A Little Trip to Heidelberg

Hallo Wunderbare Menschen

 

My Easter weekend was spent visiting one of my besties who has just moved to Heidelberg in Germany. I did a post a few weeks ago pinpointing a few things I wanted to see and do during my visit, and I'm pleased to say I managed to do pretty much all of them.

 

 

The start of the trip didn't exactly go swimmingly, as a few days before we were due to fly, I realised I'd booked flights to the wrong airport. Whoops. So we had to quickly book a hire car and plan a route to get us from Frankfurt Hahn airport to Heidelberg. Why you'd call an airport 'Frankfurt' when it's actually over 120k away from the city, I'll never know. After a disgusting 3:45am start we arrived in sunny Germany, picked up our hire car and hit the road. As I was the designated driver (lucky me) it took a while to get the hang of driving on the left hand side of the car and the wrong side of the road. After a few stalls and wrong turns we finally arrived in Heidelberg and set off for some exploring. Our first stop was the main square in the old town for a bite to eat and a beer. The weather was lovely, and we managed to grab a table outside to enjoy the sun. The old town is a lovely area of the city, with quaint little traditional streets filled with shops, cafes and bars. After lunch we treated ourselves to a few more beers before taking a stroll over the old bridge and down the river. 

 

 

 

The weather on our second day in Heidelberg wasn't too great, but we didn't let this put us off. After waking up slightly hung-over, we headed into the centre for some lunch and a wander. We went to an awesome little burger bar on the main shopping street called Die Kuh, that did the best selection of veggie burgers I've ever seen. After we'd stuffed our faces and cured the hangover, we set off to do a bit of sightseeing. We decided to head to the old castle that sits atop the hill overlooking the city, and as walking isn't my favourite thing getting the funicular to the top was the only option. A return ticket cost 12 Euros and also included entry to the castle, bargain. We decided to get the funicular to the verrrry top of the hill to admire the views of the city first. Sadly, the weather was crap, and all we could see was cloud and mist. Cracking. As there wasn't much else to see or do at the top, we took the funicular back down and headed to the castle for a look round. I love a good castle and the weather had cleared up slightly, so we finally had some good views over the city.

 

 

 

After a tiring day of walking round and seeing the sights, we went to a lovely, traditional German restaurant for dinner called Palmbrau Gasse. I particularly loved this place, as it had several traditionally German vegetarian options, so I was spoilt for choice! In the end I opted for a German cheese starter that came with bread, salad, onions, peppers and a dressing. The cheese was super smelly and strong, but super tasty! Then for main I had another super cheesy dish. I can't remember the name of it, but it was basically some sort of German pasta/noodles with a cheese sauce and caramelised onions. It's safe to say I couldn't manage the whole thing, as I'd slightly overdosed on cheese, so I took the leftovers home with me. Nom. All of this was washed down with a stein of beer before we headed to a bar on the well known 'Untere Strasse' street.

 

 

My final day in Germany was spent having a wander round Schwetzingen, a nearby town to Heidelberg. We went for a wander round some pretty impressive gardens in the grounds of the castle that dominates the centre of the small town. However, the weather wasn't too great, so after a while we headed for some warmth in a restaurant on the main square. I was really happy with this restaurant as I managed to try another traditional German meal, that was actually vegetarian. Plus it was yummy! I had breaded dumplings with a rich, creamy mushroom sauce and a side salad. It was delish! After lunch we made our way back to Heidelberg, where my darling friends made us walk, YES WALK, up a stupid massive hill on the opposite side of the river. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of walking, but the view at the top was lovely, so I guess it was worth it. To reward ourselves we then went for food and drink in a lovely little Irish pub. The night however didn't quite go to plan.. One thing led to another and we somehow got smashed, went to bed at 6am, slept through 6 alarms and woke up 20 minutes before we should have been at the airport. Whoops. We just about made the flight, severely hung-over and dreading how much the hire car company would charge us for leaving the car with no petrol. LOLZ.

 

 

The majority of my trip to Heidelberg centred around lots of food and even more drink. I did get to see quite a lot of the city though and really enjoyed my trip. I'm already looking at flights for another little visit in the summer!