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For the past few days, our Viking Kavsir has docked give-or-take thirty minutes from the actual destination. Today, moored in the business city of Mannheim on the bank of the Rhine, it used four busses to transport all 187 passages to Heidelberg, standing at the cradle of the German Romantic movement. Why didn't Viking dock in Heidelberg? I don't know exactly how to make my way to the Neckar River that runs through the medieval town. All I noticed was that we were heading down the Continents up the Rhine, which spent a little more than double the time on traveling than the one downstream. Furthermore, Viking sent more buses to pick us up from Heidelberg to Speyer, one of the oldest cities in Germany. Both places were forty-five minutes apart from Heidelberg. I understand even if the drive was for the ship to arrive at the next stop in a quicker time, I would have to disagree regarding the sacrifice of my leisure time in town.

On the other hand, Vikings aimed at investing in the local culture and old town. Heidelberg is home to Germany's most romantic castle. In addition, Heidelberg Univ. has been recognized as the oldest in Germany since it was founded in 1386. The Heidelberg Castle was a minor, looming complex over the Neckar River in the background, which inspired the writers like Johann von Goethe and Mark Twain. No, the castle was actually the main focus. Residence for the Palatinate monarchy between the 13^th and 18^th centuries, this mix of Gothic and Renaissance architecture was later transformed into a military fortress. Unfortunately, it didn't last too long. Attacked by the French during the War of the Palatinate Succession in 1693, Louis the XIV made sure of the castle's destruction. In ruins, not much of the remaining decor could be distinguished from the red sandstone. Most of the buildings had to be derived from speculation and 'science'. Within the walls sat a prize that many adults would die for. The world's largest barrel, a 250-year-old vat shaped from 130 oak trees that used to hold 220,000 liters/58,118 gallons of wine, sat surrounded by stairs in a very large cellar. We could walk through the cellar, as it was blocked by the barrel. If contained wine, nowadays it captures peoples' attention. But like wine, it evaporated quickly, especially when there's an entire town to be explored.

Heidelberg's local culture is also a key site of our trip. The town center, which thrived through its cobblestone paths, was quite large. Regardless, Mom and I traversed most of the area in two hours or so, picking up some gelato on the go. It didn't look as glorious as Rome. The more important sightseeing was the Philosopher's Walk, a long and steep section of road dedicated to the fit and younger kids. The climb upwards was a difficult task, taking nearly half an hour through winding steps and narrow paths on uneven footing. Why did we attempt to reach such an ordinary path? Well, Mark Twain once visited Heidelberg, and upon seeing the majestic castle, he praised it as "the last possibility of the beautiful". I don't really get what he said. Something about the trees around it... perhaps a bit on the light from the heavens and ... photoshop. Anyhow, we reached the walk on the hillside, and the panoramic view really was quite spectacular. If only we weren't breathing so hard. (I was okay. Mom wasn't.) Nevertheless, I thought the climb was worth it. Yet no fantastic picture of the quality that Mark Twain described could be taken due to the countless amounts of trees in the way. Instead of continuing to look for a view, Mom was lazy and we headed back down the same road up.

Heidelberg is one of the most influential towns on our to-do list, which says a lot about this journey. Not focusing on the sights of the main attractions, these two weeks are spent drinking in culture. To be honest, it is really hard for me to soak up every drop of culture, especially with no alcohol in my system since I'm still underage, even for Germans.

【红霞译文】

在海德堡(意指“山羊山城”)我们头一回遇到大批来自中国的游客，好久没这么热闹了。

前些日子，我们所乘坐的“峡湾人·知识之神”号游轮总是到距离目的地卅分钟左右的地方抛锚，今天又停靠在莱茵河畔商业重镇家园市，并启用四辆旅游大巴分头将187位游客全部送往德国浪漫主义运动摇篮──山羊山城，游轮为啥不去山羊山城？我不大清楚如何取道内卡河长驱直入这座中世纪小城，只知道大家正逆着莱茵河纵穿欧洲大陆，这比顺水行驶的时间要多出双倍以上。此外，游轮再从山羊山城调动足够专车负责运送游客前往德国最古老的小镇之一矛城，无论家园市还是矛城，两地离山羊山城均有45分钟车程，即便司机开得够快，我觉得为了赶路而牺牲掉逛城压马路的时间实在划不来。

反过来说，游轮之所以这么做无非想让游客多加体验当地的风土人情，毕竟山羊山城拥有德国最浪漫的城堡，创建于1386年的山羊山城大学又被视为德国高校开山鼻祖，再加上山羊山城堡“残破而不失王者之气，如同暴风雨中的李尔王”，高高盘踞在内卡河之上，更让诗人约·冯·歌德和作家马克·吐温交口称誉。无疑，城堡是我们此行重中之重，这座13—18世纪历经四百余年光阴打造的建筑群集哥特与文艺复兴式建筑风格之大成，起初被用作选帝侯宫邸，后来因加固防御工事而演变成军事要塞，但好景不长，1693年在法国人发动的普法尔茨继任战争中被路易十四毁于一旦。废墟间，除了红砂岩之外几乎没留下什么清晰可辨的装饰玩艺，大多数残垣断壁只能凭借推测及所谓的“科学”依据自圆其说。城堡内还有一样东西备受瞩目，那就是天底下最大的酒桶，它饱尝250年历史变迁，整整用掉130棵橡树，足以盛下22万升／5.8万加仑酒水。酒窖空间很大，酒桶周围设有楼梯，我们可以绕着它四处溜达。如今凡事跟酒扯上关系，定会吸引民众眼球，但像葡萄酒一样，它挥发得亦快，更何况小城其它地方也有待我们亲力亲为。

山羊山城市井文化同样是我们参观的重点，城中心鹅卵石铺就的街区车水马龙，地域跨度相当可观，无论如何，我和妈妈花上两个来钟头几乎把老城逛了个遍，顺路没忘抄来手工冰激凌犒劳自己，但好像没有像罗马做得那么花哨。“哲学家小道”当该属于比较关键的景点，路程又长又陡，适合活蹦乱跳的小孩子，不出半个钟头爬完高低不平九曲十八弯的山径绝非易事，我们干吗对这条羊肠小路如此起劲？没错，马克·吐温曾经到访山羊山城，一看到城堡便盛赞它为自己“到过的最美的地方”，反正我没体验到他那份感受，跟树林密不透风有关……也许仅露点光亮……图片处理一下。我们总算来到“哲学家小道”，眼前风景格外壮观，只是呼哧带喘累得够呛（我蛮好，可妈妈挺吃力）。回过头来看，费劲爬坡还是值得的，尽管因枝叶遮目而未能看到马克·吐温所描述的完美画面。我本想继续前行，但妈妈懒得动弹，我们只好照原路打道回府。

在我们出行计划中，山羊山城算作大名鼎鼎的小城之一，来之前常听人提及。不过这两周大家并没把精力放在景点观光上，而是倾注于饮酒文化。坦率地说，让我整天品酒实在吃不消，特别是我喝的饮料未带丁点酒精，毕竟年龄受限，即使在德国照样不够资格。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2017: Speyer—2027 Years of Glory, DE(德国尖塔城—二千零廿七年颂歌)

2017: Speyer the Emperor Burial Place, DEU(德国尖塔城—皇陵圣地)

2017: Speyer Cathedral, Germany(德国尖塔城大教堂)

2017: Mannheim—UNESCO City of Music, DEU(德国家园城—联合国科教文之音乐城)

2017: Ludwigshafen—BASF SE, DEU(德国名将港—世界最大的化学公司巴斯夫总部)

2017: Heidelberg the University Town, DEU(德国山羊山城—大学城)

2017: Heidelberg—UNESCO City of Literature, DEU(德国山羊山城—联合国科教文之文学城)

2017: Heidelberg Castle, Germany(德国山羊山城堡)

2015: Garden Expo Park, Beijing(北京园博园)

2014: Scrimmage in Soccer Practice(足球训练中的混战)