Heidelberg, a Students' Town Since 1368

Heidelberg is our last stop in Germany, and it is absolutely delightful.  For starters, we have a fabulous flat (hostess and host, Siggy and Freidemann both speak excellent English) and it's truly fully-equipped:  a clothes washer and DRYER, dishwasher, an ample library of books (in English), cable tv with about 10 BBC channels, fast and reliable internet, and a gorgeous garden (complete with swimming pool which, sadly, is far too chilly to take advantage of).

Down the corridor to the left is the eat-in kitchen and bathroom.

 Since this is a students' town, we start our explorations at the University Museum.  It's impressive - founded in 1386 with the Museum buildings dating from the early 18th century.

This is Germany's oldest university and boasts an impressive 55 Nobel Prize winners (including Joseph Goebbels); we learn that Hitler banned any academics from accepting the Nobel Prize.

The Great Hall is a knockout! It was refurbished/restored in 1886 for its 500th anniversary.

No way either of us can resist the view from the lectern!

There were four original faculties:  religion, law, medicine, and philosophy (the arts were added several centuries later).  

On the list of sights to see in the alstadt is the Student Prison - that got us both intrigued for sure.

This is a most creative take on incarceration.  From our Museum tour, we learn that the townspeople haven't always had a harmonious relationship with the students whom they frequently perceived as spoiled twits and troublemakers.  Obviously things reached a rather serious impasse sometime in the 19th century; something had to be done.  Voila (or whatever it is in German) - put a few of them in 'prison' for a bit (two weeks was the maximum 'sentence').  This was a rather creative solution - they were isolated but could attend classes via a special walkway; they were fed and housed but not nearly as well as non-inmates. With a lot of time on their hands (no nighttime carousing) they turned to decorating the 'rooms'.  And those rooms are now a tourist attraction.

Tim is checking out the list of offenses, one of which he confesses to being guilty of as an undergraduate:  'annoying a professor'.

Apparently, a lot of the graffiti involves caricatures of the professors and fellow students.

And many of them are signed and dated.

Wonder if Tim was contemplating who he would have caricatured??

Seems only fitting that we find our way to the student 'cafeteria' for a meal.  After asking a few student-looking types, we find the Zeughaus which is unlike any student eatery either of us knew!

We go through the incredible buffet line (a dazzling array of hot and cold entrees and salads) and a mere 13 euros poorer, take our cream of carrot soup, sauerbraten, noodles and veggies and go sit in the sunshine with the rest of the 'kids'.

And for an extra 6 euros, we get two fabulous lattes and some sort of waist-destroying German cake.

Oh to be a student in Heidelberg!