That's not apple strudel!

Last week was a particularly busy week, because I welcomed my first visitors to Heidelberg! Mum, Kim and Helen arrived on Thursday evening, and as I was lucky enough to have been given Friday off work, three days of walking, shopping and eating ensued. Ok, so more like 80% eating, and 20% shopping and walking.

Thursday evening was spent checking into the hotel and then wandering around Heidelberg a little to find somewhere for dinner. We ate at a restaurant which was nothing special, but perfectly good for our first night. I tried spätzle, and for pudding we ordered apple strudel. Except it wasn't, because the pastry wasn't crisp and flaky, and so began our search for the perfect apple strudel. We went for another quick walk before heading back to the hotel; it was the first time I've been in Heidelberg at night, and the castle looked absolutely amazing all lit up. Unfortunately it was pretty difficult to get a decent picture of it, but you get the idea.

On Friday, we got up and caught the bus to Neckargemünd, where I showed them around the school and took them to my flat. Joanne made me go from room to room and introduce everyone, much to my embarrassment, but it was nice for the students to meet my family and it gave them an opportunity to practise their English. Next up was a walk through Neckargemünd and lunch at the Eis Cafe, although we managed to stop ourselves eating solely ice cream for lunch, instead going for the savoury option of salads and Flammkuchen,  which are basically pizzas but instead of a pizza dough base it is a tortilla wrap. They are also really, really yummy. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon indulging in a little bit of shopping, before we simply had to replenish our energy and went to an amazing bakery/cafe for afternoon coffee and cake. I had a cherry pie cheesecake, which tasted nearly as good as it sounds and was probably even worse for me than it sounds... 

Dinner that night was yet another opportunity to embrace German cuisine and we found ourselves in a nice traditional German restaurant, where the servings were insanely generous and the staff had an interesting uniform consisting of old fashioned dresses and far far too much orange make up. 

Saturday began with yet another trip to the bakery/cafe from the day before, and a light breakfast of not one but two pastries each. It's all ok though, because it was just preparation for what was to follow; the walk up to the castle, which I'm hoping will have given me devastatingly good thighs by the time I come home in July. It was great to stand and look out over the city and the river, you can almost forget how stunning it all is when  you are walking around the streets. 

  

We looked around the ruins of the castle and despite not knowing whether it would be worth the admission fee, it was actually very interesting to see. What's a shame is that there isn't any information anywhere to tell you about the history of the castle, so we did a lot of looking at impressive buildings without understanding what we were seeing. It's definitely going to be my mission to learn a lot more about the history of Heidelberg before I leave here. Nevertheless, it was well worth seeing, and the view was fantastic.

After lunch, we continued the more cultural side of our weekend with a walk along the Philosophenweg, or Philosopher's Way. It is a path about half way up the hills on the opposite side of the river, and it gives you a brilliant view across the Neckar looking at the old town of Heidelberg. It is especially good at this time of year, as the trees are still missing most of their leaves so it allows for a much clearer view. Even in the summer though this walk would still be lovely, just because you are surrounded by trees and endless pathways through the woods.

Once the walk was finished, it was yet again time to stop for afternoon tea, and this time we went to a cafe right by our hotel, which turned out to be really good, so we'll definitely be going back. I tried the mohnkuchen, which I have seen everywhere but never got around to trying until now. It is cake/pie made with  a poppy seed filling, and it's really popular here; all the bakeries sell poppy seed pies and pastries. I didn't get a picture unfortunately, but it's a bit like this:

Last but not least, we spent our last evening at the lively Vetter, which seemed to be a favourite with tourists and locals and is known for brewing it's own beer. As I don't drink beer myself, I tried their interesting creation of beer schnapps, which tasted weirdly like apple but were actually really good. For dinner I made sure I really went for it with trying German food and ordered the schnitzel with roast potatoes, which was one of the best things I've ever eaten. The Germans really don't do things by halves though, and none of us could finish all our food. That didn't stop us from ordering a couple of apple strudel to share for pudding though. Ultimately our quest to find the perfect strudel was unfulfilled. It seems that here apple strudel is doomed to be made more like a rolled up apple pie than crispy filo heaven in a slice. It still tasted bloody good to me though, so I ate my quarter, and then as no one else was eating it I just went ahead and finished off the other one too. So yeah, two pastries, a slice of pie and then two apple strudel in one day. Maybe I was being a bit optimistic about my thighs...

I saw them to the bus stop on Sunday morning and then that was it, and I basically spent the rest of the day asleep. However short though, it was a great weekend, and I look forward to welcoming who everyone else when they come to visit!