Return to Heidelberg

After a long day of sitting at work, I was ready to go outside and do
something fit. I decided to try and bike to heidelberg and then take
the train back for free. The idea started out well enough, although I
am starting to learn that my bike seeks riding on the autobahn as I
again ended up there for a brief frantic quarter mile stretch. Once I
got back on the right track the riding was fantastic. Wide open
fields, beautiful views, and very few cars, everything I could ask for
except hills, check a topo map the mannheim area is flatter than
davis. This is of course where heidelberg comes in. The ride there was
about 16 miles and once I got there and checked the train schedules I
went to go climb one of the nearby hills. It was lovingly titled
Königstuhle -- King's chair. The climb was quite tough with a number
of switchbacks going from a lowly 200 feet to nearly 1000 in about a
mile. The view on top was quite fantastic and even though I forgot my
camera, a picture wouldnt have done it justice. There were a number of
other cyclers trying this hill all of whom gave an approving wave
signifying the deep bond of the mountian climbers. So when I got back
I ran in the trainstation to grab something to eat and was able to get
a Milschmix (milkshake) they dont have those very often in germany and
it was amazing. I also got a Pizzazunge, which doesnt take much
language skills to realize is a Pizza Tongue. It didnt have tongue on
it, it was just shaped like an oval such that it resembled a big
tongue of pizza. After I got back the interns decided to go out on a
drinking walk, since it is so fantastically novel to drink outside, by
the rhein. This sounds a whole lot more charming and romantic than it
is. The rhein is just like any other major river in the world near
large cities. If I am not mistaken it caught on fire once or twice.
Also the beaches are basically piles of rock, nonetheless it was
enjoyable to just sit outside and enjoy fine german beers at night.
Tonight is the last day of classes for UniMannheim (yea german
semesters are weird) so they are throwing a big party in the city and
most of us are going, so that should be fun.