The ECB was buttoned down tight with security, but it was still a blast.
Our tour of the Heidelberg Castle was priceless. I love seeing some of these incredible landmarks left untouched to an extent. So much is refurbished, it is hard to understand what it would be today without man’s help. The castle was absolutely breath taking…well, the tour was a bore, but the castle itself was fun.
Needless to say, Dr. LaFrance had us buckle down this week with just a few (a lot) of classes and work. We are definitely earning our credits, but still enjoying every country for what it has to offer. J
By far, the best part of Heidelberg was my adventures with my red “hog.” With the anticipation of Mary coming to visit, I decided to rent a red scooter to roam all around Heidelberg and see the city from a different perspective….and let me tell you, it was worth every Euro that was spent. After our exam on Saturday, I went to pick up my hog with a few of the boys who caved in and rented ones too. We spent about an hour roaming all around the city, and “Scooting” around to see what we could find….after only a few wipe outs, we were on our way, and having a ton of fun. My plan was to pick Mary up and the train station and Scoot away into the hills of the city…needless did I know she would be wearing a dress.
All it took was a quick outfit change and we were on our way. Let’s just say, it was an incredible day….one of my best on IBI. We headed all over the hills of Heidelberg on that little scooter. Through the woods to scenic views of the city, through the small streets of a European town, into the University walkways and back again….we even woke up early to take an early morning scoot up to the castle so that we could see it in the morning before church. The streets of Heidelberg were empty that early Sunday morning, but we really had a blast. There is so much more you can see when you have a scooter…things we would never be able to do if we were on foot.
Heidelberg was an absolutely beautiful city. There was so much to do, so much to see, so much wrong with taking the back streets…opps….good song….It truly was a busy young hip town, and had a heavy international influence that had an incredible feel. I know I am going to miss this place…a lot.
For some reason, I felt really good in Heidelberg….some great connections, incredible people and so much to do.
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