.JPG)
i'm here. in heidelberg. freezing my arse off. i've been here for a couple of days now and this town is beautiful. it's all old style buildings and completely german, as opposed to frankfurt's 'look at me, i can be western too!' the first thing i noticed here was that there are no youths and junkies milling around the place giving tourists and uneasy feeling. there's plenty of milling going on, but nothing compared to the creepy vibe you get in frankfurt. to compare, frankfurt is irreversible, to heidelberg's sound of music. (the comparison may seem a little harsh, but i believe i have made my point! lol)
the train trip here was pretty uneventful except for me sitting in the first class section and the conductor telling me off in german. to which i said, 'sprechen sie englisch?' she sighed and then said move to the back, behind the dining car. (the dining car, incidentally, was just a little dude with chips and coke to sell. not much of a dining car, more a snack car.) once i moved back there though, you could tell it was economy. people cramped in and looking very unpleased by the situation. especially me with my big bag smacking people around with the dangly clips. my most used phrase at this point, 'entschuldigung' - sorry. once in heidelberg though i was seriously overjoyed. this place looks amazing and like a postcard. no matter where i go, things are beautiful.
when i got off the train i walked up the escalator and found alexis. i was a little worried about meeting him as i've never met him in person and i was worried that as an aussie i would be too loud and way too obnoxious. even though he's cuban, he's lived in europe for ages and i thought he might think, 'dear god! who have i invited to stay at my house?' this wasn't the case though and i was quite pleased to find him very accommodating and very friendly. something that i would need in the coming days, as i just spent some solitary time in frankfurt and needed to talk to someone that i knew from before my travels begun. he made a brilliant dinner that afternoon (remember, i'm kinda still on australian time, where 4pm is really midnight), and remembering that australian's like lamb he made something that was absolutely fantastic. it was like a three course meal, with fried bananas, a kind of lamb casserole, some rice and a dark bean sauce/side dish. it was delicioso! unfortunately my return meal of pasta didn't work out as well as this, mainly because the pasta here tastes different and the only meat we could find for the sauce was a weird combination of cow and pig called hackfleisch. that's right - two animals in one called hack flesh. it's the name it as you see it game. it tasted okay and alexis seemed to like it, so it was all good. i just wished it could've matched his meal. but as i can't cook bbqs and lamb is terribly expensive, the only australian thing left to cook would be lamingtons, and that, my friends, is no meal. it's hardly even a snack! haha...
anyway, after sleeping for what seemed like 5 minutes, but what was really about half a day, it was now sunday and a day for meeting some friends of alexis' and going out for brunch followed by a walk around the town. alexis' friends were fantastic. paula who is columbian and her german husband matthias along with their two kids, samuel and lucas, took us to a place that serves a buffet brunch. now sam and lucas didn't talk to me much, they were a little in awe of an australian, cause as paula put it, i'm from where nemo comes from. haha... i tried to ask them stuff like how old are you etc in german, but they were very shy and i decided to stick to talking to matthias and paula. now this didn't go very well as i was kinda overwhelmed with the atmosphere and the food on offer. from what i'm told it was a very german affair, a massive spread of various meats and side dishes. it was good to see ye olde pasta salad make an appearance, a little bit of simple home in the middle of a german banquet. all this, by the way, only cost about 9.50euros, bargain and a half! but as i've come to see, food here is very very very cheap. i went shopping with alexis some time later and we bought food that cost us 15 euros, in aust $$$ that's around $20-$25, but at home would have cost us about $50.
.JPG)
after lunch they took me for a massive walk around heaidelberg, taking in the philosopher's walk, the old town and the hauptstrasse (main street). i was overjoyed at this, mainly because for the first time since i got here i got to see the castle (or schloss). not up close though, from a distance, i'm saving the castle and the chairlift beside it for another day. the chairlift takes you up higher than the castle and to a place called the king's chair, where you can see all of heidelberg and surrounding areas. after this very tiring walk we went over the neckar river into the old town and then went for a beer followed by a stroll down the hauptstrasse. i'll tell you about that and a few other things, like visiting mannheim and just trying to go to the heidelberg supermarkt and buy some coke and nibbles, next entry as this one's already fairly long. probably this afternoon as for the first time in a few days i'm by myself and don't feel rude typing up a storm. til then auf wiedersehen.
the train trip here was pretty uneventful except for me sitting in the first class section and the conductor telling me off in german. to which i said, 'sprechen sie englisch?' she sighed and then said move to the back, behind the dining car. (the dining car, incidentally, was just a little dude with chips and coke to sell. not much of a dining car, more a snack car.) once i moved back there though, you could tell it was economy. people cramped in and looking very unpleased by the situation. especially me with my big bag smacking people around with the dangly clips. my most used phrase at this point, 'entschuldigung' - sorry. once in heidelberg though i was seriously overjoyed. this place looks amazing and like a postcard. no matter where i go, things are beautiful.
when i got off the train i walked up the escalator and found alexis. i was a little worried about meeting him as i've never met him in person and i was worried that as an aussie i would be too loud and way too obnoxious. even though he's cuban, he's lived in europe for ages and i thought he might think, 'dear god! who have i invited to stay at my house?' this wasn't the case though and i was quite pleased to find him very accommodating and very friendly. something that i would need in the coming days, as i just spent some solitary time in frankfurt and needed to talk to someone that i knew from before my travels begun. he made a brilliant dinner that afternoon (remember, i'm kinda still on australian time, where 4pm is really midnight), and remembering that australian's like lamb he made something that was absolutely fantastic. it was like a three course meal, with fried bananas, a kind of lamb casserole, some rice and a dark bean sauce/side dish. it was delicioso! unfortunately my return meal of pasta didn't work out as well as this, mainly because the pasta here tastes different and the only meat we could find for the sauce was a weird combination of cow and pig called hackfleisch. that's right - two animals in one called hack flesh. it's the name it as you see it game. it tasted okay and alexis seemed to like it, so it was all good. i just wished it could've matched his meal. but as i can't cook bbqs and lamb is terribly expensive, the only australian thing left to cook would be lamingtons, and that, my friends, is no meal. it's hardly even a snack! haha...
anyway, after sleeping for what seemed like 5 minutes, but what was really about half a day, it was now sunday and a day for meeting some friends of alexis' and going out for brunch followed by a walk around the town. alexis' friends were fantastic. paula who is columbian and her german husband matthias along with their two kids, samuel and lucas, took us to a place that serves a buffet brunch. now sam and lucas didn't talk to me much, they were a little in awe of an australian, cause as paula put it, i'm from where nemo comes from. haha... i tried to ask them stuff like how old are you etc in german, but they were very shy and i decided to stick to talking to matthias and paula. now this didn't go very well as i was kinda overwhelmed with the atmosphere and the food on offer. from what i'm told it was a very german affair, a massive spread of various meats and side dishes. it was good to see ye olde pasta salad make an appearance, a little bit of simple home in the middle of a german banquet. all this, by the way, only cost about 9.50euros, bargain and a half! but as i've come to see, food here is very very very cheap. i went shopping with alexis some time later and we bought food that cost us 15 euros, in aust $$$ that's around $20-$25, but at home would have cost us about $50.
.JPG)
after lunch they took me for a massive walk around heaidelberg, taking in the philosopher's walk, the old town and the hauptstrasse (main street). i was overjoyed at this, mainly because for the first time since i got here i got to see the castle (or schloss). not up close though, from a distance, i'm saving the castle and the chairlift beside it for another day. the chairlift takes you up higher than the castle and to a place called the king's chair, where you can see all of heidelberg and surrounding areas. after this very tiring walk we went over the neckar river into the old town and then went for a beer followed by a stroll down the hauptstrasse. i'll tell you about that and a few other things, like visiting mannheim and just trying to go to the heidelberg supermarkt and buy some coke and nibbles, next entry as this one's already fairly long. probably this afternoon as for the first time in a few days i'm by myself and don't feel rude typing up a storm. til then auf wiedersehen.
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment