This time I went on a road trip with a friend, who was visiting from Egypt, to discover a little of Germany and even less of France. We made our way south of Cologne and hit Heidelberg, Strasbourg and Stuttgart. Each one had it’s own charm.
Heidelberg is a small university town, with one of Europe’s top universities and some interesting castles and ruins as well.
Strasbourg is a very rich city, in terms of wealth but also in terms of history, all the way back to romans, when it used to be called Argentoratum. It’s home to several European institutions such as a few European Commission bodies, which I guess explains the wealth the city so fondly boasts. There are so many beautiful public parks and gardens full with tulips and other flowers. All in all very impressive city, which is why it changed nationalities between France and Germany quite a few times in history. Now citizens have a very strong own local Alsacian identity, referring to the Alsace region the city is located in.
Finally we get to Stuttgart, which in Germany is most famous for two very big German brands; Porsche & Mercedes Benz. The city is quite small and it’s center and main square is located in a valley and so it’s famous for several staircases that lead up from or down to the city center from the higher neighborhoods.
I decided not to write so much and will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Heidelberg university’s main library.
On our way up to Heidelberg Castle.
Finally here after a long way uphill!
Castle ruins
The view over Heidelberg and it’s old bridge.
The castle also had a huge garden, where we found this interesting tree… I like to call this one, the REAL Family Tree.
Heidelbergers going about their day…
… with the castle as their skyline.
Probably one of the most photographed highlights of Heidelberg, maybe even more than the castle…
The text next to the monkey roughly translates to “Why are you looking at me like that? Haven’t you ever seen a Heidelberg Monkey before? Just look left or right and you will find them everywhere!”
The on of the city gates as seen from the old bridge.
Trying to be artistic 😛
My mama always said…
This was inside the old university prison…
That’s right! One of Germany’s oldest and most prestigious universities had it’s own prison!
And of course it’s own set of laws or code of conduct. If the police caught any university students breaking this code, they would hand them over to a university court to decide, whether the act deserves a prison sentence or not.
Prisoners here were only allowed bread and water for the first few days and could only leave to go to university classes, while serving their sentence. Having done time in this prison at least once, was considered “cool” back then.
Heidelberg also has it’s own roman theater
And a good collection of ruins.
Hitler and the Nazi’s used to hold propaganda speeches here during their time in power.
I give you, the very impressive Strasbourg Dom Cathedral!
It hosts a huge astronomical clock with a very disappointing show to mark the hour…
…. and this impressive monster like organ!
Adding new meaning to the hairstyle “comb(ed) to the side”!
One of the oldest Market squares in Strasbourg, featuring a house for the Priest’s private Midgets!
The old town is full of these wooden houses, which were actually quite easy to take apart and put back together whenever they had to move.
They have so many nice building there, so you could find yourself going to school here!
There is also a mix of architectural styles here…
… since the city changed from being French to German and back again so many times.
Inside Strasbourg University’s. It’s hard to see here, but to our surprise, it had a pharaonic statue standing at the back in the middle.
This was a very cool “Insect Hotel” in the botanical garden.
One of many impressive churches in Strasbourg.
The richer the family, the more wood they used to build the house.
Fountain commemorating Strasbourg’s roman heritage
As you can see, this guy had 20 chess games running in parallel… and from what we saw, he was winning them all!
A little street art on the way.
DIY blinds.
Our first stop in Stuttgart took us to an abandoned shipping yard, which has been turned in to a concert venue.
The Benz Museum
The very first motorcycle.
Even back then, the british asked for their double deckers!
This was a mobile post office used in Austria. It had windows for workers to deal with the public and 2 phone booths!
The way the museum was set up was really impressive. You could easily spend half a day here. we only had 90 mins and we were rushing through.
On our final night, we enjoyed a live broadcast of Rigoletto from the famous Stuttgart opera house. Open air and in the main square in front of the Stuttgart palace.
Since the city center is in a valley, a lot of people who go down by bike need to take the tram back up. So the trams that go up, which are called “Zacke”, have a small cart at the front especially for bikes.
Talented and engaging as usual. Keep going 🙂
waiting for the next