2017-08-20

【Aiden in English】

        The first-day majority of tourists we ran into were Chinese in Heidelberg. It took a while.

        For the past few days, our Viking Kavsir has docked give-or-take thirty minutes from the actual destination. Today, moored in a business city of Mannheim on the bank of the Rhine, it used four busses to transport all of 187 passages to Heidelberg, standing at the cradle of the German Romantic movement. Why didn't Viking dock in Heidelberg? I don't know exactly how to make its way to the Neckar River that runs through the medieval town. All I noticed was that we were heading down the Continents up the Rhine, which spent a little more than double time on traveling than the one downstream. Furthermore, Viking sent more busses to pick us up from Heidelberg to Speyer, one of the oldest cities in Germany. Both places were forty-five minutes apart from Heidelberg. I understand even if the drive was for the ship to arrive at the next stop in a quicker time, but I would have to disagree regarding the sacrifice of my leisure time in town.

        On the other hand, Viking aimed at investing in the local culture and old town. Heidelberg is home to Germany's most romantic castle. In addition, the Heidelberg Univ. has been recognized as the oldest in Germany after it was found in 1386. The Heidelberg Castle was a minor, looming complex over the Neckar River in the background, which inspired the writers like Johann von Goethe and Mark Twain. No, the castle was actually the main focus. Residence for the Palatinate monarchy between the 13^th and 18^th centuries, this mix of Gothic and Renaissance architecture was later transformed into a military fortress. Unfortunately, it didn't last too long. Attacked by the French during War of the Palatinate Succession in 1693, Louis the XIV made sure of the castle's destruction. In ruins, not much of the remaining decor could be distinguished from the red sandstone. Most of the buildings had to be derived from speculation and 'science'. Within the walls sat a prize that many adults would die for. The world's largest barrel, 250-year-old vat shaped from 130 oak trees that used to hold 220,000 liters/58,118 gallons of wine, sat surrounded by stairs in a very large cellar. We could walk through the cellar, as it was blocked by the barrel. If contained wine, nowadays it captures peoples' attention. But like wine, it evaporated quickly, especially when there's an entire town to be explored.

        Heidelberg's local culture is also a key site of our trip. The town center, thrived through its cobblestone paths, was quite large. Regardless, mom and I traversed most of the area in two hours or so, picking up some gelato on the go. It didn't look as glorious as Rome. The more important sightseeing was the Philosopher's Walk, a long and steep section of road dedicated to the fit and younger kids. The climb upwards was a difficult task, taking nearly half an hour through winding steps and narrow paths on uneven footing. Why did we attempt to reach such an ordinary path? Well, Mark Twain once visited Heidelberg, and upon seeing the majestic castle, he praised it "the last possibility of the beautiful". I don't really get what he said. Something about the trees around it... perhaps a bit on the light from the heavens and ... photoshop. Anyhow, we reached the walk on the hillside, and the panoramic view really was quite spectacular. If only we weren't breathing so hard. (I was okay. Mom wasn't.) Nevertheless, I thought the climb was worth it. Yet no fantastic picture of the quality that Mark Twain described could be taken due to the countless amounts of trees in the way. Instead of continuing to look for a view, mom was lazy and we headed back down the same road up.

        Heidelberg is one of the most influential towns on our to-do list, which says a lot about this journey. Not focusing on the sights of main attractions, these two weeks are spent drinking in culture. To be honest, it is really hard for me to soak up every drop of culture, especially with no alcohol in my system since I'm still underage, even for Germans.

【紅霞譯文】

        在海德堡我們頭一回遇到大批來自中國的遊客，好久沒這麼熱鬧了。

        前些日子，我們所乘坐的“維京·知識之神”號遊輪總是到距離目的地卅分鐘左右的地方拋錨，今天又停靠在萊茵河畔商業重鎮曼海姆市，並啟用四輛旅遊大巴分頭將187位遊客全部送往德國浪漫主義運動搖籃──海德堡，遊輪為啥不去海德堡？我不大清楚如何取道內卡河長驅直入這座中世紀小城，只知道大家正逆着萊茵河縱穿歐洲大陸，這比順水行駛的時間要多出雙倍以上。此外，遊輪再從海德堡調動足夠專車負責運送遊客前往德國最古老的小鎮之一施派爾，無論曼海姆還是施派爾，兩地離海德堡均有45分鐘車程，即便司機開得夠快，我覺得為了趕路而犧牲掉逛城壓馬路的時間實在划不來。

        反過來說，遊輪之所以這麼做無非想讓遊客多加體驗當地的風土人情，畢竟海德堡擁有德國最浪漫的城堡，創建於1386年的海德堡大學又被視為德國高校開山鼻祖，再加上海德堡城堡“殘破而不失王者之氣，如同暴風雨中的李爾王”，高高盤踞在內卡河之上，更讓詩人約·馮·歌德和作家馬克·吐溫交口稱譽。無疑，城堡是我們此行重中之重，這座13—18世紀曆經四百餘年光陰打造的建築群集哥特與文藝復興式建築風格之大成，起初被用作選帝侯宮邸，後來因加固防禦工事而演變成軍事要塞，但好景不長，1693年在法國人發動的普法爾茨繼任戰爭中被路易十四毀於一旦。廢墟間，除了紅砂岩之外幾乎沒留下什麼清晰可辨的裝飾玩藝，大多數殘垣斷壁只能憑藉推測及所謂的“科學”依據自圓其說。城堡內還有一樣東西備受矚目，那就是天底下最大的酒桶，它飽嘗250年歷史變遷，整整用掉130棵橡樹，足以盛下22萬升／5.8萬加侖酒水。酒窖空間很大，酒桶周圍設有樓梯，我們可以繞着它四處溜達。如今凡事跟酒扯上關係，定會吸引民眾眼球，但像葡萄酒一樣，它揮發得亦快，更何況小城其它地方也有待我們親力親為。

        海德堡市井文化同樣是我們參觀的重點，城中心鵝卵石鋪就的街區車水馬龍，地域跨度相當可觀，無論如何，我和媽媽花上兩個來鐘頭幾乎把老城逛了個遍，順路沒忘抄來手工冰激凌犒勞自己，但好像沒有像羅馬做得那麼花哨。“哲學家小道”當該屬於比較關鍵的景點，路程又長又陡，適合活蹦亂跳的小孩子，不出半個鐘頭爬完高低不平九曲十八彎的山徑絕非易事，我們幹嗎對這條羊腸小路如此起勁？沒錯，馬克·吐溫曾經到訪海德堡，一看到城堡便盛讚它為自己“到過的最美的地方”，反正我沒體驗到他那份感受，跟樹林密不透風有關……也許僅露點光亮……圖片處理一下。我們總算來到“哲學家小道”，眼前風景格外壯觀，只是呼哧帶喘累得夠嗆（我蠻好，可媽媽挺吃力）。回過頭來看，費勁爬坡還是值得的，儘管因枝葉遮目而未能看到馬克·吐溫所描述的完美畫面。我本想繼續前行，但媽媽懶得動彈，我們只好照原路打道回府。

        在我們出行計劃中，海德堡算作大名鼎鼎的小城之一，來之前常聽人提及。不過這兩周大家並沒把精力放在景點觀光上，而是傾注於飲酒文化。坦率地說，讓我整天品酒實在吃不消，特別是我喝的飲料未帶丁點酒精，畢竟年齡受限，即使在德國照樣不夠資格。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: Garden Expo Park, Beijing(北京園博園)

2014: Scrimmage in Soccer Practice(足球訓練中的混戰)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Germany(出遊德國)

Europe(歐洲掠影)