Been MIA the last two days as I have been getting organised for the next month of travel. So yesterday was spent bashing away on my computer in my neat little AirBnB in a village called Malsch. I had never heard of it either!! but its pretty much smack bang in the middle of Germany, surrounded by vineyards and crops and I discovered this afternoon, is the heart of German white asparagus country. Today, I thought I would see what else is here. First stop was Mannheim - but drove around for an hour or so and didn't even get out of the car. I should have known better because it is the site of Ludwigshafen the worlds largest integrated chemical complex and the headquarters of BASF. I was beginning to think it was another day on the keyboard but thought I would have a quick look at Heidelberg and was blown away by how pretty this place was. The old part of town looks up at a the red sandstone ruins of Heidelberg castle which attracts over a million visitors a year. Spent about three hours walking around and had a great picnic lunch on the banks of the Neckar river. On the way back to my AirBnB I stopped at Schwetzingen for a look at the massive Schwetzingen Palace. Unfortunately the guided tours for the afternoon were only in German so I decided to go across the road to a brewery "Brauhaus" and enjoyed a home brew that was made from a secret monastic recipe from 1516. It was delicious. (Possibly the best beer I have had in Germany!) Whilst there I also purchased some white asparagus from a town that actually has a sculpture for asparagus and another sculpture called the Lucky Pig in reference to a prince that Friedrich the Great called “a lazy chap and lucky pig who has inherited more states than he ever has conquered” Tomorrow head to Munich.
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