Day Seventy Four: Hiking in Heidelberg

Once again, I’ve had another great day in Heidelberg. I set no alarm this morning but still woke up around 9am. I was so excited to see the view from my window, and it was even more beautiful than yesterday. I took a video: It rained last night, but I was happy to see that the forecast for today was clear. The sky has been almost completely cloudless all day. I started the day with some writing at my desk with that incredible view and sat and watched animals moving in the trees. I saw some interesting birds and black squirrels. All I was wanting was a warm drink in my hand. When I was ready, I walked out to the old town once more for breakfast. It was another gorgeous morning walk. All of the stores are closed since it’s Sunday, but there were a lot of restaurants and cafes open. I sat down in one but it turned out they didn’t have real food, only cake, so I had a raspberry tart and espresso macchiato for breakfast. Since everything is closed, my only plan for today was to do the Philosopher’s Walk. It’s a walk down a path across the river from the old town and castle. It has good places to view the city from, and it gets its name from the philosophers, professors, and artists who used to walk that path and become inspired by the city’s beauty. There are lots of places to sit and look out over the city now. I brought lunch and had a small picnic up there. I knew it was going to be a bit of a hike to get to the path, and it was. However, what I didn’t expect to find was a whole network of hiking paths in the forest above the Philosopher’s Walk. I ended up hiking for a long time, much higher than I planned, but I have wanderer’s feet and when I see a path I want to know where it goes. The hike was breathtaking in both senses of the word, and it was much less touristy than the Philosopher’s Walk. It was quiet, peaceful, and oh so beautiful. It was the exact nature escape I wanted. The air is so fresh that it feels good to breathe it in, and my endorphins were high because of the exercise, so I have been feeling pretty great today. I hiked until I felt satisfied with what I had explored, but those trails could’ve kept anyone there for hours. I’m glad that I didn’t know those trails were up there, because I probably would’ve talked myself out of doing it if I had known about them. I might’ve overthought it or made excuses like not having the right shoes, but instead I found them by chance and loved getting to explore them.

It was hard work though, so I decided to get back to town and reward myself with a big gelato. I got three flavors: cappuccino, cinnamon, and dark chocolate. It was delicious. I ate it and explored the old town a little bit more. Then I decided to get dinner to go and head back to the Airbnb early because there wasn’t enough to do on a Sunday to keep me in town until dinner and I was pretty beat from my unplanned adventure. I’m so glad I did though because the walk home was gorgeous. I remembered the entire forty-five minute route without a GPS. I stopped to take a few more photos of the beautiful fall landscapes as the sun started to come down. Then, I pushed myself up the last steep climb to the Airbnb with the motivation of seeing the last bit of color from my window. Now I’m back, and I’m going to finish watching the movie “Interstellar” because I haven’t seen it and it’s on the German Netflix. Then, once it’s dark enough I’ll probably step outside to look at the stars since there still isn’t a cloud in the sky. I’ve still got a few important things to take care of tonight, but I’m just so happy to be in this gorgeous place and feeling refreshed and stress-free.