Warm summer nights

Well I have finally managed to post this weeks blog – my internet has been down for two weeks. As the blimmen connection has been checked and fixed so many times I’m giving up hope that it will ever work. So anyway back to my life as I know it … last weekend I packed an overnight bag and headed to Heidelberg which is supposed to be one of Europe’s most historic and romantic cities and is Germany’s oldest University town. The city is split in two – the old and the new and is divided by the River Neckar. So naturally I focused on the old. The old part is dominated by the Heidelberg Castle (or otherwise known as the Heidelberger Schloss) which sits on top of a hill and for those of you into a bit of history (skip to the next paragraph if you’re not) is over five centuries old. Although a lot of it is in ruins, there is still some of the interior preserved; the ruins actually became a symbol of the entire era of German Romanticism. Over the centuries, many rulers made extensions to the castle, so that it now shows evidence of all style periods between the 13th and 17th centuries.

Seeing the Castle lit up at night is a sight I will not forget easily - simply breathtaking. As it was a warm summer night, everyone was out and I walked along the cobbled streets, watching as musicians played, fire eaters and mime artists entertained and drew crowds - all while locals and tourists alike ate their dinner at tables in the middle of the cobbled Market square with the formidable sight of the biggest church I’ve ever seen, looming above them. I walked up on to the old bridge built in the 1780’s and looked back on to the old city. Even though it really wasn’t that wide, there were theatre performances happening right in the middle of the bridge, and although there were quite a few people around it definitely wasn’t crowded. Somehow I had forgotten my camera, and in a way I am glad – the pictures could not have really captured it all. (Note: I thought I had to leave you with something, so the above photo is nicked from Google images.)

View of the Alt Stadt – the Heiliggesitkirche built in 1398 dominant in the centre.

I ended up staying in a hostel, and luckily got one of the last beds left. It wasn’t too bad, but the weird thing is that the girls in the dorm I was in, left the lights on all night. I was already in bed by the time they’d settled in and I was on a top bunk – so I didn’t think they were expecting me to turn it off, so it just stayed on. They fell asleep immediately of course, but I lay there for hours thinking of ways to ignore the light. It is only now as I type this – in which I think why didn’t I just climb down and turn off the bloody light?! But I am irrational at the best of times, I didn’t want to wake them up and I didn’t want to piss them off etc. I really want to know why I am such a mental case when it comes to sleeping, what the hell happened in my childhood to put the fear of God into me about waking people up? It drives me nuts, especially when others so blatantly, couldn’t give a damn. Like you even wanted to know all that! Anyway I eventually dragged my self out of bed, and got in the shower. I’d only just gotten my kit off when there was banging on the door, asking how much longer I was going to be in there. I didn’t even bother to wash my hair, so you’ll have to excuse my scummy hair in the photos - which brings me to another point actually. Kj rang me on Sunday night – bless her soul, and said that it had only really hit her I was on the other side of the world when she saw the picture of me ‘singing in the rain’ in last weeks blog. Until now it hadn’t really sunk in for her that I was anywhere different, and I hadn’t even noticed myself that that photo was the first one with me actually in it. So just for Kj, here’s another wee pic of me.

Me on top of Königstuhl Mountain

This may not be entirely true, as I haven’t actually been that far but I have observed that Germany is not really that tourist friendly in regards to signage. You will see a sign randomly once pointing you somewhere, but then it will never show up again. So you end up going down really weird narrow roads with no way of being able to turn around so you just have to keep driving then get completely lost, because you are no longer on any maps. Then the further you get, the less people you see and the less your chances are that you’ll find somebody who speaks English. Also like I have mentioned previously the road signs aren’t always what they look like they are, and you can very easily get yourself in tricky situations. But I have been informed that Germany has some of the best signage in Europe compared to France and Italy – yay for me.

Me in front of some of the interior ruins of the Heidelberg Castle

Ok back to Heidelberg, got a little sidetracked…when I finally got to the car park for the Castle I took the 100 year old wooden tram which brings you creaking and rumbling to the very top of the Königstuhl Mountain (550m above sea level). Then on the way back down I had a tour in English through the interior of the Castle. Well worth doing, and a bit awe-inspiring. The cool thing about the castle is that you can actually go into some of the rooms, and it’s not all roped off and untouchable. I think the guide said that they open up several rooms, and then rotate them around so that things are not as likely to get worn down so fast. I was there in total about four hours and as the heat was starting to make me melt I headed back slowly to Wiesbaden. Although it wasn’t action packed, it was a great weekend away, and Heidelberg was well worth a visit.

Just for something a little kooky - I was watching some TV here, and I saw Lionel from Shortland Street talking in GERMAN!! Well he wasn’t actually, someone was speaking over him but jeez it was funny. I’d flicked through some channels and came across an American movie, with the guy from ‘Dharma and Greg’, which was dubbed over in German. After watching it for a bit, I started to get the feeling all was not quiet right. I got the weird feeling that I’d been to the places they were at and it turned out the whole thing was filmed in Auckland. I saw the Auckland Museum, and what’s that park called in Greenlane? Cornwall? Ahh you know the one. Then suddenly Lionel pops up out of nowhere, then all the old Shorty crew came out – basically every actor in NZ was on it. Old Tandy Wright, and Lionel’s evil lady friend Mackenzie, I think there was also the guy who played the nurse ‘Cameron’ and ‘? Thornton’ you get the jist.

Something else random that’s popped up unexpectedly with NZ in it, is this months edition of the German Playboy magazine (Nicole gets them from work, because her company’s got advertising in them) had a picture of the 1904 All Black Rugby team! This is weird for several reasons – most Germans do not know about Rugby, and a lot of Germans do not even know where NZ is! I think they were trying to sell Canterbury jerseys but I can’t be sure.

Till next time … tschüs!