1982 Heidelberg, Germany (7/27/1982)

Tuesday, July 27, 1982

The train left at 0:10. Sue loaned me her down vest that I really needed to keep warm in the air-conditioned car, and it helped me to sleep better.

Soon after 7:00 we went through Strasbourg, crossing the border into Kehl, Germany. Got off in Offenburg at 7:55 to change to the 8:20 InterCity train to Karlsruhe. We bought the 5 DEM/$2 supplements before we boarded.

Offenburg to Karlsruhe supplement

Arrived at 8:55 and Sue called her cousin, Janet K, first getting someone else because she dialed the area code. Janet would come pick us up in 15 minutes, but it took longer because, of course, the one-year old Amanda chose then to dirty her diaper. Sue bought three yellow roses as a hostess gift. They had a nice new blue Volvo wagon with all the extras and it took 10-15 minutes to reach the Paul Revere Village, a housing compound for the U.S. military. The apartment was huge; although only two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bath, each room was gigantic. After a couple hours of visiting, we had lunch of Sloppy Joes and Pringles potato chips.

We all bundled into the car and first drove to the base where Lt David K was supervising the pouring of concrete for a driveway to truck sheds. Janet showed her ID at the gate, but pretended not to understand the German guards that we were supposed to check-in at the office. They finally waved us in with a shrug of shoulders. David came to the car to give directions to Heidelberg, and we left for a gas station, where Janet used coupons to get gas. We sped off to Heidelberg on the Autobahn, with Sue and Janet talking up front, and I was amusing Mandy in the back seat. Arrived in Heidelberg about 15:30 and parked up at the castle for 1.50 DM/60 cents. The Heidelberg Schloss/Castle was partly in ruins because of wars, fires, and lightning bolts in 17C & 18C. We walked around the hillside of the castle, then entered the courtyard. Went through to the terrace on the cliff side of the castle for a view of red tile rooftops and the brown Neckar River.

View from Heidelberg Schloss/Castle

Sue and I paid 10 DEM/$4 each to see the Großes Fass/giant wine vat, actually an enormous keg 7 m/23’ in diameter, with a statue of the dwarf, Perkeo, who was a court jester known for his alcohol consumption and his ingenious clock.

Heidelberg Schloss/Castle ticket

Someone went up to the clock and pulled a ring underneath resulting in the sound of the bell you could see inside, then a white tail of some sort popped out to smack the face of the bell ringer. There were stairs to a platform behind the vat where they had wine-tastings. We wandered through the gardens before heading back to Karlsruhe.

Heidelberg Schloss/Castle, west side

Heidelberg Schloss/Castle, east side

At about 18:00, David drove me to the train station, and I had time to buy a supplement from a vending machine and change all my German money into Swiss, before boarding the 19:00 train to Zürich. Sue would visit with her cousin before returning to London for her flight back to the U.S.

Our travels marked with a black line

The conductor told me I did not need a Zuschlag/supplement (10 DEM/$4 donation to the Deutsche Bundesahn (DB)/German Federal Railways!

Karlsruhe to Zürich train supplement 

Sue and Janet had packed me a brown bag meal of a ham and cheese sandwich, chips, a banana, and a Ring Ding! Arrived in Zürich at 22:00 and took the 22:13 train to the Zürich Flughafen/airport, arriving a few minutes later.

Found the Capitol Air desk and saw the flight has been changed to leave at 13:20 and I am supposed to check-in at Swiss Air, but I can’t figure out where that is. The airport is pretty empty, but there is a discotheque that is open until 4:00, so I am hoping I can sit in the airport all night. The baggage lockers are not in service and of course the baggage check is closed. Some of the lights were turned off, but the Muzak kept playing.