Jen in Deutschland: 3.Sept.2004

Had first language class this morning. I’m in Grundstufe 3 with Paul and Monica. Our teacher’s name is Beata, she’s really tall and blonde and speaks German really clearly, although she tells us she’s not German. Good teacher, I’d say. She even makes fun of the American’s accents! I was so tired today, though. Through the first hour of class I could hardly move, much less speak German. (The party last night was quite fun – and quite late!). At half time I went directly to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) to get a tea and a pastry.
The people in my class are cool. None seem like too much fun, really, but I’m sure they think the same thing about the tired Canadian girl. We have homework for the weekend already. Looks quite easy, but I still need to buy books. After class I went home quick to grab a bite to eat and went directly back to the Hauptbahnhof for the Heidelberg "excursion" I signed up for yesterday.
This town Heidleberg is amazing! First we took a tour of the castle – and I thought the University castle in Mannheim was cool! This Heidleberg castle is on the side of a valley, and we had to hike all the way up to get to the tour guide place. Our tour guide was really awesome, and funny too! I’m really happy I could understand almost everything he said in German. Great stories about this castle…
…let’s see…
First we visited the castle "toilet". They were like outhouses built on to the side of the building so that the crap could fall outside. But then there was one built on the storey above the existing one.. just like in the stupid comics – only they really did it. At least I don’t think the tour guide was kidding about it.
Then we visited the rooftop tennis court, and from there we could see the enclosed hunting yard and the theatre, and the birthday surprise backwards gate…. Right. So apparently the king at the time had this gate-thing built as an overnight surprise for hie British wife, but because it was done so fast, the builders made it with the fancy side facing the wrong way – so the girl couldn’t see it! Apparently she was so mad about this, she denied this king sex for five years! So, the tour guide said, the king had lots of time oh his hands to think about how to make this up to her, and he eventually decided to make her a botannical garden, supposed to be another world wonder or something. But…
To build these gardens, they filled in one of the valleys with dirt, and because they did this, they made the castle really accessible to their enemies. And as the 30 years war had just begun, these gardens were destroyed before they were ever completed, as well as big parts of the castle.
We also saw the castle chapel where nobody was allowed to sit down for 3 hour services in those days. We also went through the balcony passageway that led to the ballroom, where apparently the royalty went to party while the peasants attended church. He also told us that above this ballroom there was also a huge bedroom where all the women (like 20 or 30) would sleep together in one big bed, because it was warmer and so on. He said there were single rooms on the other side too, but nobody used the little rooms except when the men would come up and pick out a woman for sex. Yikes!
We also saw the biggest wine barrel in the world. Not so great, but apparently these royalty used to drink 5-7 liters of wine daily, per person! Even the children drank wine, and they had to because the water had diseases.
After the tour, we got to walk around for a bit. I found a nice view, and I met Magnus and Kristian out there – Norwegians from my class. They asked me if we have castles in Canada. Haha – no. The security guard almost didn’t let us back in, either, but our buddy from Mannheim talked us out of that one!
We hiked back down to the city and hung out on our own for a while, visiting the bridge and the shops in the narrow little streets. It was a beautiful day, and this place is really beautiful. There are little shops and cafés everywhere and they are incredibly cute. Now I know what Gabi means about Mannheim being so boring!
So Kelly and Natalie and I stayed a little longer than the others, we even stopped for dinner at a café. I had a Döner, made by some very cute Turkish guys, and we sat out there on the street for quite a while, just enjoying the food and the evening sun. We took the train back to Mannheim all on our own! But just barely.
Now I’m back home and still no internet. Oh well, I can enjoy my amazing German yogurt and oj. And the ice cream isn’t bad here too!)

view of Heidelberg Castle, the Heiliggeist Church and the bridge gate: