Heidelberg
Heidelberg was in the top three of these categories: favorite cities over the summer, a place that we visited that I couldn’t spell off the top of my head (“burg” or “berg,” am I right?), and places with great food experiences…
Our journey to Heidelberg was quite crazy. When we got to the train station in Paris, we were greeted by a four-hour delay and then our train was canceled altogether. I think we might never have found our way without the help of a regular fellow traveler. While we were looking lost and trying to figure out the train delay situation, a nice guy named Ebert introduced himself and said that he goes to Heidelberg from Paris often because his girlfriend lives there. It sounds inconvenient to have a relationship that far away, but it looked like he was making it work. He was super-helpful, making sure we got on all of the right trains and transfers… at one point he mentioned that he had once been lost in another city and someone had helped him, so he liked to pay it forward. When I’m back in NYC I’m going to keep my eye out for visitors from other places and make sure I’m helpful- when I do, I’ll think of Ebert and the long journey to Heidelberg! Throughout the entire day, strangers were showing us random kindnesses. A man offered us ice cream, other people on our train were helping us figure out our schedule, and when we played a game of hangman on the train, the entire train car joined in! When we finally got to the city, it was 10:30 at night, and we were exhausted. Because it was so late and we were so hungry, we decided to just grab a meal at the restaurant attached to our hotel, the Arthotel. We rarely eat at the hotel restaurants, so you could really tell that this was a last resort. The restaurant, Romer, turned out to be one of the best of the summer! As the food started to arrive, we realized that the quick meal we hoped to grab was at one of the finest dining establishments in the city… and even though it was late and we were tired, we were revived with special treats of cold
soup and appetizers the chef sent out to get our taste-buds going before the main meal was served. The food was delicious! My brother says that he had the best chicken of the trip in his chicken caesar salad. If you ever go there to order it, he reccomends the dressing on the side. I got shnitzel, a special German fried goodness, and I loved it! When we walked into the restaurant, it was late and raining and all we wanted was to go to bed after our extended travel day. By the time we left the restaurant, all we could talk about was how amazing the food was. Our seemingly bad day turned into an unintentionally great one. We were not surprised later to learn that Romer is Michelin recommended. I recommend it too!
The next day, we got breakfast at Romer. The hot chocolate was amazing, but the rest of the breakfast was not as unique as the night before. When we were done with breakfast, we headed up to Heidelberg Castle. You can take a cable car, but we hiked up a pleasant path instead. We got a tour of the castle that took us inside and around the grounds. The guide took us places that you can’t go unless you’re on the official castle tour and he did a great job sharing the history of the Wittelsbachs, who owned the castle back when it wasn’t a ruin. The French rulers arranged for a marriage into the
Wittlesbach family, expecting to inherit the crown and the castle. When they didn’t, they bombed the castle. I mean, that gives me quite the idea of how spoiled the kings were. “Wait, I’m not inheriting this crown? Sorry castle of Heidelberg, but you’re going down!” All that’s left now are ruins and a few reconstructed areas- and also, the largest wine barrel in the world, which for some reason adults get quite excited about. When we finished our tour, we headed down to the Market Square and got sausages from one of the many stalls. They were delicious. After we ate our fill, we walked across the Karl-Theodor Bridge to the Philosopher’s way. The Philosopher’s way has a great view of the castle and it’s fun to explore. This path was the main reason we chose to go to Heidelberg. We had a similar experience in Japan with gurgling streams, old style buildings, and poetry along the way. The Philosopher’s Path in Heidelberg was more populated and less peaceful than the one in Japen, but did offer amazing views of the city and the castle. 
There’s lots of lavish greenery and parks. After this, we went to the Church of the Holy Ghost and climbed up to the top of the bell tower. The views from the top were pretty nice. Also, we were up there when the bells were ringing, so that was cool. After this, we grabbed dinner at a classic German restaurant, Palmbräu Gasse. The food was heavy but delicious. It felt like we were blind because of the dim light, but the yummy sausages made it feel like we were in a classic German restaurant (which we were!). When we finished, we headed back to the hotel to go to bed.
The next morning, we grabbed a big breakfast at a café on the Market Square. I got hot chocolate, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the one on the first day at Romer. After that, we headed back to the hotel, packed our bags, and headed off to go to our next stop in Germany.
SEE YOU IN MUNICH!
What stunning photos! So glad you made it to the Philosophenweg. You must have walked all over the place if you went up to the castle, too. Sounds like a fantastic visit!