Untitled Page 20

-5-

After a huge dinner from our pqcks [packs], we went out again after dark to
walk through the fortress and look out at the lights of all the villages,
a light breeze carrying sounds from miles away through the still night.

Yesterday morning we rode the 27 kilometers along the foot of the hills
into Heidelberg. All along the way we passed countless blossoming fruit
trees, with flowers of pink, green, yellow and the light green new leaves.
It was a rainbow of color on a sunny day. It was fairly easy riding and we
were in Heidelberg by 11 AM. After dropping our gear off at the hostel we
went by the Railroad station to buy the week's Time magazine and then
to the American express to get mail. Then we went to the university mensa
(cafeteria) for another good inexpensive 30c hot lunch, and off to walk
around the old part of town. By far the most interesting was the famous
Heidelberg "schloss" (There is no good one-word translation though castle
is often given. The combination palace-fortress is as close as I can some)
It is mostly the huge baroque palace with statues and colums [columns] sculptured into
walls. But the palace is built within the remains of the medieval fortress,
With round turret towers, moat, and stone bridges etc. Around it are
beautiful gardens with the trees just showing their brightest spring green.

From the castle terrace there is a full view out over Heidelberg and you
can begin to appreciate how beautifully situated it is. It is right at the
beginning of the valley of the Neckar and the city is built only in the
bottom of the valley, the hills above remaining thick with lush green
forest. It is rwally [really] a perfect, romantic setting for a city, with the river
winding back into the hills out of sight.

Coming down from the castle, we located part of the old university, wandered
around the old part of town and then had dinner at the mensa and returned
to the hospital to wash clothes and write and read before bedtime.

This morning we awoke to gray overcast skies and, by 11 AM, we were having
the first real rain of our trip which is pretty lucky for this early in the
year. We spent the morning wandering again, watched a couple of ships going
through the river locks where a spillway changes the height of the Neckar
about 6 feet, then back to the old university to see the student prison.

This was really an interesting experience. It consists of about 6 or 7
small rooms in the main old university building, set off by barred door and
windows, simply furnished with a wood table, 2 wood chairs, 2 beds. The
prison was used from about 1720 to about 1914 to hold, for a few days each,
students who were drunk, rowdy, fighting etc; the most interesting feature
is the collection of verses, sayings, signatures, and self portraits which
were painted on the walls, layer over layer, by the "residents" over the 200
years. They were often quite witty and their general tone suggested that
being in the prison was more of a lark than a general disaster.

After lunch at the mensa again, we went back to the hostel to pack up, put
on raincoats and begin the journey up the Neckar. We didn't know what sort
of country to expect since the river is smaller and more winding than the
Rhine. But it turned out that the road was flat and smooth, followed right
along the river, and we made the 33 kilometers to Eberbach before 5 PM.
And with raincoats the rain was no great bothet either, thank goodness. The