Mannheim

On March 1, we went to Mannheim. The train ride was quite short, about 15 minutes from the old train station close to our Pension to the main station in Mannheim. The night before I developed a migraine at the joint where the neck meets the skull, so I took some medication before bed. It helped a bit, but in the morning I woke up with a different headache that quickly developed into a migraine before too long. There were sounds on the train that would cause a sharp pain that lasted several seconds each time it happened. I did take medication that morning before we left (not migraine medication though, because that causes drowsiness), but it took several hours to start working.

In spite of my migraine I tried as hard as I could to have a positive mood and a good time. I fear I may have had a short temper at times, but I hope not. I was trying not to let it affect my attitude towards everyone else. I didn't want to make them suffer just because I was, because I hate it when people do that.

When we arrived in Mannheim we took a street car to the Mannheim Palace, which was built in () by Karl Philip. He moved from Heidelberg to Mannheim and built himself a palace there. His successor was Karl Theodor, whose children Mozart taught while in Mannheim. Karl Theodor had several children, but they weren't the children of his wife, so he built another house for them next to the palace, and had Mozart teach them. Mozart went to Mannheim to try to get appointed as a court musician, but by the time he got there, the court had been moved to Munich. While in Mannheim, Mozart met his wife, Constanze Weber, who he married several years later.

Panorama of the Mannheim Palace

Chapel at the Palace

Inside the chapel

Mural on the ceiling of the chapel

This is the house where Karl Theodor's children lived

We were supposed to go to the art museum in Mannheim, but it ended up being closed. Instead, we had time to explore the area a bit. We ended up splitting into two groups: the girls, and Tim, Andrea, and the boys. We girls went to a restaurant to have smoothies and warm up, which is contradictory, but it was nice to sit for a while.

Mannheim water tower

 After our free time, we went to an early dinner at a nice restaurant called Kleine Rosen Garten, which was quite delicious. I had crème brûlée for dessert, which was the biggest crème brûlée I have ever seen...

It wasn't only a wide dish, but it was also pretty deep, so it was bigger than perhaps it looks.

After dinner we went to the Mannheim opera to see Lucia de Lammermoor. It is a tragic opera Gaetano Donizetti about a woman who falls in love with someone from a rival family, has to marry someone else, and then goes crazy and kills her new husband. The performers were amazing. After the opera we were all exhausted, but luckily Mannheim is close to Heidelberg, so it didn't take long to get back home.

Grace and Peace,

Suzannah