ドイツと飛び地巡り2015年秋 第１２回：ハイデルベルクの街並み
Visit date: October 28, 2015, weather: cloudy
This is my third visit in 11 years.
Meeting up with my parents for my birthday in Heidelberg
It was my birthday and we were going to meet my parents (my parents & my wife’s parents) in the evening in the city of Heidelberg. We left Liechtenstein Castle around 4pm, which is a 2 hour 30 minute drive at best. However, it seemed to take about 3 hours because we might get lost in Heidelberg because of the evening rush (Stuttgart suburbs?). So it was 7:00 p.m. even if we got there on time, we would have to meet up with them after 7:30 p.m. at the earliest.
Via ordinary roads to the Autobahn. Indeed, we were caught in the evening rush around Stuttgart. Moreover, the section from here to Heidelberg was even more congested because there was a lot of road construction.
しかし一番苦労したのは、ドイツのアウトバーンの工事区間は、全面が通行止めではなく3車線が2車線となっているのですが、左側の追い越し車線側がびっくりするくらい車幅が狭くなっていることです。しかももう日没後で暗い。写真がないとうまく伝わらないのですが、ほんと狭くてヒヤヒヤするんです。だったらおとなしく右側の走行車線を走っていればいいのに、と思われるかもしれませんが、そうすると今度は大型車で詰まってしまい、非常に遅い走行をせざるを得なくなります。非常に悩みどころですが、今回は急いでいるので頑張って追い越し車線側を走ることにしました。
We arrived at Heidelberg around 19:00, although we were frustrated by the narrow autobahn and the lack of speed. We entered the old town and got a little lost because the Google map navigation system took us on a forbidden road, but we managed to get to the center of the city by using our quick thinking.
しかし、無事に中心部に着いたはいいものの、ホテルはよりによって旧市街のど真ん中にとってしまっていたので、ここから駐車場探しに若干苦労しました。しかし、幸いなことに旧市街中心の「マルクト広場（Marktplatz）」から徒歩2分くらいの「カールス広場（Karlsplatz）」に大きめの公共地下駐車場を発見（下の地図のPの位置）。この駐車場、案内が全く無かったので、看板くらい出してくれよ！とは思いましたが、ここならばホテルにも歩いていける距離なので助かりました。
If you are staying in the old town, a car can be very difficult, but since you are here, you still want to stay in a nice place in the middle of the city. It gives you more options for the night.
I met up with my parents, but the restaurant was almost full.
After parking the car, we walked to the hotel, which was only 5 minutes away. Since I arrived late, I decided to meet my parents on the way to the hotel. We met them at the Marktplatz just before 8pm. We checked into the hotel, dropped off our luggage, and then headed out into the night to find a restaurant.
However, most of the restaurants, especially the German ones, were full and I couldn’t get in…. Today was my birthday and I wanted to go for a wow, but I didn’t realize that there were so few restaurants…. It reminds me of Konstanz. However, there is no beer hall with a good atmosphere like that one nearby…
In the end, we could only go to a restaurant near the Neckar River that served mainly Italian and other international cuisine. We were a little tired of German food because all of our parents including us had been in Germany for almost a week. Maybe it was just right.
However, the food here was pretty good. In fact, the TripAdvisor rating is not bad. That’s why we chose it.
Still, we didn’t have this much trouble last year when we traveled to Provence with about the same number of people…. Next time you go to Germany, you must book a restaurant.
In any case, a pleasant evening passed as we reported on each other’s journey, troubles and fun.
Next day is castle sightseeing plus more.
Now, the next day. Apparently the weather is cloudy.
It looks like a recovery in the afternoon, but this city is only in the morning.
First of all, we all went to the castle. Speaking of Heidelberg, it is a castle.
お城は丘の上にあります。階段で歩いていくことももちろん可能ですが、ケーブルカーもあるので、それを使いました。マルクト広場から1分ほど行ったところにあります。ケーブルカー乗り場でチケットを買うと、ケーブルカー代金と入場料がセットとなったチケットが貰えます。入場料も込みのチケットだということは、父親がケーブルカーでお城についたときに気づきました。
I don’t think I need to explain about Heidelberg Castle, which is one of the most famous sightseeing spots in Germany, so I’ll skip it. The weather was not so good, but the autumn leaves were very beautiful.
Actually, you can’t go inside this castle. Instead, there was a wine cellar and a place where you can taste wine. It was first thing in the morning, so no one was drinking. Of course I couldn’t drink because I had to drive afterwards.
The view from the castle is very nice. It would be even more wonderful if the weather was nice.
What was a little disappointing was that there were a lot of Chinese tourists and they were very noisy. I guess there are more Chinese tourists than Japanese tourists in major sightseeing spots in Germany now. There was a German guide who could speak Chinese, but he didn’t listen to him at all and went here and there to take pictures, and I was impressed that the guide made a bitter face when he saw him.
After leaving the castle, we went to the other side of the Neckar River. We saw the old town and the castle from here. The view from here is very nice. It’s a typical scene of Heidelberg.
This was the end of our stay. It was a hectic stay as usual.
そして、再び両親たちと別れて駐車場へ。霧の立ち上るハイデルベルクを出発しました。次なる目的地はラインです。（続く）
