01 July - Arrival in Heidelberg!

We're here! Long flight but not so bad, considering it's a huge fat people mover flying through the air. Newark airport is nice, had some salads and a smoothie. When we got to Frankfurt, we noticed how quiet it was... even the baggage claim was whisper-quiet. People talked in hushed voices, and there wasn't a TV to be found. Very nice. We talked to another American we met on the plane about this, he said the same thing.

We were doing pretty good by the time we got in (9am), we got our hotel room in Heidelberg after our bus ride from Frankfurt. It was raining. We hit the strassenbahn to the Bizmarkplatz, then the 21 bus up the mountain to the Bierhelderhof, an old farm that has a great restaurant...I (Robby) remember going to this when I was a kid, it was just about a kilometer from the apartment we had when we lived here in 1980. It's the kind of robust German farmer food that people always look for... I had schnitzel and pommes frittes, Lynne had the Ungarishe Gulasch mit hausgemacht kartoffel spaetzle. And of course we had a couple of pilsners to wash it down with... and after it was over I felt like one of those old German cartoon men who have enormous bellys and walk with feathered caps.

After lunch we walked down through the cobblestone streets and half-timbered hamlet of Rohrbach, caught the streetcar back to the main town center, the Bizmarkplatz, then walked until our legs gave out. Fortunately there was a great restaurant in the exact spot where we fell to our knees... the Palmbraue Gasse, where we revived ourselves for the walk home. We walked back along the Neckar river, as the sun peeked out after a full day of 0n-and-off rain.

Now we're pooped and headed to bed, it's about 9pm here now, or onlz 3pm Chapel Hill time! ('cept we've only had two hours sleep). We watched an interesting spectacle on TV... a French program on the Tour de France, where the riders are paraded on their bikes... we have NEVER seen this in the US... they ride over a big stage and are introduced one-by-one, and of course the French team got the most applause... but Jan Ullrich got a bunch too, since he's one of the main contenders against Lance this year. The Tour is pretty intense here, picutres of cyclists and especially Jan Ullrich all over. Can't wait to see what it'll be like tomorrow when the Tour starts.

More later when we're awake... running on 2 hours of sleep, 2 pieces of schnitzel, and 4 pilzners!

--Robby

Hotel Ibis Heidelberg
Willy-Brandt-Platz 3
69115 Heidelberg
Tel 0049-62219130