03 July - Heidelberg to Worms

Note: the greeting thing seems to happen all over the place, not just in the shops. Each time a new person enters the hotel breakfast room, he or she will likely greet all the tables already seated with a monotone good morning 'morgen', 'morgen', 'morgen'...

We got our bikes at 9am and gave our baggage to the kind folks at Eurobike and off we went. Our route was supposed to take us straight out of Heidelberg but we couldn't quite bear to go right away so we took a spin around town first, adding about 6k to the day. The bikes are typical European hybrid city-country bikes, somewhat fat tires and they both weigh a ton. 30 miles on these things is MUCH more work than our sleek road bikes we ride at home. Still, the terrain is flat, and not all of it is paved so it's good the bikes are versatile.

We followed our route down the Neckar river to Ladenburg, an old Roman and medieval town. We were unprepared for how incredibly beautiful this first stop was going to be. It felt like a dream; twisted cobblestone streets with half-timbered houses, windows bursting with geraniums, Romanesque churches and all throughout the town the ruins of the Roman walls that once surrounded it. The town square was bustling with activity, a little odd for Sunday. There was a bakery festival of some sort going on, with loaves of bread that took up 6 tables. Then for some reason, a series of horse-drawn carriages with well-dressed passengers kept arriving at the square, receiving a glass of champagne or wine from a table there, and moving on. We couldn't figure it out - a wedding? a ceremony of some sort? something to do with the bakery festival? We remain at a loss but it was fun to watch.

We had lunch at a pub called Zwiewwel (The Onion) right next to the Cathedral. The sun was shining and we had a perfect seat at an umbrella-covered table out front, perfect for people-watching. Because of the prime location and incredible weather, the place was packed. It's typical for people to share tables when it gets this busy. So, a couple looking to sit down motioned to the chairs next to us and asked Robby in German if they could sit down and of course he said yes. The interesting thing is that just because they are sitting inches away from you doesn't mean that they have to really talk to you. We exchanged pleasantries like 'guten apetit' when food is delivered and 'auf wiedersehen' when we left, but that is pretty much it. Other than that we had our own quiet conversations just as if we had the table to ourselves.

After Ladenburg we realized that only 10k of our 46k was done! We then left this charming city and headed out into the countryside. The cycling was amazing, partially clouded and pretty warm, we rode through farmlands and small farms, through a beautiful forest that is really remote but just outside of Mannheim. As we rode through the forest we noticed that all the bikepaths were straight as could be, and were intersected by other paths at certain 1/2 km intervals. We then began to notice that different 'sectors' of the forest have different kinds of trees in each. There were people everywhere enjoying their Sunday afternoon; young and old were on bikes and walking, it was great to see so many folks out and about.

More farmlands and fields, then finally we started to see the tops of the cathedral at Worms just over the tree line next to the Rhein river. We crossed the old Niebelungenbrueke (Niebelungen Bridge) and headed into this quaint medieval town. By this time we were both pretty tired and sweaty (we think it got up to 90 degrees today), but we found our hotel and put the bikes away, cleaned up and then walked to the old cathedral. Just as we left we heard the bells ringing all over town... in Germany this is quite a sound, really beautiful tones and chimes, echoing through the narrow cobblestone streets. The cathedral was having a festival outside so we got some Apfelsaft (apple juice) and some pretzels. After this we walked next to the old Jewish cemetery, the largest in all of Europe. It's both sad and beautiful.

We had a nice dinner at an Italian Restaurant, Michaelangelos, then walked up to this Internet Cafe.

We're pretty tired but having a blast, and ready to continue on for many more days!


Hotel Römischer Kaiser
Römerstraße 72
67547 Worms
Tel 0049-6241-93370

Here's a webcam along the way in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis
Official Worms tourism site in English

Description from Bike Tours Direct:

Day 2 - Heidelberg – Worms (approx 46 km, 28 miles)
Rhine-plains
Crossing the beautiful Heidelberg on to the medieval Ladenburg. A sightseeing tour of the old town, dominated by half-timbered houses, is worth it before the heather and meadows leading to the river Rhine are discovered. Leisurely crossing the “old father Rhine” you directly arrive at the old emperor town Worms. The dome of Worms as well as the old town and the old fortification walls should not be missed.