heidelburg/buchen

Day 7

we LOVE Heidelberg (and dave heidle)
it's one of the prettiest towns i have ever seen
last year we only spent an hour there and really wanted to return
so the world's most efficient tour manager
J.N.
figured out a way for us to spend an afternoon there
on the way to my next show in Buchen
this time we got to tour the old castle that overlooks the town
Gavin had a great time running around in the grass on the castle grounds
we sat in a little café within its confines and had a very expensive and slightly gross lunch
the atmosphere was worth it though
then we took the funicular railway all the way to the top of the mountain (hill)
which took about 20-30 minutes
destination: FAIRY TALE PARK
it has to be capitalized because that’s the way Gavin says it
it was the coolest little theme park
with all these rides for very young children that cost about 50 cents each
Gavin road on a giant caterpillar around a little village
and then rode on some kind mythological witch creature
with me
weaving around some giant mushrooms
there was even a little bumper car arena
that you could just pay 50 for your car and drive around until
someone else got in the arena to bump you
it was awesome
then we came back down the mountain
and rushed to our favorite Heidelberg bakery
we bought these gigantic chocolate ball things
i am not sure what their real name is but
we call them gigantic chocolate ball things
they're made of white cake
filled with hazelnut marzipan crème
and then toasted and then dipped in chocolate
they're as big as your fist and we bought 4
the drive to Buchen was gorgeous
it was really in the middle of nowhere
we drove for miles and miles on tiny windy roads
through forest and farmland seeing occasional farms and tiny villages
when we arrived at Cafe Pfeiffer
we had a slightly awkward moment trying to figure out
the accommodation situation
proprietor Gregor
led us upstairs to meet his wife and kid above the club
then pointed to his kids bedroom as our potential room for the night
Jayme and i exchanged secret "no way in hell" glances
and suggested the noise downstairs might be
too much for G
Gregor was totally cool about it
we drove the 500 yards to the center of “town”
to look for a hotel
we figured it would be a piece of cake in such a small place
the first two hotels we found were completely booked
go figure
we were stunned
what are people doing out here?
we were on a hill in the middle of the forest
in the middle of NOWHERE
Jayme finally found a hotel that was located in the center of the center of town
which does not allow cars
they spoke no English at all
so we had no idea how much the room was
no big deal
it couldn't be much
so she just nodded and smiled and asked for “einz zimmer, bitte”
the room was small but was literally across the street
from a beautiful cathedral
that you could almost reach out and touch through the window

after we settled in we had our second electronic fiasco that night
our power converter had stopped working
this meant no way to charge our laptop
video camera or my camera batteries
it also meant a lot of bad hair days with no hairdryer
hello again my favorite old hat!!!
nice...

the show at Pfeiffer was fun but interesting
it was a hopping little bar
cooly decked out by Gregor
with all kinds of lights
and Hawaiian paraphernalia
it seemed to be the placed kids
from all over the area flocked to
playing pool
video games
drinking
smoking
hanging out on cafe tables in front
not really the place to attend an acoustic show
so although i had a loyal group
close to the front of the stage
trying to follow my ever chord
and word
at times it seemed like it was pretty difficult
for them to make out anything
over the noise from the rest of the bar
i had fun anyway
played two sets
made some new friends
(even met a guy who looked exactly like my friend
John Jay Myers - with a huge cranium!!)
Gregor played "it's ok to be sad" at least
3 times over the club sound system
so even though i wasn't planning on playing it
on this tour
i dusted it off for him
he sat intently at the very front
and rocked back and forth as i played it
it was a nice feeling seeing him enjoy it so much