Day 18: From Heidelberg back to Schwäbisch Hall

So, those German trains that are supposed to be punctual, dependable, and efficient. Well, not so much. However, we digress.

We had a leisurely breakfast with Becky at the hotel and then we all took a bus toward the old part of the city.  Here are the bazillion bikes parked in front of the central train station in Heidelberg. The rest square you can see in the distance is our hotel.

We did a lot of walking and some photographing. We were aiming for St. Peter's Church, but stopped at several places along the way. Here we are looking down an alley that leads to St. Anna's Church (Catholic, we think) which also has an old folks home attached. On the left in the foreground is a little street library.

St. Anna's Church

This house on Friedrich Ebert Platz was the home of many famous chemists in the 19th century including Bunsen (Yes, that Bunsen), Meyer, and Curtius. Friedrich Ebert was Germany's first elected head of state and the first president of the Weimar Republic in the early 20th century.

These are stumble stones that memorialize those killed and/or persecuted during the Nazi period. Three of these four (looks like an adult son and his parents) escaped to Uruguay. Sadly, Julie perished in a French internment camp (along with hundreds of other elderly Jews) in the harsh winter of 1942. Stumble stones can be found throughout Germany as memorials to these folks. They are stumble stones because the brass plaques are put in the sidewalk and raised to make you trip and notice them.

Here is an interesting bike shop called "Bike Church."

St. Peters Church.

Like most churches in Germany, this one has many memorials attached to its exterior. This one is in memory of a theology professor (this is near the university) and was put up by his students. It includes a sphinx with big breasts... We have no idea.

This is the Heidelberg University Library. It is similarly ornate as the castle we visited yesterday so it is probably contemporary with the later castle statues and such.

Nearby we found this station for recharging and borrowing e-bikes.

We passed many university buildings including this university museum.

We walked past the Holy Ghost Church again (vertical pano here causes the curvy look).

We ended up at Becky's favorite bakery/cafe and had second breakfast or elevenses or whatever the hobbits call it and did some people watching.  This bakery has many lovely items, and some are gluten free!

We know you need some of this...

These two had cheesecake and talked about air force and printing stuff.

Amelia had ice cream.

Then we took a bus back to the hotel and rested a bit while recharging phones.

In the afternoon we moseyed to the train station early, only to find our train which had been listed as 20 minutes delayed, was actually cancelled completely. After a not-very-cogent conversation with the man in the info booth, the three of us deciphered his mumbled German into something like "Get on the train that is going to Stuttgart in four minutes from track 7" and we did. We hated to leave Becky who is so much fun!  However, language school was calling us back.  We also will miss the two nights of sleeping in air conditioning! HA!

Bye Becky!

So, this was not the train for which we paid extra to have reserved first class seats so we just picked some random seats and that seemed to work out.  At the Stuttgart central station, we found a huge display of posters about train travel in different countries. 

Imagine our surprise to find this one, about train travel in Decatur, Alabama in the 20th century.

In Stuttgart, we managed to have a snack and then find our way to the second train that we'd planned on taking anyhow. This train had been designated as having no available first class seats when we made the reservation, but it had a first class car so we found a compartment and settled in. It turned out we were the only people in the whole first class car. It was good. However, the WC (toilet) sign, only led to the engine and not to a WC, which was slightly disconcerting. 

We made it back to Schwäbisch hall only a few minutes later than scheduled and our taxi driver from Friday actually was waiting to pick us up! We had a nice chat with him on the drive back to Gelbinger Gasse. He immigrated from Turkey 50-something years ago and is full of information and patient with our not-very-polished German language skills.

We had dinner (predictably) at our favorite Italian restaurant, Pulcinella. Andy tried the alcohol-free beer (he didn't really like it). He's tried the best local brew, the Radler (half local beer, half lemonade), and the alcohol-free versions so far.

We ordered pizza because we are lazy and tired.

Andy's was Pizza Al Capone!

After we paid the bill the waiter brought us a surprise, homemade tiramisu! OH MY. How nice is that? Clearly we are good customers here. It was heavenly.