| 15:00 Sep 18 - Heidelberg Walking Tour |
| Note: Time has been changed to the afternoon, since so many guests won't arrive until midday on the 18th. |
| To help folks learn their way around and see the best Heidelberg has to offer, I'm planning to take any guests who are interested on a walking tour of Heidelberg. Weather permitting, we'll meet at the base of the famous Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), which should be within a couple blocks of everyone's hotel. From there we'll walk across the bridge and up a stone walkway on the other side of the river to the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Way), which boasts excellent views of the Castle with the city and river below. The typical post card views of Heidelberg are taken from Philosophenweg. For those not used to walking, be aware you are walking up a long stone stairway. It's not too strenuous if we just take a few pauses on our way up. We'll come back down near the New Bridge and cross back over the river. From there, we'll walk down Heidelberg's main street, the Hauptstraße, towards our starting point where you can retire to your hotel for a nap, or continue the tour with a walk up the 316 steps to the Heidelberg Schloß (Castle). The route will take us past the Bergbahn (Funicular Railway), which we have booked as transportation to the wedding, so it's important to know how to get there. Up at the castle we can wander through the expansive gardens and see lovely views of the river and city below. If there is interest, for 3 Euro each we could enter the Castle courtyard and explore the Balcony (where we will congregate for Champagne after the ceremony Thursday) and the Faßkeller (where the main reception with dinner and dancing will be held). In the Faßkeller is the world's largest Wine Barrel, more than nine yards long and eight yards high with a capacity of 55,345 gallons. |
| Anyone is welcome to join in any part of the tour. If you need extra sleep to recover from jetlag, or you're only up for one steep trek a day, you can always skip the Philosophenweg or Castle portion. Or if you're not the walking type at all, you're welcome to meet us between the two and see where the Funicular railway is. Let me know if you want to join us after the first part so I can arrage a time & place to meet you. |
18:30 Sep 18 - Welcome Dinner |
| Just a casual dinner in Heidelberg where Peter and I can spend some quality time with the people who came so far to join in our special day. There will be an option on the RSVP form to indicate whether you want to participate. That way I can reserve enough seats/tables in case a number of people are interested. |
| The restaurant I had in mind is one of my favorites, called the Kulturbrauerei. It's got great traditional German fare, a highly respected in-house brewery, and even vegetarian dishes (hard to find in Germany). There are two indoor levels and a nice outdoor terrace in the back. We'll see how many people join in, and whether we can reserve the seats. If not, I'll find another good place... luckily Heidelberg has no shortage of great restaurants within walking distance. |
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13:00 Sep 19 - German Civil Ceremony |
| In Germany, the church wedding is purely symbolic, only the civil process actually carries any legal value. Thus, we need to go to the Rathaus (City Hall) and sign some papers with the German authorities before our ceremony at the Castle. Space in the Rathaus is limited and the ceremony is entirely in German, so only people in the wedding party will be attending this event. Although, watching us sign legal paperwork is not the best use an afternoon in Heidelberg anyway. |
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18:00 Sep 19 - Wedding Rehearsal |
| The wedding rehearsal will take place at in the castle chapel, so so it cannot occur until the tours are done and the room has closed to the public. We'll meet at the old bridge around 17:30 and walk to the funicular railway. The organist will meet us at the chapel to let us in. I'll send the folks who need to be there an email with the details, as it approaches. |
19:30 Sep 19 - Rehearsal Dinner |
| Location is TBD. I have a number of nice places in mind, and once I have a definite head count I'll see what's available for the size of our group. |
17:30 Sep 20 - Funicular Train to Heidelberg Castle |
| The walk up to the Castle isn't long, but it is steep, and definitely not meant for dress shoes. So, for everyone's convenience and enjoyment, we have booked the entire Funicular train for the 17:30 departure. It can carry our all our guests, and it's a fun experience that every trip to Heidelberg should include. So, be sure to find out where the Funicular station is by Thursday. I have a map here and I will include a hard-copy in the care package, but you don't want to try navigating it for the first time at 17:25, or you'll probably miss your train. If you are an out of town guest, the station will only be a couple blocks walk from your hotel. If you're a local coming from outside the Altstadt, the Funicular station is in the same building as P12, so it's probably easiest to drive into town, park at P12, and walk downstairs to board the train. |
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18:00 Sep 20 - Wedding Ceremony in the Heidelberg Castle Chapel |
| Dum dum de dum... This is it, the reason for this whole shindig! Hopefully by this point you'll be sitting relaxed in your seat waiting to hear Pachelbel's Canon, not panting on the 316th step because you missed your train. And, hopefully I'll be calmly walking toward the back of the chapel, ready for that highly anticipated walk down the isle, not stressing because I'm running late, or because my hair didn't turn out, or because... Well, I can hope at least. Whatever happens, it should all work itself out, besides it's not like they'll start without me! |
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19:00 Sep 20 - Champagne on the Heidelberg Castle Balcony |
| After the ceremony is complete, assuming good weather, we'll head out of doors to the balcony, where you can sip champagne or apfelschorle (sparkling cider) while Peter, I, and the rest of our wedding party spend some time with the photographer. The balcony is quite large with interesting towers on the outer corners, and it faces the setting sun and looks down over the river and the Alte Brücke. |
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20:00 Sep 20 - Reception in the Faßkeller ("Fahsskeller") |
| The Faßkeller will open around 19:30, and the reception will officially begin when we return from photos, by 20:00, with dinner around 20:15. There will be food, dancing, and fun for all! Stay as long as you like, or retire as early as you wish. You can check out the menu ahead of time by clicking here. |
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10:30 Sep 21 - Rhein Cruise |
| Another TBD item. If there was interest, I was going to look into taking one of the Rhein cruises that depart from the river between the New and Old bridges, just a couple blocks from your hotels. |
9:30 Sep 24 - Pack Out |
| By now I think most of you will have departed, either returning home, or moving on to other European destinations. Since my apartment will most likely be empty, this is a good time to have the movers pack and move all my stuff. Then I can vacate the apartment and not have any remaining responsibilities in Heidelberg. |
18:00 Sep 24 - Honeymoon |
| We should have the apartment responsibilities finished and settled with my landlord, so it will be time to put the top down and drive off! First stop, Zurich, just a couple hours away. |
