Ladenburg

Last Friday, March 8, we took a day trip to Ladenburg, which is about a 15 minute train ride from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) in Heidelberg. Andrea met us at the train station in Ladenburg, and from there we walked two minutes to a path along the river.

Panorama of the river

Ladenburg is where Carl Benz, the inventor of the car, is from. Andrea told us that he built a car and he and his wife then improved upon the design. He partnered with someone else (whose daughter's name was Mercedes), and created the Mercedes-Benz. Because they were the first, there was no one else (initially) who knew anything about automobiles, so Benz had to get a loan from someone completely unrelated to automobiles (like a baker or something like that). I don't remember exactly who he got a loan from. Anywho, we saw the first car-garage ever...

Our great-looking group, in front of the first car-garage.

...And we saw (through glass) a model of the first car.

Funny story about this photo. As you can see, I took the photo through glass. It sits inside the Carl Benz Haus, behind glass and a gate (which you cannot see). One would think that because of it being the first car, the beginning of something we all rely so heavily on, that the museum would have normal operating hours. Not so my friends! The Carl-Benz Haus in Ladenburg is open for three hours on Sunday afternoons. So if you ever are in the Mannheim-Heidelberg area on a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do, you could hop over to Ladenburg and see the Carl-Benz Haus and the first car.

After the Car Benz Haus, we went to the library and a museum (which we didn't enter, we just looked at). Ladenburg has been around since forever, and there are Roman ruins all over the place. Rather than tear the ruins down, present-day Ladenburg has been built up around the ruins, often incorporating the ruins into building structures. We walked around a bit, seeing ruins and signs of spring everywhere.

Because it was so warm, but wasn't quite lunchtime yet, we got ice-cream! (Of course! What else would one get!?) The funny part was that each school got nearly the same flavor. I got chocolate, and then Kristen got the same. Phillip and Chris (from Biola) got cookie, and Nattie and Andrew got raspberry(?) (from Westmont). The only exception was Megan (who is also from Westmont), who got citrus. It wasn't planned at all. We simply got what we wanted and then realized that each school had the same flavor.

After that we walked over to St. Martin's Gate and the Witches Tower. The Tower is where women who were believed to be witches were put until they either died or were executed. Martin's Gate is the gate under another tower on the same building, under which St. Martin walked once, so now the tower bears his name. I don't remember who St. Martin is, or what he did, but he was there. This gate used to be the outside of the wall of the city.

St. Martin's Gate

We had lunch in Ladenburg, half of us at a Chinese buffet and the other half at an Italian cafe. I went to the Chinese buffet, which was quite delicious. After lunch we were done in Ladenburg, and Andrea encouraged us to use the train tickets we had to explore the area. The tickets we had were day-tickets, which were purchased based on the zone we were traveling to. On those tickets, you can travel anywhere within the tariff you purchase, using any of the buses, streetcars, or slow trains. We wanted to go to Weinheim, but Andrea was pretty sure Weinheim was outside of the tariff we had, so she suggested we go to Schriesheim instead, because there was a ferris wheel there that we could ride. We decided to do that instead.

It was easy to get to Schriesheim, although once we got there we were a bit confused. Andrea said that we would see the ferris wheel from the streetcar stop, but we didn't see it when we got off. We picked a direction and went that way to cross the street. Nattie had to be back at the Heidelberg train station, so she ran down the track to figure out what times the streetcar left from there to go back to Heidelberg. While we were waiting for her, we looked around at our surroundings, and in the direction opposite that which we were about to go, we saw the ferris wheel past the rooftops. After Nattie figured out the streetcar schedule, we headed off in that direction, and before too long we found the ferris wheel. We discovered it wasn't just a ferris wheel, but a full-on street carnival. There were lots of other rides as well, and vendors on the streets. We headed straight to the ferris wheel before deciding on anything else and purchased tickets. 

This ferris wheel was quite different from any other ferris wheel I have ever been on. On a ferris wheel in the US, the gate locks and the sides are usually pretty high. At Disneyland, it is completely enclosed. Not here. Here the door opens easily and doesn't lock, and the sides were not very high. The first go-around, that was quite alarming. The view from the top was amazing. Since the sides weren't incredibly high, you could see all around from the very top, instead of only from one side. And we didn't just go around twice and then get off. Oh no. We went around five or six times, leaving plenty of opportunities to take photos of the surrounding area. 

Megan Andrew, Chris, and Kristen on the ferris wheel.

 After that adventure was over, Nattie, Phillip, and Kristen went on Der Burner, which we walked past on our way to the ferris wheel. It was like a big hammer that spun up and over, like the ones that can be found at carnivals in the US, but its base spun and the seats spun too. Plus, it wasn't one of those whimpy 30-second rides like in the US. No no. This was a solid 3-4 minute ride that just kept going. Halfway through it looked like it was slowing down, and then it picked back up for another round. Nattie, Phillip, and Kristen had a great time, and were pretty excited when they got off.

Kristen, Nattie, and Phillip. Phillip could see me, so he waved.

After the rides, we walked the streets for a while, looking at what the vendors had to offer. Nattie and Chris left shortly after that, and then the rest of us followed about 40 minutes later. We were so tired on the way back to Heidelberg, and I think most of us had a hard time staying awake. It was a fun day though. We plan on going back to Ladenburg in one of the coming weekends, because it is a beautiful small town. Andrea said that it is a do-able bike ride from Heidelberg, so we will bike out and have a picnic or something.

Grace and Peace!

Suzannah