16/17th Sept-2016 visit to German Club

HEIDELBERG

Visit to Germany to enjoy a Fellowship weekend with Fellow Rotarians from 

The Rotary Club of Trier  Hochward

Friday 16TH.September 2016 saw a very early start, anywhere between 4 and 4.30 am, for those Rotarians and partners who were booked on the 8am.Luxair Flight from London City Airport to Luxembourg. Some drove to the airport some got taxis but most of us travelled on the train using the C2C to West Ham and then the DLR which delivered the bleary eyed travellers right to the booking hall of the airport. It was surprisingly busy at that time of the morning but checking in baggage and collecting boarding passes , if this was not done before hand on the internet, was a piece of cake and nothing like the horrors of the other airports like Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton. Mind you there was quite a walk to the departure lounge but this unknowingly only served as a warm up for what was to come in Heidelberg. 

The short flight to Luxemburg was no hardship and we even got some unexpected and welcome refreshment on the plane. Emerging from a virtually empty airport we were met by Andreas and his charming wife Uta who whisked off to a waiting coach which got us to Heidelberg in a relatively short time (It helped that most of us were soon asleep after our early start.) 

We stayed at an excellent Hotel that had all that we could have wished for which was a bit of a surprise considering the relatively small amount we had to pay! 

Our first organised adventure was a two hour walk around the town with an excellent tour guide who had a wonderful sense of humour and a vast knowledge of interesting historical facts. Apart from the beautiful buildings Heidelberg has the longest pedestrian shopping street ( a good mile long at least) which was to feature many times during our stay. Most of us walked it at least 6 times if not more during the weekend. 

Blessed with good weather we rounded off the first walk with a nice meal and a few wines in an interesting Italian restaurant. After walking back to the Hotel several of our group met in the bar for a night cap before toddling off to bed. When I say bed I really mean beds. In my twin bed bedroom we had two beds each the size of a football pitch!! And sooo comfortable. 

A good night's sleep, quick shower followed by a large and wonderful breakfast and the body was ready for the pedestrian highway. Another leisurely stroll along the 'longest' shopping street in Germany (Europe or even the world!)gave us the opportunity to notice things and sights that we had missed the previous day and got us once again to the far end of town where we assembled at the Station Kornmarkt that houses the funicular which whisks the many visitors up to the Castle. 

Inside this magnificent building, which looked very much like a total ruin from the town below, we met up once again with our lovely tour guide. As on our previous tour she soon had us laughing with her many tales about the history and occupants of the castle which has very close links with our own monarchy. Apart from the variety of elaborate buildings (it turned out the castle was not a total ruin after all, only parts of it) we saw the largest wine barrel in the world. Quite a sight! 

When we were set free after the tour some of the members with a head for heights took the original 1905 wooden funicular right up to the top of the valley where the view of the town of Heidelberg below was quite impressive. Most of the group did a bit of shopping, had some lunch and then 

headed back down our beloved cobble stoned street to our Hotel for a little rest before the formal dinner. 

Washed and polished our beautifully dressed group set out once again along our beloved highway to the oldest building in Heidelberg, The Hotel Zum Ritter St. George, where we were to dine. 

After the champagne reception we took our places with our German friends and enjoyed a three course meal, with venison as the meat course, accompanied by some decent German Wine and a few other liquid delights. 

During the 'formal' part of the evening our two Presidents did our respective clubs proud with their speeches and President John presented our hosts with a Rotary Bear, complete with national flags, which symbolises the Rotary aim to eradicate Polio throughout the world and which was presented to our club by DG Terry Dean when he visited us several weeks ago. We also have our own bear and it is hoped that the bear will be present at all of our Rotary events to publicise our push to eradicate Polio. 

We had such a wonderful time at the meal that we were totally unaware that weather gods were drenching the streets with their tears at the thought of us leaving their wonderful town. Some brave souls braved the slippery cobbles of 'The Street' and walked back to the Hotel but the wiser wimps got taxis. A nightcap in the bar ensured that all the many pleasant thoughts and moments of the night were well and truly re-visited and discussed before we toddled of once again to our gigantic beds. 

Continued rain meant that a last minute visit to our 'Street for a last minute shop was washed out for most us who had the luxury of time to pack our cases before leaving for the airport. We did not need to worry about Traffic problems on the motorway, which might have prevented us fright catching our flight , because there were no hold ups and we reached a not very busy Luxembourg airport in very good time which enabled us to sit around for a couple of hours resting our tired limbs and reflecting on the weekend. 

The collective agreement was that it had been wonderful weekend thanks to a combination of excellent organisation (Thanks to Andreas and Uta) good weather (most of the time) good food and drink (all of the time) and wonderful friendship and fellowship between our two Rotary clubs. 

Thank you to all the those, especially David Fell, Rita ,Geoff Furzland ,Andreas and Uta, and any others who had a hand in organising our trip. 

Looking forward to London next year already! 

Cheers George Larkey