Having arrived in Frankfurt in the middle of the one of its coldest and snowy winters, there wasn't much hope of successfully accomplishing any travels immediately. Every weekend we would check weather conditions, and drop any plans that we would mentally have of going out anywhere! But, thanks to AVK, who visited Frankfurt all the way from London just for a weekend, we finally decided, enough! Now we have to plan something, atleast for someone who is coming all the way from London through Paris by train(having missed his direct flight from London!) and hence would make it to Frankfurt only on Saturday evening! So it was decided... Heidelberg it would be on Sunday, the 1st of Feb 2009!
We were a group of 5 which ensured the maximum utilization of the Schönes Wochenende Ticket ('Happy Weekend Ticket') that we bought. Early on Sunday morning, we climbed into one of the Deutsche Bahn's regional trains (RE and RB) and took a one and half hour ride to reach Heidelberg. How chilly it was! To add to our misery it was raining when we arrived... Despite all odds we braved our way out of the railway station to look for a map or some kind of a guide to help us explore the little castle city.
Soon we realized that it being a Sunday, the tourist information office outside the station was closed! So we just a bought a group ticket for the local transport and studied the huge city map outside and headed into the city. We decided to walk since it was quite picturesque and we had heard that the castle was within walking distance. We passed by a lot of amazing architecture and through the old town with narrow lanes and small buidings. Finally we came by to somewhere near the base of the hill (Königstuhl) on which the castle was built. It was such a steep climb all the way up to the castle, but we enjoyed it - clicking pictures on the way and stopping for short snack breaks. Once up there we bought the entry tickets and began exploring this 'fortress'. The view from high above was breath-taking. No photograph could capture what we were experiencing from up there. The old city, the river Neckar on which the city lay, the bridge across the river, all were a feast to our eyes. It was getting chilly up there so we decided to come down after buying some souvenirs. On our way back we visited an old church and also took some pictures in the town square. Next on our list was Alte Brücke (old bridge) and Brückentor (Bridge gate). As we came closer to the river, it began to get windy and all of us were dying to get back into the comforts of some warmth! But our attention was captured by the 'Heidelberg Monkey' which was a brass monkey with the face like a mask through which we could put our heads in and pose for photographs! One by one, all of us took turns to get our photos clicked :) As we crossed the bridge we took more photos, admiring the natural beauty, but also simultaneously deciding to get into a tram or a bus for some warmth! So we did, and took a ride through the entire city, crossing the river a couple of times! Then it was time to head back to the station with darkness almost about to descend!
At the station AVK treated all of us to butter pretzel which was one of the most amazing snacks that we had ever had. Back in Frankfurt all of us were really tired and headed almost straight to bed having spent a really worthwhile day!
Us: Poonam, Sudha, Nishit, Karthik (AVK) and Sukanya
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