My trip to Heidelberg

I was invited to give a talk in Heidelberg, Germany, in their astronomy department.  And I was lucky enough to be able to explore the city a  bit when I was there.

On my way there I had a "layover" in Mannheim.  I was able to see their "water tower", which is one of the famous sights in the city.

Heidelberg is quite lovely.  It's in a valley with steep sides and a wide river meandering down the middle.  The city sustained little damage during the war, so it still has many of the old buildings.  

In the evening...

And during the day...

There is a large pedestrian mall where people can stroll up and down the cobblestone walks.  It was quite a nice place to wander at night.  

Sunset from one of the main bridges over Heidelberg.

One of the churches.

This is an amazing building - it's a library.  I had to wander inside because the outside looked so extraordinary.  Inside it's very library-esque.  

The one church I got to go into, the Jesuitenkirche, was very clean, white, and bright.  The windows are huge and clear, so it's probably the first time it was "easy" to take pictures inside a church.

At the end of old town is the Kornmarkt.  At the center is the Madonna, crowned in stars.  It's a pretty impressive little sculpture.  

I took the walk up to the castle, up the steep sides of the valley.  It was a steep walk, but not too bad because it was relatively close.  And it had nice views of the surrounding homes...

Walking up to the castle.  

I finally reached the outside castle walls.

And once I made it to the top, the view of Heidelberg below was quite spectacular!

It also has a nice view of the Holy Ghost church (which I could not go inside, because it looked like they were tearing down some of the walls inside).

And a nice view of the old bridge spanning the river.  

And of course, the obligatory self-picture.

Walking into the castle - a very thoughtful lion.

Walking into the courtyard.  Here,  you could fully appreciate the castle walls on each end of the courtyard, each from different eras and built by very different people.

And for Bram - another obelisk!

The facade of the newer castle walls was lined with life-sized statues, holding what looked to be real (or close to real) swords.

One of the towers of the castle, walking across the bridge to the castle.

Inside the courtyard. 

Inside the castle is the world's largest wine barrel - The Heidelberg Tun.  It holds 220,000 liters of wine and is 6 meters in diameter.    Note the staircase for scale.

Also in the castle was a museum on the history of pharmacy, which was quite interesting - to see how the science of pharmacy developed over time.

It was a common practice to hang stuffed alligators from the ceilings of pharmacies back in the day.  Odd. 

Back outside, I make my way down to walk through the "moat".

Elizabeth's gate.

Back in the town of Heidelberg.  I crossed the Alte Brücke bridge.  The nifty tower dates back to the 16th century.

Bridge and city.

My next stop was the Philosophenweg - the Philosopher's Path.  It is a nice scenic path that spans the hill opposite the castle, overlooking the city.  For centuries, poets and philosophers would walk along this path contemplating life.  So I decided to do some contemplating of my own.  In order to get to the path, I had to make my way through a narrow passageway covered in moss.

Steep climb!  *Pant*

A nice garden along the path.

Finally, I did some final wandering around Heidelberg. 

I stayed a bit too long in Heidelberg and I actually got to the train station 15 minutes after my train left.  I thought it would be ok - I would just get on the next train (since supposedly it didn't matter) but *yipes!* I couldn't find another train!  But then I realized my train was delayed by 15 minutes!  I ran to the platform and jumped on my train as it pulled away!  Success!

So ends my excursion to Heidelberg!

Are you ready for some football!?!

This last Sunday was the Super Bowl.  I'm not particularly into football, but I come from a long line of  fans.  In my childhood home, the Super Bowl was another holiday, and I've never missed a year.

Until this one.  

Oh, yes, I thought about streaming it from the US.  Until I realized I would have had to stay up all night to do so.  (The game starts at 2 AM??  I don't think so).

But my husband and I got a little dose of our American culture.  We curled up in bed last night and watched the best Super Bowl commercials.

Ah, now I feel fulfilled.

Our epic roadtrip! The fourth and final part: Dijon

We left Annecy and headed south to Grenoble.  We spent a few days relaxing.  We were both quite tired at this point, and since we've both been around Grenoble quite a bit, we didn't do much sightseeing.  But just to give you a nice taste of southern France, here are the Alps:



Then we headed back up to Dijon - that's right - where the mustard comes from!  And there was plenty of that to go around.


We stayed in an awesome hotel.  It was only one room, and the furniture either came from castles in the surrounding area or were replicas of furniture from castles.  The bed was a replica of King Louis XIII's bed.

Breakfast was brought to our room and was awesome... consisting of homemade bread, jam, yogurt, meat, cheese, coffee and juice.

Dijon is known for its tiled roofs, in all designs and colors.

The final Notre Dame of our trip in Dijon.  It has a very odd flat facade with rows of gargoyles sticking out by a few feet. 

On the side of Notre Dame is an owl carved into the rock.  It's now the "symbol" of Dijon.  People place their hands on it and make a wish.  Because of this, it's quite worn.

Wandering through the streets.

The church of St. Michel.

This nifty little well.

Bram and I in the Place le Libération with the Palais des Ducs in the background.

The roof of the Cathedral of St. Benigne.

Underneath was the crypt.

A miniature Arc de Triomphe!

Entering the Darcy Gardens, a giant polar bear guards the entrance.

After a long day of sightseeing, Bram finally breaks loose.

A final stroll through the city before we leave.

And we return back to Paris!

I hope you enjoyed a virtual tour through France!  We drove for more than 24 hours,  saw 6 cities and drove through several more, and drove through three countries.  We spent hundreds of euros in tolls on the highways, and tried all sorts of regional foods.  It was overall a great trip... hopefully there will be another one soon!

Departmental parties... we aren't in the US anymore

It's the middle of the day on a Monday.  Time for the departmental (office) party.  You wander downstairs to find...

two words...

Open bar.

Departmental parties are not the same in France as they are in the US.  Every departmental party I've been to has an extensive wine and beer selection, from which you can choose freely and limitless-ly.  In the middle of the day.  A friend (who will remain nameless) just came back from a party where he had three glasses of wine and two glasses of cognac... in the middle of the day.

It doesn't end there.

Check out this spread...

At departmental parties, I've had foie gras, fresh grilled whole shrimp, chocolate fountains, macaroons, an assortment of desserts from all around France, black pudding, cheese, shotglasses filled with ice cream, cream, and liqueur, roasted apples and chestnuts, chocolate fondant cake, and all sorts of wonderful things I would have never had before coming to France.

I know what you're thinking.  How do you go back to work after eating like this in the middle of the day?

Ah - but you forget ... in France, work is important, but nothing is more important than food and wine.