At last, my flight for Germany is about to be called, and I’m off to to fairy-tale land, er, Germany. For all my intentions of winging it (or as the Germans would say “driving in the blue”), I find myself pretty well-scheduled. I’m starting off in Dossenheim, a suburb of Heidelberg, where I spent my kindergarten years and still have fond childhood memories. One of the things I plan to do (if I can manage it) is to take a hike up to “Weisser Stein” which is a place my family used to go. When I figured out how many years it had been since I’d been there last, it was a frighteningly huge number, so I wonder if it’ll be anything like my memories, or just a pretty hike.
I’ll have to see the Heidelberg Castle, whether or not the tours are on
and maybe Schloss Schwetzingen as well, if it’s open for tours:
Theoretically, I can’t spend my whole vacation in Heidelberg. Originally, I planned to keep to old trips and go to Neuschwanstein Castle and Lake Constance, but sometimes you should just be bold and try something new. I thought I’d always liked the fun-loving character of the Colognials, and when I looked up information on Cologne, I found out they have a chocolate museum. In fact, it’s a chocolate museum with free samples and a chocolate fountain. Needless to say, I’m going to Cologne. Cologne also has a spectacular cathedral and lots of Roman history artifacts, so I’ll have something to do when I’m not at the chocolate museum.
Bonn isn’t far away from Cologne, and it has the Arithmeum, which is kind of like our Computer History Museum, except, being European, it goes back to the history of calculation, and puts an artsy spin on the whole thing. It’s not specifically me, but it’s totally Neil, so I have to stop in, to at the very least, grab an exhibition catalog. Not far away is an entire mile of museums, including German History and art museums. I’d thought Bonn was a boring little bureaucratic town back when I was growing up, but now that the bureaucrats have moved back to Berlin, it seems to have become cultured nerd nirvana.
Hopefully, I’ll have time to travel down the Rhein River to see some its spectacular scenery and its many castles.
One of the castles, in Bacharach (above), doubles as a youth hostel: and since I have a lifetime youth hostel membership, I may just try it out, just so I can say I slept in a castle.
And then, alas, I’ll have to start heading back to the airport. I’m hoping to spend at least a morning in pretty Wiesbaden, which is close to Frankfurt.
I’ll post details (and hopefully pictures) of my adventures when I get home–and who knows, I might change my mind and decide to a different journey when I’m there.
Be safe and have a fabulous time!