Tuesday 7 February 2006

Heidelberg

This weekend I ventured out of Coburg once more - this time to the lovely city of Heidelberg. Some photos of the trip are here. Possibly this was an odd time to visit, since Heidelberg is very close to Frankfurt, where I will be living in a couple of months. However, I was keen to visit and catch up with my old friend Nicki, whom I went to school with.

It may seem surprising that we both ended up living in Germany, but only until one realises that I have been stalking Nicki on and off for several years now. It is fitting that she is living in Heidelberg, while I am living in Coburg, since there are suburbs in Melbourne with the same names, so many of our friends assume we never left town.

Heidelberg is famous for having the oldest university in Germany, and it has a large student population. While there we checked out the castle - which is very impressive. In fact is possibly more impressive even than the Veste Coburg, although it has been allowed to fall into some disrepair over the centuries. Of particular note is the enormous wine barrel, which can hold either 220,000 litres or 220 litres, depending on how one interprets the period on the sign.

Nicki told me I had to have a drink called a Warmer Erpel while I was there. It is apparently some kind of ritual that must be undertaken upon entering the town. Personally I suspect that this was made up purely to sell the drink, since I can't imagine anyone would want to drink it unless they were a complete newcomer. The taste is somewhat akin to that of battery fluid, or so I would imagine had I ever had battery fluid.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Mike
    I was googling my name and was checking out other Michael James Smith's. I also have been to Heidelberg and visited the castle. I thought wow I have just about every picture that you have. Just thought it was funny that that us Michael James Smith's went to the same place and took the same pictures.
    Mike [posted by: ]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't suppose you know what was in Warmer Erpel? I've been trying to recreate it since I've bene back and failing miserably :) [posted by: David]

    ReplyDelete