Stuttgart/Heidelburg, Germany // December 2021

On our drive from Zurich to Stuttgart, we stopped to hike up to Hohenzollern Castle only to find that Ellyn and I couldn’t get in since we weren’t boosted. Germany was the strictest by far in terms of COVID. They required daily negative tests on top of vaccination in order to enter any restaurant or store.

Most things were closed in Stuttgart for Christmas but there were quite a lot of people about. It was still cold and drizzly so we wandered a bit, found a spot to get our daily test and then tucked into some schnitzel & beers before calling it a day. The rain was really off putting and we weren’t interested in doing any serious shopping (Stuttgart is home to Konigstrasse- the longest shopping street in Germany) so Johann suggested that we get up the next morning and stop in Heidelberg on our way to catch a train out of Mannheim.

This turned out to be the best decision! I’m sure both Zurich & Stuttgart have much more to offer than what we saw but I’d love to come back and experience them when things are more alive:)

Heidelberg is a town on the Neckar River and is known for being home to 5 universities— out of 160,000 people who live there, one in every four is a college student. It was founded in 1196 and is home to Heidelberg Castle ruins. During WWII, so many American soldiers knew of the beauty of the city from studying at the university that it was one of the few German towns that wasn’t bombed during the war. Because of that, much of the city’s history and architecture is largely intact and it truly is stunning. Even on a rainy day with most of the shops & restaurants still closed for the holidays, there was much to see and experience. Brian even found a little Turkish Coffee stand:)

So thankful for the flexibility and ease of being able to change our plans around last minute thanks to Johann and his car! Heidelberg was a favorite for sure! He dropped us off at the Mannheim train station afterwards and we headed back to Belgium to meet up with our friend Emily!

Up next: Antwerp