Heidelberg unwrapped

Feeling restless (and unwilling to go to the office with no work to do) on Wednesday, I took a spontaneous day trip to Heidelberg, a historic university town about an hour south of Frankfurt by train.

Heidelberg is one of those places that seems to inspire strong love or hate in most Germans, so I was curious to check it out and form my own opinion. Since I didn’t have a guidebook, I stopped by the tourist information building when I arrived.

“Do you speak English?” I asked the girl behind the desk, who nodded. “Okay, I am only here for one day, what do you recommend seeing or doing?”

“You want one? Five Euro,” she replied.

Hmm. This must be what it’s like in reverse for the Germans when I try to speak their language.

It turned out that she was trying to sell me a one-day public transit pass, which I bought, thinking I was purchasing a map (in the end, I got one of those as well). I took the bus to the center of town and decided to explore on foot.

The main street has the same retail chains one would see in most major cities – H&M, The Body Shop, Benetton, etc. – and a plethora of overpriced sidewalk cafes. It also had at least two shops devoted exclusively to gummi bears, which I found a bit odd (can you really turn a profit on such a minor thing in what appears to be prime commercial real estate?).

At the end of the main drag, I found a large old cathedral building, which was disappointingly ordinary inside. I mean, it was certainly better than the modern warehouse-style megachurch architecture in parts of the U.S., but I’ve seen a lot of old European churches with more character.

On to the most obvious sight, then – the castle ruins looming above the town. By the time I climbed all 808 stone steps uphill (no, I didn’t count, there was a sign), I was hot, tired and getting a bit grumpy. It didn’t help that there were packs of Asian tourists in every nook and cranny of the castle grounds, usually blocking pedestrian traffic by posing for 12 variations on the same photograph.

The hill proved a nice spot for getting a birds-eye view of the red-roofed town below, but the ruins themselves didn’t fascinate me. Once again, I felt like I was looking at something I had already seen in a dozen other European towns.

But Heidelberg redeemed itself at the last minute. My view of the town (and the world in general) was much improved after a brief respite involving ice cream, coffee and some shade. Then I noticed a sign for the Deutsche Verpackungs Museum, set back off the main street a bit. The German…Packaging Museum? Was I reading that right?

As it turns out, I was. This small, three-room museum is a fascinating detour from the traditional tourist sights. Some of the things behind glass include century-old bonbon tins;1950s style dollhouses full of miniature products; still-unopened canned goods dropped over Berlin during World War II; a “Titanic” cigarette tin (they killed that brand name after the ship sunk, though in a way it’s a nicely subtle take on the classic surgeon general’s warning); and a Tic-Tac dispenser that I think I actually saw in stores as a kid. I took some cool pictures; will post them soon.

The woman at the admission desk was thrilled to have a visitor – I guess the museum hasn’t made it onto the classic tour group circuit. When I left, she looked up from the curtain she was crocheting and asked plaintively, “Will I see you again?”

Um…probably not. Sorry. But I'll be thinking of you the next time I throw out a candy wrapper!