Life as I know it.: weekend trips in Germany

Beautiful Heidelberg at Night

Last evening we visited Heidelberg for a lovely dinner and firework show. Only about 25 minutes away from our house, Heidelberg is famous for it's beautiful castle and international crowds. Set on the bank of the Neckar River, Heidelberg is the idealistic German town that we love to visit over and over again. With what is said to be the longest pedestrian shopping street in Germany, and maybe Europe, Heidelberg has so much to offer. And last night, after enjoying a lovely dinner of maultaschen with mushroom sauce (it was delicious!) at Perkeo on the pedestrian strip, we ventured across the river to stake a spot for the "Castle Illumination" and firework show. Three times each summer, the Heidelberg Castle is "lit on fire" to commemorate the burning of the castle by the French in 1693. We waited about 1.5 hours for the show to start, and enjoyed watching the boats glide down the river and park with their hundreds of spectators aboard. At 10:15 after all street lights went dark, the show started. The castle really did look like it was on fire, and it was beautiful in an eerie way. After the "fake fire" died away, a firework show began. It was a lovely and well-spent evening in one of our favorite towns.

The moon rising over the hills of Heidelberg

Derek with the rising moon over the Neckar River

Heidelberg at Night

Illumination of the castle, Heidelberg Germany

The tourist boats lined up in the river. They were packed with people!

The Heidelberg Castle "on fire"

Firework Show

Today we rode our bikes a few kilometers south to Bensheim, the larger town close to Zwingenberg. This weekend marked the beginning of the Bensheim Winzerfest, a week-long wine fest, and we had a front row view of the kick-off parade. In Germany, it is very common to be involved in clubs outside of school. In fact, many high schools do not even offer sports and clubs within the school. People of all ages join community clubs, whether it be handball, fencing, band, etc. At today's parade, all of the clubs plus many regional wine makers were represented, along with a variety of Tracht (traditional dress). Derek and I watched the parade for about two hours and then made our way to the market center for a glass of wine and a snack. The town center was transformed into a vine village, complete with castle walls at each entrance. Winemakers even used the fountains as service bars. Here's just a few photos I snapped today.

Every town seems to have a wine queen. Here, she adorns the back of a barrel.

Float at the parade

One of the many marching bands

So creative with the Maypole!

A multi-use fountain!

At the entrance to the wine fest

Wine and pommes!

In the last 48 hours, we have explored the quaint town of Eguisheim, biked about 25 kilometers round-trip to the famous cheese town of Munster, tasted some local Alsace cuisine, slept in a room without air conditioning (it's currently 98 F here), explored the picturesque town of Colmar, been guided on a flat-bottom boat through Little Venice, and splashed in some fountains. If I had three words to describe the Alsace region of France from our experience, I'd say: charming, intriguing & exhausting.

Let's start with the charming. We arrived in Eguisheim yesterday morning around 11am. We parked the car, checked in to the hotel, and took a walk along the outermost circle of the medieval city. Everything about it was out of a storybook. The houses were painted various bright colors, the flower boxes overflowed with every color and type of flower imaginable and storks, the iconic symbol of Alsace, perched atop their carefully constructed nests on the church steeple. As we walked along, a saleslady at a sausage shop offered us some samples. She had every flavor you could imagine - salami with blueberries, fig, cumin, and the list went on! Tourists and locals crowded the cafe, and wine stubes offered a glimpse into the famous wine of Alsace. We found a bakery for lunch and had a sandwich accompanied by a delicious French eclair- not the last of the trip!

Stork nest atop a house

Streets of Equisheim

Cute houses in Eguishem

Chocolate Eclair

Now to the exhausting part. After a quick visit to the tourist shop, we headed to a bike rental near our hotel. We waited about 20 minutes, since many places in France shut down between 12- 1:30pm for a long lunch. We rented some bikes from a lovely French lady and she offered us a map, a recommended route and some fresh water. We started our journey to Munster - about 14 km away from Eguisheim. Maybe it was the heat of the day and a pounding headache or that the entire path was slightly to moderately uphill the entire time, but I was struggling to make it to Munster. Every turn provided a new view of the green valley and a new little town, but never Munster. But we finally made it after about 2.5 hours of biking and a few water breaks. In Munster, we didn't even try the cheese, but we did manage to find some Advil at the pharmacy, two pastries to taste test and ice cream, along with multiple bottles of water. We took a quick rest in the park and headed back to Eguisheim, thinking the ride would take at least another 1.5 hours. After about 45 minutes of downhill cruising, we were back in Eguisheim and got ready for dinner.

Derek-always ahead!

Taking a break while biking through Alsace wine region

Water break

The endless vineyards

The road back to Eguisheim

For dinner, we scanned a few menus (most European restaurants have their menus outside) and decided on a lively weinstube with a covered outdoor dining area. We picked the cheapest liter of white wine and both ordered Flammkuchen. Flammkuchen is a local specialty, but with varieties in Germany as well. It is made of a thin flour crust with cream and toppings. Derek ordered his with Munster cheese, so at least we did try some! For dessert, we had to do it. We ordered the creme brulee that the waiter lit on fire. It was a perfect end to dinner. After dinner, we strolled around the town and appreciated the quaintness of Eguisheim at night.

Dinner

Flammkuchen

Strange photo, but notice the burning creme brulee

This morning (Sunday morning), we opted out of the 8 euro per person buffet breakfast at our hotel - a rip-off if you ask me, and headed to Colmar. Colmar is the largest city of Alsace in the area and is known for Petit Venice (Little Venice), the creator of the Statue of Liberty, and it's old-town cuteness. Along with the rest of Alsace, Colmar has a great mix of German and French architecture and language. Last night, we had a wine menu of many Alsatian French wines, and the name of the wine company was Wolfberger. I even saw a sign for Logelbach on our way out of town (I'm not sure what it was, but this is the first mention of Logel I have seen in Europe!) Since the town lies so close to the German border, it's history includes an intriguing part of World War II. Known as the "Pocket of Colmar", the city was occupied by Germans but liberated by the French and Americans in 24 hours. Nothing of the medieval city today was destroyed- it was all spared in the war and has survived since the Middle Ages.

We ambled the streets of this lively town and visited the beautiful Little Venice area for breakfast. After some coffee and delicious French pastries, we caught a boat ride and tour through the canal. First in French and then in English, the guide explained that merchants for the city market would bring their goods into the town via the canal and would get taxed depending on the weight, height and how low the boat sat in the water. Then, they would paddle their boats directly to the market to sell and trade. Each house in the town used to be painted a color based on the family's status- green for the butcher, blue for Catholic, etc. The canal was picture perfect, with cafes and houses right on the water. Stairs led down to the canal where women used to wash clothes.

We had to duck under this bridge

Beautiful painting

Little Venice

Touring the canal

The rest of our visit to Colmar featured a few fountains that I stuck my feet in, many sculptures from the famous Frederic Bartholdi - creator of the Statue of Liberty, and some browsing in wine and trinket stores. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. There is plenty more to do in Colmar than what we did- museums, churches, etc, but we had a nice, relaxing time and definitely enjoyed ourselves. I'd recommend this area to anyone looking for a relaxing, cultural experience.

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