Heidelberg & Essen

 In the second week of November, I had my first two Dutch finals - one on Tuesday morning and another Friday afternoon.  Friday's exam lasted 3.5 hours and as soon as it was done, I went directly back to my apartment and then caught a train to Heidelberg from Utrecht.  I was meeting my cousins, Aleandra and Erika, in Heidelberg for the weekend.  I arrived late that night and walked to the hostel from the train station (they thought me crazy...but it is only 3 km walk, nothing crazy). 


Side note as to why we went to Heidelberg: First, it was a wonderful city that I suggested that my cousins should include on places to visit, but we also have some family history there.  My grandfather (and his father) went to university there and his parents along with his sister's parent-in-laws (Carl Bosch) lived in a nice villa along the hill with a view of the castle.  I went to the house once when I first came to Germany back in summer 2004.

Common Area of Lotte

The Fridge in Lotte's Kitchen

Store front along Hauptstrasse in Heidelberg

We stayed at a hostel called Lotte, located on Burgweg near the Heidelberg Schloss. It was one of the cleanest and nicest hostels I stayed at.  Cereal is provided 24/7! So had a nice bowl of cornflakes upon arrival late that Friday night.  The common room contained lots of books as well as board games.  Prime location and really nice people, I believe it just opened this past year too.

Our car for the day

Anyways...back to the weekend.  Aleandra and Erika arrived earlier on Friday and so had the chance to walk around the city and go to dinner.  On Saturday, we walked down Hauptstrasse and caught an S-bahn to Mannheim.  We had decided weeks earlier to rent a car from Europcar and drive to the northern Black Forest.   As I could only really drive an automatic, the car rental office upgraded me from Mercedes Benz A-class to C-class as they did not have any other cars.  When the pulled out the car, we were all thinking...I am driving that?! Well we quickly got into the car and on the autobahn, where I tried out the rental car...nicest car I have driven so far that is for sure.

View from the Black Forest Highway overlooking the hills towards France

Kasespätzle

Gemischter Salat

About an hour later we were driving along the Black Forest Highway (Hochscharzwald) and stopped at Mummelsee to eat some lunch.  Later we drove to Schiltach, walked around the downtown and stopped at a cafe for some hot chocolate, ice cream and cake.  I had only ever been as north as Triberg in the Black Forest and the northern sections were definitely just as beautiful.  If I have the chance I would like to go back and do some hiking there.

Erika at Mummelsee

On the way back we stopped at Aldi and DM for some socks and Magenbrot.  It seems that everytime I  go to Germany, I end up bringing back socks from DM, they just keep my feet really toasty warm and super comfortable.

After returning the car rental to Mannheim, we went back to Heidelberg and add some dinner at the Kulturbrauerei.  We considered going to another bar afterwards, but Erika wasn't feeling well so we decided to head back to hostel and just relax and get plenty of sleep.  The Heidelberg castle was beautiful in the moonlight as well as in the morning fog.   Aleandra left earlier than Erika and I as her train ride to Prague was much longer.  Erika and I both had trains out of Mannheim, she to Berlin and me to Essen, about 2-3 hour train ride.

Aleandra at Mummelsee

Downtown Schiltach

Erika and I getting ready to leave

Heidelberg Schloss at night and in the morning

Heisse Schokolade of course!

I had some time between my first and second quarters, which was wonderful as I really needed the little break that we got.  My first class was not until Wednesday afternoon so I decided to see if I could stop in Essen to see my friend Sarah.  I met her while studying abroad in Freiburg 3 years ago.  She is currently on her second year of a Fulbright scholarship teaching English in a local school outside of Essen.  Sarah and her boyfriend, Maik, met me at Berliner Platz in Essen and walked around the downtown area where they were setting up the Christmas market.  Unfortunately it was not open yet, but it definitely made me excited that the markets were opening up and Christmas was coming.

the outside of Sarah's apartment in Essen

That evening we had some dinner (hamburgers!) and then I sent to Sarah's WG to stay for the night.  We ended up watching Twilight in German that night.  It was Sarah's and one of her roommates' first time watching it and they said it wasn't half-bad.  Well...it was a nice girlie movie to watch since Breaking Dawn came out in Holland that following Wednesday.

Baking aisle at Edeka <3

 Monday morning I got up with Sarah and went with her to the train station, where I shopped at Edeka for some German food products, like Zuckerhuts (sugar cones) and bread.  The Zuckerhuts are for a Feuerzangenbowle some friends and I want to hold in December (so excited!) and the bread was for my roommate, Valentina (and for me) - we both miss the darker German bread.  The train ride back from Essen was a short one, took a train from Duisberg to Utrecht and was home by 2 pm that afternoon.

Aleandra and I at the Marktplatz in Schiltach