SOLO EUROPE III: DAYS 18-19 [HEIDELBERG & COLOGNE]

two of the day trips i went to during my stay at frankfurt was heidelberg & cologne. during my first full day in frankfurt, i visited heidelberg. i enjoyed visiting the castle, but other than that there is not much to see. it is easily a half day trip from frankfurt. i left early in the morning for the less than an 1 hour train ride & a connecting bus ride to the funicular that takes you up to the castle, the main tourist attraction in heidelberg. the renaissance castle is mostly in ruins due to wars & fires, but part of it was rebuilt. it seems there have been several fires started by lightning, which i think is strange.

the library building

a wine tun.

the view of the the ruins & city below

the highlight of the castle, other than the ruins, was the apothecary museum. it seems kind of random to have this museum here, but i enjoyed seeing the several fully decked out apothecaries throughout time. i always appreciate the craftsmanship when it comes to old furniture.

there is an alligator hanging on the ceiling. apparently it was popular to have taxidermy exotic or fantastical animals (including unicorns)

the craftmanship!

the view of the city below from the garden (which ironically did not have any flowers).

after visiting the castle, i walked down the hill to the city. my next stop was supposed to be a museum, but i literally could not find it. i found the street, but could not find the address number anywhere. i walked back and forth several times. i ended up walking around old town & marktplatz instead.

the focal point of marktplatz is the curch of the holy spirit (c. 1398-1515 - romanesque & gothic styles)

the exterior of the church had little stalls with souvenirs & food. i ended up picking up a tomato, mushroom, & cheese savory crepe.

i also ordered a matcha espresso latte with boba.

the old bridge (c. 1788)

instead of taking the bus back, i decided to walk the 1.5 miles back to the train station. there was not much to see, other than a few interesting exteriors. most of the walk was luxury shops & the university district.

haus zum ritter (c. 1592 - renaissance style)

a monument to a train porter in front of the heidelberg train station 

after returning to frankfurt i decided i wanted soup. soup is so nice on a rainy day & my favorite soup is pho. i made a dumb mistake and thought i was ordering a soup & appetizer. i ended up ordering 2 entrees. they were both huge, especially when it comes to german portion sizes! i was shocked; this was an american size! i stuffed my face as much as i could as i did not have a fridge in my room. at least the food was good & the most authentic vietnamese food during my trip.

 

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the next day i visited cologne, which was the most complicated day trip as the trains are the fancy super fast high speed rail & the tickets were very expensive. if i had waited last minute, it would have cost over 100 dollars for a less than a 2 hour train ride! it was bonkers, but this is why i buy my tickets (at the least the departing ticket) months in advance to save money. i arrived at the station farther from old town, but it was just a short walk across the hohenzollern bridge on the rhine river. on a side note, i was pleased to see a babylon berlin (a german show i have enjoye) poster in the train station. 

across the bridge is the cologne cathedral, the most visited landmark in all of germany. construction started in the 1200s, but was not completed until the 1800s. the cathedral was damaged during wwii, but remained standing.

cologne carhedral (c. 1248-1880 - the gothic style)

a reconstructed roman gate outside the church (the original one is in a museum)

holocaust memorial

i walked past the cologne museum, but it was unfortunately closed for refurbishment. the building is an old arsenal from the 1594.

the one museum in my itinerary, and the highlight of cologne, was the el-de haus. the old jeweler business was rented to the nazis & used as the cologne headquarters of the gestapo, the secret police. the basement was used for prison cells & torture rooms. though 90% of the city was destroyed during the war, the building survived. today it is a museum on the third reich. the main artifact is the building itself, stained concrete & peeling paint.  

the ehibits on the upper floors provide a timeline.

you are able to visit the prison cells & torture rooms in the basement. i was spooked since i was literally the only person down there. the inscriptions of the prisoners were left on the walls. you are also able to visit the inner courtyard where there were over 400 executions. 

i still had quite a bit of time before my train & nothing really planned, so i decided to walk towards neumarkt & visit some stores, including primark & some thrift stores. 

i did end up stopping at a bakery for some food. i got schnitzel with a bun, a macaron, & a latte.

the old city hall

i then walked to the old town area of cologne. compared to other german old towns, there was not much to see. it seemed to be mostly restaurants & souvenir stores. there was a really weird tourist attraction where you wear vr glasses & sit on a "train" to visit cologne in the past. it was pretty weird since i could actually see the people inside with their silly glasses looking around. i did end up finding a few neat things to see including remnants of an old roman road, the old city hall, & a fountain with gnome statues.

a gnome statue from 1899

the cologne train station in old town 

for the first time ever, i had a cancelled train ticket. luckily when this happens, you can go on any train, but may not have a seat. though the app said the train was cancelled, it seemed that it was really replaced since there was another new train on the same route at the same time i was able to take. i ended up skipping dinner & returning back to my hotel room to rot.