Obst Brände Liküre

It’s a store that makes my favourite National UK cider library look like a second hand bookshop that’s been closed for 8 years.

Just 18 years ago a Heidelberg family set up Alte Brennerei making specialist alcohols. They now have 10 shops dotted around the south of Germany with their flagship store in Heidelberg. Their biggest seller is Melon Schnapps but they offer so many more and specialise in cream rich spirits. The experience of walking past their regimented rainbow coloured bottle stacks is a window licking moment even for a non drinker like myself.

Happy Easter

The funniest filled eggs I’ve ever seen for Easter. Adult egg hunt to follow. Gets funnier the more eggs you consume too.

Cherry cream. Now even I could have a good bash at drinking this Pepto Bismol coloured stomach settling drink.

Glass skulls to help you get out of yours.

Is it true they grow the pears in the bottles?

Food and Eating

I need to try and stop wandering about focused on food so very much all the time. I have however noticed in Germany that ice cream is massive. There are Eis Cafés everywhere and they are full.

But the big deal in sweet snacks here is a speciality from Rothenberg. Created over 300 years ago and once only for special occasions the large Schneeballen (snowballs) are shortcrust pastry.

Heidelberg and the Sculpted Mädchen

The edges of building, corners and window frames are littered with female sculptures. OK so many are Mary and her holy child but many are not. I guess if you know your history it’s because the Catholics remained strong in the south. The closer you were to Vienna and the Holy Roman Emperors that were based there, then the more Marys per building you installed.

However the more fascinating sculptures are those that were part of the fascination with Greece and Rome during the Baroque and later. They are all so extremely well looked after. No smuts stain their faces or beasts here. Mind you, few cars in the centre of this UNESCO City of Literature.

Veggie Cuisine

Eating can be tricky for the wandering vegetarian. In the bakeries the cheese rolls touch the meat ones. And rennet and vegetarian cheeses I covered earlier. However there are veggie restaurants here in Germany they are better than any in the UK. Based on Tibits in Bern, Switzerland (World’s first Vegetarian Eatery according to the Swiss) they are buffet style. Red, is one such vegetarian buffet restaurant where you pay by the weight of your filled plate More choice than any vegetarian knows how to cope with. You just weigh your plate and pay.