Heidelberg

Last night after I blogged, I returned to my room, and I read. It was daring as I kept having to shake myself awake. Then, met my group for dinner. It´s a large group with 39 people. Last year my group was only 14.

One of the guys is from the Seattle area. He lives in Spanaway, and his name is Andrejs (pronounced Andreas). He is traveling alone. I saw him, and I made some assumptions about him. He is elderly, and since he was alone, I wrote a story for him, which brings me to this observation. We judge people based on our perceptions and lenses and these perceptions and lenses just point right back to us. It turns out, he is from Latvia. I asked him how long he had lived in the U.S. and he said 17 years, 10 months, and 17 days. He said he is counting the days. He said he was so glad to be in America. Then I learned that he had a wife at home, but she doesn´t like to travel far on airplanes so he goes on vacations without her. He is enjoying his retirement. Sweet person, he is just shy and can appear gruff at first. But once he starts talking, he starts talking. I assumed he was unmarried, maybe childless, and alone...oh wait, that´s me. *_*. Lawd Today!

Anyway, I digress. I went back upstairs and organized (may need to insert again) and then to bed around nine. Of course, I woke up at 1:30. Sigh. Part of the game. Then my mind took off and would not settle down. My thoughts were heading in some weird directions, so I needed to calm my mind down. If I dare be critical of someone, it comes back to me. It always does. Like that. So I´ve been critical of people who seem to have a negative outlook on life, but I found myself on that track. And for what? I have nothing to complain about or be negative about.

I must focus, seek, look for, and respond to the pure and good in life. Life is too short and getting shorter all the time (as a saying, not to be negative lol). Bottom line, as we encounter people, we don´t know what they are dealing with so why not just give them some slack.

So anyway, I digress again (welcome to my world and brain).

The first thing we did was go on a Rhine River cruise, which was actually cool. Lovely countryside aglow with fall colors. Tons of vineyards. On a side note, I don´t think Germany when I think wine. But according to our guide, Charles the Great saw the hillsides in what is now Germany and said they would be good to grow grapes for wine, and he was right. Saw the Lorelei Rock, which is apparently the deepest part of the Rhine. There were also tons of castles, a few of which have been converted to hotels.

Oh. Learned that the Allies made 30 air raids on Mainz and 80% of the city was destroyed in the war.

Spent most of the day in Heidelberg. Love it. It´s a college town so a lot of the population is students from around the world. The university here is the oldest in Germany.

Mark Twain actually wrote most of Huckleberry Finn on the banks of Neckar River. Victor Hugo was also a student. A lot of artists and writers are drawn here.

There is a castle looking over the city, which was built over 400 years with the oldest part dating back to the 15th century. It´s a mixture of different styles. I decided to walk up there because I was told it was a gradual zigzag. That was a lie. Family, Friends, Coworkers, Saints: your sister, family, friend, coworker, sister in the gospel, is out of shape. I had to stop several times, and I don´t think my heart rate has been that elevated in a long time! It was a mess. I was breathing all hard! It did make me wonder how I would rate the castles and palaces I have seen. Hard to judge.

I walked across the Old Bridge, which was cool. It´s actually been replaced several times because of ice causing it to collapse or floods (they were wood). The current bridge was finished in 1788. There is a statue of a monkey holding a mirror, which legend has it was a reminder to city dwellers and those on the outside that neither group was more elite than the other. I took a picture for a member of a Korean tour group (he asked me where I was from and then told me he was from Koea). I think I accidentally walked into a lot of pictures from that group.

I saw the Old University, which was finished in 1735.

I went to the Church of the Holy Ghost (foundation stone laid in 1398 not finished until 1544), just because of the name. The first time I went, it was closed for service. Duh. It´s Sunday. Then I went back. There´s a lot of constructions so it wasn´t peaceful but nice ceilings.

Walked around the market square, which is where the church is. Also found St. Peter´s Church, which was closed, but there were some old tombstones on the outer walls. I do like tombstones because you can try to imagine the person´s life and then wonder about their descendants.

I loved the old town. There is a pedestrian zone that blends old and new.

Oh, I was thinking today as I found St. Peter´s Church how my feet just take me places. I had no idea of where I was going I just knew a general direction but my feet just sort of went there. I also have a habit of ending up on quiet side streets and riverbanks.

Oh and this hotel has a sauna. The kicker is you can´t wear clothes in there, you can wear a towel. Oh and it´s for both sexes. Guess where I am going? Yeah that´s right to bed.