Trip to Heidelberg

Recently I made a short vacation trip to Heidelberg, Germany.  It is a worthwhile trip but if you are interested in going there you should plan to do so in the next twelve months.  HQS USAREUR, and all the associated support activities, will move out of Heidelberg during the next 12-18 months.  Facilities will start to close as the population dwindles.  

As far as old European (German in particular) cities go, Heidelberg is nothing out of the ordinary.  It has both a modern area and a smaller, old city center.  Heidelberg is a tourist destination so everything is a little more expensive.  While the US facilities are still there you can save some money by using them. Because it is a tourist destination many of the restaurant and shop people speak English.  Look for restaurants and shops with younger clientele and workers and English is probably spoken.  The older people generally do not (or will not) speak English.  But give it a try, everyone can probably understand you to some extent.

We stayed on Patrick Henry Village in the guest quarters.  I will have to say that I think the guest quarters are very disappointing. Other than being convenient, being on a US military facility, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.  I have stayed there twice in the past six months (once TDY and once on vacation).  The rooms cost $75 a night for one person.  You must pay an additional $7.50 for EVERY additional person in your room.  The rooms are old and run down; early to mid-1990s decor. The first time I stayed there in August I had to request the house keeping staff to scrub the fecal material off the bathroom walls.  The second time I stayed there in September, the bathroom had again not been well cleaned.  There was a used wash cloth hanging in the back of the shower, a used cotton swab (Q-Tip) on the floor under the sink, and the wall tiles along the floor were black with dirt from mopping.  The walls in the bedroom area were dirty and tiles were chipped and broken in the bathroom. There is no way for the occupant to adjust the room temperature; it appears to be centrally controlled and of course there is no air conditioning for the warmer months though there is a small fan in the closet.

Included with the room price is an adequate continental breakfast.  You have a choice of three cold cereals, bagels, milk, apple or orange juice (boxed), mini-muffins, fruit cups (only peaches), yogurt, and coffee/tea.  You can eat there or use a tray to take it back to your room.  There are no tables in the rooms for dining though.  In your room is a good-sized mini-refrigerator with a small freezer box.  

Patrick Henry Village has a good-sized Shoppette and a full commissary but no PX.  There is one central PX complex for all of the Heidelberg Kaserns but it is very difficult to find (it's on Czernyring).  No one at the reception desk could give me directions to the PX.  If you need a fuel ration card you will have to find the PX complex. There are no Aafes gas stations so even after you get your ration card you will have to hunt for an ESSO station on the economy.  I carried an extra five gallons of gas in my car to cover my fuel needs.  In August when I was there TDY I put 25 miles on my car doing all the paperwork at the MP Station, then finding the PX, then finding an ESSO station.

There are places to eat on Patrick Henry Village but the whole point of driving to Germany is to eat good German food!  Food prices in the old town center ranged from very reasonable to very over-priced.  Start looking for a place to eat before you are starving.  You can find almost any type of food you can think of; German (of course) Thai, Korean, Italian, Greek, Turkish, etc.  There are plenty of ice cream and pastry shops as well.  The old town center is a pedestrian zone and Europeans like to walk, eat, drink coffee, and walk some more so there is no shortage of food and drink choices.

The castle is the focal point of the tourist trade and is a bit of an uphill hike but well worth the trip.  If you take some snacks and drinks with you, you could easily spend 2-3 hours in, at, and around the castle. They do conduct English language tours so make sure you ask for one.  My wife and I were fortunate to have an excellent tour guide.  She was knowledgeable and her English was very clear. At the castle is the castle tour itself and there is also a German Pharmacy Museum located there.  Unfortunately most of the individual exhibit items only have German language explanations but there is a very good English story board describing the history of pharmacies.  It is more interesting than you might think and it is included in the price of the castle tour. Oh, yes, you will pay twice at two different places to do the castle tour.  You pay €5 to get in the castle courtyard and then another €4 for the guided tour of the castle.

In the basement of the castle is the world's largest wooden wine cask; 55,000 gallons. You can go up the steps and stand on top of it.  When the castle was in use the occupants drank 500 gallons of wine a day and there was a hand pump in the castle kitchen area to pump wine up from the cask to pitchers. According to our guide, the wine was of low quality and low alcohol content but it was deadly to drink water back then due to contamination. In the same area of this cask is a place where you can buy a snack and coffee or modern wines.  My wife and I each had a slice of apple tort (very delicious) and a cappuccino. The price wasn't too bad but the man behind the counter had such an attitude.  My wife always says, "If you hate the job that much, go find another job."  He was downright rude.

We also took one of the Neckar River cruises.  Unfortunately, we had the last cruise of the day, departing at 1500 hrs, and so it was an hour shorter and we had to change boats at the turn-around point.  Normally it is a three hour cruise up river passing in front of the castle for great photo opportunities. There are dinner cruises but maybe only on the weekends or during the summer. I can't remember the price of the river cruise but it was reasonable.  Of course Europeans smoke heavily so you'll have to deal with that.  It was a warm, sunny day so we sat up on the top deck for the views and fresh air.

Parking is always an issue.  If you are going to drive into the old town I recommend you use parking garage:

P 8 - Kongresshaus (Convention Centre)

Enter the following address in your GPS

Unter Neckarstraße 44

69117 Heidelberg

It is right down by the cruise boats and a very short walk to the old town area.  Prices per hour are half what I normally pay in The Netherlands. Go to this site to look at all your parking options: Heidelberg Parking

There is plenty else to do in and around Heidelberg but we only had the two days and they were long, tiring days.  Find a good guide book and see it while you can.