Heidelberg, My Fair City . . .

So, yesterday was a national holiday.  When holidays fall on Tuesday or Thursday, the day between the weekend and the holiday is generally a "bruckentag" (bridge day).  This means that most schools are closed and many office type jobs as well.  Shops, doctor's offices, etc tend to be open, making these GREAT days to run errands and get things done.  Which is exactly what we did today.

Walking into our fist appointment at 9:00 this morning, I thought I should blog some about just how beautiful Heidelberg is.  One of these days, I'll visit all the tourist areas and take photos, but today this is what you see just running everyday errands if you are lucky enough to live in such an amazing place.  The photos below are of the park DIRECTLY across the street from the dentist.  You have this same view out of her windows while you teeth are being cleaned.  When something as mundane as a dentist's office has this kind of beauty out the window, you know you live somewhere special.

Yes, down past the bridge IS the castle.  I zoomed in on it for you:

Do you notice the tents set up near the base of the bridge?  They are getting ready for this weekend's regatta.  I think there are fests in this riverside park about 50% of the weekends between mid-April and mid-October.  And every weekend of nice weather finds lots of locals enjoy picnics, volleyball games, etc along the banks of the Neckar.

There are nearly always some boats on the lake, and crew teams or individuals practicing:

After the dentist, we headed back over the bridge to downtown (which IS one of the big tourist areas, but it is also very much still a place that regular activities take place and is equally full of locals and tourists most days).  Here is a view of the pedestrian zone that we had from our outdoor table while we had lunch:

After lunch we headed over to Plock Street (it runs parallel to the Pedestrian Zone) for haircuts and a dotor's appointment.  Here are some of the buildings we passed:

That's St Peter's church above and the University Library below.

and below is the street we take between the Pedestrian Zone and Plock)

Heading back home, we walked back down the Pedestrian zone.  Here are some of my favourite buildings on the BismarkPlatz end of the zone (we never quite made it up to Cathedral, Ritter Hotel, etc):

I've been extremely fortunate to live in some fantastically gorgeous locations (Caddo Lake, Boulder, Colorado and the Lakes Region of New Hampshire) and I think Heidelberg ranks right up there with them. A day full of errands is just not so dreary when you get to run them surrounded by so much beauty.   

Here's hoping that all of you, my readers, found some beauty in your days today.

--Hadley