Heidelberg (almost) Reunion

     I'm super behind on the blog because a super number of things have happened this month. Mainly, Will and Russell visited.

    We decided to meet in Heidelberg as it is a cool town and between where I work, and the two airports Russell and Will flew into.  I told the host family and Jochen decided to come along and see a city he hadn't visited in awhile.  He was also kind and offered to drive us back.

Will got in to Heidelberg first, so I suggested he do that weird hike on the mountain I previously blogged about.  In order to meet our meeting time Will had to run from the top of the mountain down to the central square:

I was really suprised we were able to meet up, because we didn't have cell phones and my instructions were "meet at the church".  It turns out there are many churches in Heidelberg, but only one that catches a Beaumont's eye.  Will refilled on Crepe, and Fabi did as well:

I forgot to mention it: Russell's plane was delayed and his phone wasn't working.  So we knew he was late, but had no idea when or if he'd ever show up in Heidelberg.  Our emergency plan was to meet at McDonalds late at night... we trusted that would hold.  Pretty view:

Per appropriate brother-code, Will and I held a meeting and unanimously voted to kick Russell out of the trio and induct Fabian.  He was ecstatic:

Jochen confessed that when Fabian was younger he almost sent him to a boarding school in Heidelberg.  It was nice to be there as Fabi tried to piece together what that meant.  After all the talk of correctional education programs, we decided to visit the historic and semi-ancient Heidelberg student prison:

"From the time of its foundation, Heidelberg University exercised legal jurisdiction over its students.    [...] Punishment usually took the form of confinement in the University jail for a period ranging from 24 hours to 4 weeks.  As the 19th century progressed, 'doing time' in the Student Prison (Karzer) became less and less onerous; indeed, it became something of a matter of honour for most students to have experienced at least one stint of prison life while studying in Heidelberg.  The most common offences included disturbing the peace at night by loud singing in the city lanes, inappropriate behaviour in public as a result of inebriation, and participation in illegal fencing duels. Budding academics seemingly had a particular foible for nocturnal raids aimed at releasing the pigs and piglets penned up in the Old City and then driving the squealing animals through the streets.  Students could easily end up in the Karzer if they insulted a uniformed local constable (called an Amtmann in those days) proudly walking his beat.  Those unwise enough to knock his cap off with a stick or to enjoy a good laugh at his expense soon found themselves behind bars.  Such misdeeds were considered to amount to obstructing a police officer during the course of his duty and were punished with 4 weeks of incarceration.

[...] On the first 2 days of confinement, prisoners were given only bread and water.  After this, students could have food brought in from outside, and even beer, if they so desired.  The cells were provided with hard beds with straw mattresses.  Internees had to pay for the use of pillows, covers and sheets, or bring their own.  The only other furniture comprised a couple of tables and stools. While 'inside', the students whiled away the time by playing cards, and many carved their names on tables. They could freely visit fellow-convicts in neighbouring cells and even use a connecting door to enter the University to attend lectures.  However, they were forbidden to leave the building.  The detainees spent much of their time decorating the prison's stairway as well as the walls and ceilings of their cells.  [...] For black 'paint', they used candle-smuts or soot from the fireplace.  As time went on, they brought paints in with them.  [...]  The students' names for the various rooms included Solitude, Palais Royale and Sanssouci.  The 'King's Throne' was the fanciful name of the smallest and most private room in the prison."

- from the placard at the prison. but I was lazy and searched google and found the above text from: "http://moonbots.mcleanrobotics.org/"

The students' grafitti was pretty hilarious.  We found drawings and poems from before 1889.  A classic and reoccurring theme was something along the lines of: "Dear sweet ______ the nights are cold and I long for your warmth" etc. etc. etc.

We then decided to walk into the church nearby, where somebody happened to be practicing the organ!

 This was the beginning of Will's lucky streak of only visiting churches while the organs were playing (4 for 4 in the Saarland area).

We decided to stop stalling and go to the Castle... we had given up on waiting on Russell.

And then right about here:

I received a call from Russell.  He was stuck in a crazy mess caused by the previous week's train strikes and a kind German had taken pity on him.  Russell received advice and a free phone call, but the end result was that he wouldn't make it to Heidelberg for a few more hours.

Castle, with the replacement and Will:

Jochen wonders how many photos are actually necessary:

There is something mesmerizing about this tree.  I took a ton of photos of it last time and couldn't stop myself on my second visit:

The hill behind the tree is the mountain Will ran down with his suitcase over his shoulders.  He claims to have yelled "Bear" the whole time so other hikers wouldn't think he was crazy.  Here Jochen and Will try to quantify how crazy a running tourist in normal clothes with a suitcase must have looked.

Russell missed a delicious dinner but finally arrived.  In keeping with code, Fabi was demoted back to his original surname:

The greatest part was when the guy who helped Russell called us to follow up and make sure that Russell made it.  He was genuinely concerned about the train system and that they would ruin our European Reunion.