Castles in the Air, and on Very Tall Hills

Traveling with me is always a balancing act

I was just about to post about our entry to Cambridge, when I realized while going through pictures that I’d missed one other German city – Cambridge’s sister city, in fact. That city is Heidelberg, the jewel of the Neckar River Valley. It’s fairly famous and therefore draws large amounts of tourists, completely disproportionate to its size but probably not to its quaint beauty.

Like Cambridge, Heidelberg has over 100,000 people but is dominated by a university. Walking up and down the entirety of the Hauptstrasse is a good way to get a feel for that part of the town. Many of the university buildings are either very old and won’t let you in or new and in use and won’t let you in. But they’re nice to look at from outside.

Looking quite schloss-y

The main thing to see in Heidelberg, as you may have guessed by now, is the large castle (affectionately known as the 'Schloss' - Germans sometimes pick odd sounds to express their affection) at the top of a rather steep hill. It’s a bit of a ruin, but the ruining didn’t actually happen until the 16th and 17th centuries, when a combination of lightning damage and French sabotage spelled its doom. The red bricks of the castle make it shimmer like something out of a fairy tale. Mark Twain said of it that

“Nature knows how to garnish a ruin to get the best effect. One of these old towers is split down the middle, and one half has tumbled aside. It tumbled in such a way as to establish itself in a picturesque attitude. Then all it lacked was a fitting drapery, and Nature has furnished that; she has robed the rugged mass in flowers and verdure, and made it a charm to the eye. The standing half exposes its arched and cavernous rooms to you, like open, toothless mouths; there, too, the vines and flowers have done their work of grace. The rear portion of the tower has not been neglected, either, but is clothed with a clinging garment of polished ivy which hides the wounds and stains of time. Even the top is not left bare, but is crowned with a flourishing group of trees & shrubs. Misfortune has done for this old tower what it has done for the human character sometimes − improved it.”

After briefly losing our breaths climbing the hill, we toured around the lovely grounds of the castle on what turned out to be another beautiful day. We didn’t actually pay to go in the castle (I’d been in it before, but it's not as cool as the grounds). The best way to see the castle is from just outside it, which also affords a nice view of the rest of the valley.

Got the jumping picture on the first try - for once

There’s another cool view of the castle from the Old Bridge spanning the Neckar River, whose reddish tinge matches the castle’s. I’ve heard that the Philosopher’s Walk, a hiking trail up the hills on the other side of the river, gives a pretty cool view of the castle and city also, but we didn’t have time to do it.

That's funny, the damage doesn't look as bad from here...

So if you want to see a charming old German city with fairly uniform architecture, and if you don’t mind your spouse serenading you with songs from The Student Prince (Laura put up with it pretty well), Heidelberg may be worth a trip. 7.5/10.0.

St. Bernards, Cheese, and Beautiful Mountain Chalets OR The Things You Get By Avoiding Centuries of Warmongering

As my brother was driving us to Switzerland, he kept telling us how beautiful it was and how lucky he felt to live within driving distance of it. Since it was dark by the time we crossed the border, I feigned skepticism, wondering aloud if the country actually had any mountains at all. Large sections of the sky didn’t even have stars – beautiful country indeed...

“That’s because the mountains are blocking them,” Zack insisted.

“Sure, Zack, whatever you say. I’m just not sure how your psychiatrist will feel about these ‘mountains’ when I tell him you’ve stopped taking your medication...”

“Sigh,” said Laura (not literally, but you get the idea – this is her reaction to many of my conversations with Zack, especially on very long drives).

Jumping in front of mountains that, it appears, actually exist

We each had a goal for going to Switzerland. Zack, who’d already been there nine times, merely wanted to soak up more of the beautiful vistas of mountains and the charming-yet-ubiquitous chalet houses on the mountains. Laura wanted to see a large St. Bernard, preferably with a small barrel labelled ‘XXX’ on its collar. I wanted some delicious cheese. All of these expectations and more would be fulfilled before the trip was over.

Okay, so the St. Bernard didn’t have a barrel around its neck, but it was a very large dog, certainly capable of rescue missions if it didn’t look so darn sad all the time. And when we woke up the next morning, I had to admit that we really were surrounded by some pretty incredible - nay, breath-taking - cheese vendors. And mountains.

As we drove from Interlachen to the Lauderbrunnen valley, Zack popped in a CD and soon “Rocky Mountain High” was thumping through the car’s speakers. I had actually never heard the song before, and as a result I suspect it will always remind me of the Swiss Alps. I don’t know if John Denver ever went to Switzerland, but I think he would have approved.

Paragliders launching from the mountains above Gimmelwald

We took a cable car up to the small mountain town of Murren, then took a hike to the even smaller mountain town of Gimmelwald, where we enjoyed a relaxing lunch staring at the humungous peaks around us, some of which extended directly into the clouds. I had some delicious cheese. It was delicious. We all thought about living in that valley for the rest of our lives. The sense of displacement from home was even greater there, since it was a lot of trouble to get there from Europe, let alone America. Eventually, we scrapped that idea and started making plans to move to Colorado and open up a bakery. Mountains are big, and they have a gravity about them that makes it hard to leave.

Avalanche-stoppers save Zack and Braxton from certain death

But of course, we did eventually. We went back to Interlachen and had some cheese fondue that couldn’t be beat. Then we got up the next morning and drove to Basel. But I will leave Laura to tell that part of the story, because again, I don’t feel I could do it justice.

Interlachen/Lauderbrunnen Metro Area Aggregate Score: 9.0/10.0. If only I spoke German...

It's Finally Oktober

Since most of these posts have been fairly time-independent, you might think that we've just been traveling pretty consistently and I do a (somewhat) good job of keeping up with them. However, while I'm not posting in order, it's been a while since some of these trips actually happened. Sometimes I need to let things mull around in my head before I know what to say about them. We did a lot of traveling before coming to Cambridge, and though we've done some since, I felt the spacing of the posts would work out best if I put lots of detail into every place we saw last fall, since when we're in Cambridge it's far easier to blog than to hop on a plane to the Continent.

So anyway, this post is about Oktoberfest, in Munich. We went. You might think to yourself, "Well, Oktoberfest - that makes him only 5 months behind." You're wrong - the majority of Oktoberfest takes place in September, so I'm really 6 months behind. Oktoberfest is the world's largest fair, and began in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese (for whom the Theresienwiese, the grounds where the festival takes place, is named).

Laura puts her heart into jumping over the Theresienwiese

In fact, because of another monument to the Princess that was mentioned on my diminutively-insufficient map of Munich, I initially led us astray to the other side of the river, where the parks were quite beautiful, but the large crowds we'd expected to see were conspicuously absent. Eventually Laura, my better half, managed to catch my mistake and we soon emerged at what looks a lot like the Illinois State Fair TIMES A BILLION.

Laura keeps the precepts of Oktoberfest written on her heart

I mean, it's big. Make no mistake about that. It's also (during the day, at least) quite family-friendly. Granted, there are people walking around consuming large amounts of beer, but that's very different in German culture. Also because Bavarian beer is very light, other Germans are less affected by it (my brother's landlord says it's the same as water) as they usually drink stronger stuff.

There are many stereotypes about German culture which all come out at Oktoberfest. For instance, they actually do wear traditional Bavarian clothes - lederhosen and all. It's considered important in Germany to own a set of these clothes for occasions such as these, and they seem to have built up the critical mass of people necessary for it to seem almost 'cool' - we saw several high schoolers in lederhosen, which, I'm fairly sure, would signify the Apocalypse in a modern American high school.

"Fine, Mom, I'll wear the lederhosen! You don't have to twist my arm..."

Getting inside one of the large tents is a must - we didn't have any trouble getting in during the day, but the reservations get booked up for the evenings pretty far in advance. Inside, you will be treated to a variety of sausage, chicken, and other meats. In addition, the tents usually have what for lack of a better term I'll call "um-pah" bands - complete with accordionists, tuba-ists, and the occasional alpine horn-ist. The bands play some contemporary music, but tradition dominates the music lineup (and everything else about Oktoberfest, for that matter).

Our cruisers can't repel tubas of that magnitude!

There are rides as well, but if you're fully enjoying the food and drink, you probably wouldn't want to take part in them. Just walking around the Theresienwiese takes the larger part of an afternoon, and it's well worth seeing once in your life. I wouldn't take a trans-Atlantic flight just to see it, but I know several people who would.

We saw a bit of Munich coming back from Dachau, and a bit more trying to find the Theresienwiese, but I don't know if I've seen it well enough to give it a fair rating. That being said, most of what I saw was very beautiful. I think I'll give it a peremptory 7.0/10.0, with the caveat that I may move it up or down slightly if I ever come back to see the city itself.