Heidelberg, Where you lose your heart

“I have loved you long already, and would like, to please myself, to call you mother and give you an artless song, you, of the fatherland’s towns the most country-beautiful, many as I have seen”.
When the poet Friedrich Hölderlin ( 1770-1843 ) wrote this “Ode to Heidelberg” he was perhaps strolling along the philosophers’ walk on the banks of the River Neckar. From here one gets the best view of the romantic Heidelberg panorama. The famous ruined castle, the old nooks and alleyways, the picturesque houses and courtyards and the lovely Neckar valley inspired poets and painters at the beginning of the 19th century. In their search for closeness to nature, the past and a national identity, they regarded Heidelberg as the ideal romantic city. It was here that Achim von Arnim ( 1781-1831 ) and Clemens Brentano ( 1778-1842 ) gathered the fairy tales, folk songs, legends and ballads which they published in their important collection “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” ( “The Boy’s magic horn” ).

A lot of studying also goes on in this tranquil, romantic city. With a tradition stretching back 623 years, Heidelberg university is not only the oldest, but also one of the best-regarded in Germany. Thousand of future graduates are attracted by its good reputation, its first-class professors and solid academic education. When the university was founded in 1386 studying was a privilege for a small number of men. But now with 30,000 students the university is bursting at the seams. Every fifth inhabitant of Heidelberg is a student.

If you study hard and shut yourself up in your room you could quickly become like a well-known Heidelberg plant – you will turn as pale as asparagus. In the months of May and June all culinary attention is focused on this vegetable, which owes its refined paleness to a special method of cultivation. In sandy soil and in a damp, warm climate it grows in earth mounds up to 60 cms high and never sees the light until it is harvested. Even back in the days of the ancient Greeks asparagus was prized as a healthy vegetable and also considered an aphrodisiac. And pharmacists have regarded it as an effective way of cleansing the kidneys. Deutsch mit spass – Bilder aus Deutschland.