Nuremberg and Return to Heidelberg

June 30^th

Today was the day that I began my travels towards going back to the USA.  I slept in a bit in anticipation of my busy long day ahead of me and ate a good breakfast with Alex and Georg.  After packing my bags I said my goodbyes to Georg and then Alex accompanied me to the train station.  Unfortunately we left his house a bit later than we needed to. 

Bridge in Nuremberg

We speed walked to a bus station, took a bus to the subway and then the subway to the Munich train station.  On the subway ride we kept glancing at the time thinking that there was a strong possibility I could miss my train.  The subway pulled into the station giving us three minutes to get to the train.  The doors opened and we sprinted out of the subway car to beat everyone up the escalator and then up another long flight of stairs.  We got to the surface and glanced at the big departure board, found the correct platform and then continued running.  We made it just in time with one minute to spare, plenty of time to give my brother a quick hug and then jump on the train before the doors closed behind me.  Now onto Nuremberg.

Entering Nuremberg

I used the one hour train ride to finally cool down from all that running with my heavy back packs.  When I arrived at the Nuremberg train station I threw my bags into a locker and then went in search of a restaurant to have some lunch.  Just inside of the old city I found a nice German restaurant and ate my lunch while I read my travel book to learn a little about the city.  After polishing off my beer and plate I was off to start the walking tour.  About half way through my walking tour I somehow veered off the tour and kept walking without realizing what I had done.  I wondered so far, I was no longer on the city map that was provided in my travel book, I was lost.  Eventually I found the river that flows through the center of the city and followed it back to landmarks I recognized.  I was still able to finish my tour of the city (though now on a tight schedule) and then make it back to the train station.  I really enjoyed Nuremberg because much of the old city wall still is intact and it has a cool history of being a free city state.

Me at the Nuremberg Train Station

From Nuremberg my train took me to Frankfort where I needed to change trains to go to Heidelberg.  My train arriving in Frankfort arrived late but luckily my train that I needed to board for Heidelberg also had arrived late.  I was extremely lucky with my transportation thus far.  Unfortunately my train leaving for Heidelberg also departed late and I arrived at my final destination about thirty minutes late. 

It was good to see Irene and Brian again.  After dropping my bags off at their apartment we all headed out to eat at a French restaurant just a few blocks away.  During the dinner Brian reminded me that the U.S. vs German woman’s World Cup semifinal match was on that night (1am) and he invited me to stay up late and watch it with him.  Of course I thought it sounded like a fun idea and accepted the invitation.  Now I would stay up all night to watch this soccer game before making my travels back home.  My sister, Irene needed to go to bed since she worked in the morning so I said my goodbyes to her since I would be leaving when she would still be asleep.