28 April, 2016 Frankfurt to Heidelberg
We depart from the FRA terminal and follow the signs to the rail terminals. They are confusing in that there seems to be at least 3 differnet options. Julie proceeds ahead and eventually finds a ticket office to book our path to Heidelberg. The next train does not takeoff for about an hour so we settle into the platform to wait.
MAJOR MISTAKE it is still 1 degree out there and there is a bit of a wind through the tracks as well. I do not really realise until later what I have put my body through. In essence, I have chilled my inner core such that I am shivering for much of the rest of the day. To make matters worse, the train is delayed for another 15 minutes. When the train does arrive, it is very crowded and when boarding there is a scramble for a seat. JV, who is looking after the baggage, gets a seat at the front of the carriage whereas I manage to find another. The trip to Mannheim is uneventful other than we arrive 15 minutes late expecting to miss our connection. Happily, the connection is also late and we manage to get on the next train. It too is crowded, but I manage to get a seat and shortly thereafter an Asian guy gives up his for Julie. We meet some nice people along the way that help us translate the German announcements and get off the train at Heidelberg main station.
We call Ciaran, who is our host from Airbnb, and decide to take a taxi to his place. JV disappears into a tourist bureau for an extended period and when she comes out we hop into a taxi and take the trip across to the old town, Altstadt, and arrive to find Ciaran waiting for us outside. He is a genuine nice guy and shows us into the apartment and tells us quite a bit about it and the old town around us including advice on restaurants etc. The apartment is exactly as pictured on Airbnb, clean, roomy I could easily live in it. After Ciaran leaves, we settle in and unpack the suitcases. Before long, JV departs prancing around the old town. I try to have a nap but am shivering too much to sleep. Ciaran had turned on the wall heaters before we arrived but they struggled with the cold as well. Finally, I ha a long, hot shower which helped matters quite a bit.
After about 3 hours of prancing, Julie returns and we head out into the old town to get something to eat. I added more clothing layers but it still is quite cold out except when in the sun. The old town is delightful with many old buildings and lots of restaurants, many of them having seats out in the sun in large courtyards. Probably is much of a tourist attraction but then, afterall, we are but tourists too.
After walking around for a while and looking for appropriate restaurants in the Sun, we settle on Joe Molese as we see a large hamburger on one of the tables. We have a spot in the sun which is nice when it is not behind a crowd. Turns out that at the time, Joe Molese was rated third best restaurant in Heidelberg, and best burger. However, there was a rumour of a change of owners and a deterioration. The next day it had dropped to 19 on Trip Advisor.
My burger was fine, with nice onion rings. A bit messy and too much to eat but filled the spot nicely.
We wander around the streets and find by accident a place at Julie had been told about – the Wein Atrium.
It is basically just a wine shop with lots of quaint stuff inside.
The shop owner proposed two wines for us which we bought. A Riesling and:
After the hot shower, the hot meal, the warm sun etc. I was just about feeling OK again with the chattering gone. I had a lovely afternoon nap. Then when Julie returned from her latest prance, she had bought me some more warm clothes which I have to say worked out well.
After the large lunch I did not feel like dinner so had a piece of toast while Julie had salmon etc.
