Deutschland mit Tim

Tim and I landed in Germany around 11pm, took a bus to Mainz and met our friend Jonathan there. We know him from Louisville - he was a grad student with Tim in the school of music. He is living in Austria and met us up in Mainz on a mini-vacation. Theresa picked all of us up at the main train station. After a good night's sleep, Theresa, Julian, and Matthias took us for a walk around Bodenheim. Bodenheim is known for their wine, so we saw a lot of vineyards and signs all around describing the different grapes and their uses.

Bodenheim vineyards

View of Bodenheim from the top of the vineyard

The German beers that we sampled

That evening (the 4th of July), we went to the grocery where we picked out a plethora of different German beers. Karl had some in the cellar as well so we had an evening of German beer tasting. The big discovery was that contrary to a pilsner made in the U.S., or even imported in, a pilsner in Germany is actually really good! Theresa had saved some sparklers so after our beers, we all went out into the garden and light sparklers and sang patriotic songs. Best 4th I've had in a while!!

The next morning we headed into the city with Theresa to stop at Eisgrub-Bräu, the microbrewery in Mainz. We each tried a different brew and had a pretzel. Delicious! Then Tim, Jonathan and I hopped on a train to Mannheim.

gardens behind the Mannheim Water Tower

In front of the Water Tower

Directly off the train, we did a mini-loop around Mannheim. We walked to the Water Tower, and then around to the main square (Paradeplatz) and then past the Uni before we met my old roommate and wonderful friend, Marieke. Heading to her apartment, a few old friends came by, we ordered pizza, and spent the night drinking wine, discussing German politics, and staying up way too late. 

Another good friend, Sebastian was in town from Hamburg! We met up with him, had coffee and caught up. He is starting a master's in European Government this fall down in the south of Germany. One year there and one year in Barcelona! Tim and I planned a day trip to Heidelberg (20 minutes by train), but first we stopped at the market, we sampled some cheesecake and looked around the Marktplatz. 

Me and Sebastian at the Market. He's about 6'6" so I had to stand up really tall!

We grabbed a train to Heidelberg and walked along the Philosopher's Path - a paved path that goes up along the river opposite the main city. Below you can see a view of the river Neckar and city Heidelberg from the Path. You can also see the ruined Heidelberg castle on the far left in the picture. 

 We stopped at another microbrewery in Heidelberg before we headed up to see the ruins of the castle. We each had a pint and a pretzel. I liked that this brewery had chandeliers decorated with hops.

To the right is a view of the city from the castle ruins. You can see the bridge where we crossed over from the Philosopher's Path. Heidelberg is very beautiful, but time to head back to Mannheim! We had dinner plans with Marieke and her boyfriend, also named Tim. He made pasta from scratch and Marieke made a delicious cream sauce. We also had some salad, and Tim's mother had just sent him some German cheesecake. It's much different that our version of cheesecake. Much less sweet, more cheesy, and she had put raisins in! Delicious. Top it all off with an espresso and we were set for the evening.

from the left: Marieke, Tim, Sara, Daniel, me, Tim, and Marieke's dog Luuk

 Our last morning in Mannheim, we took the train to Ladenburg, where my old roommate Daniel now lives. We had a breakfast like none other including eggs, brötchen, caprese salad, fresh fruit, coffee, juice, I ate sooooo much.

Then off to Taunnustein to see Franzi! Again, the evening was filled with much eating (homemade asparagus soup, deep fried cheese, fresh veggies, and this strawberry dessert, plus some of Papa's fancy liquor), talking with Franzi, her boyfriend Sebastian, and my German host parents from way back when. We spent the day before we headed back to Dublin wandering around Taunnustein with Mama, and then Wiesbaden with Franzi. Unfortunately, I had a slip up and interpreted the wrong time that we needed to catch the bus to the airport, but Franzi accommodated and very kindly drove us two hours out of her way to get us there on time.... THANKS, FRANZI! Next and last installment: 2 days in Dublin.