My travel in Europe:
By train in Southern Germany, 2023

Content:

• Planning for a round trip in Southern Germany
• Day 1, Karlsruhe
• Day 2, Heidelberg
• Day 3, Heidelberg
• Day 4, Mannheim
• Day 5, Mannheim
• Day 6, Speyer
• Day 7, Rastatt
• Day 8, Rastatt - airport

Day 5, Mannheim:

The second day in Mannheim, the forecast says bad weather with heavy rain after 3 pm. We must do the outdoors activities before that and after 3 pm maybe visit a museum.

Overview of Mannheim city center:

Almost every old building in this town was destroyed during the WW II.

Mannheim:

We forgotten that there is a big castle nearby to the train station. That something to start the day with, behind the castle is the river Rhine and a park we can visit too.

University of Mannheim:

When looking at the map we find that's better to start with the park at the river. To come to that place we have to cross the railway. Behind us we have a bridge we can walk over and in front of us is the University in Mannheim. Behind the university is the castle that we visit on the way back from the park.

The ramp up to the bridge.

Up on the bridge, from here we see the castle in the background.

In the other direction we have a view over the old train station, it's the building in center of the photo, left side of the railways.

After the bridge it calm down, this is the park that lead us down to the river Rhine. It's Sunday but still it's empty of people.

The river Rhine and a memory monument.

Schiffermast am Rhein:

The monument, a mast from a ship. But it's some memory of the signal flags they use at sea.

• https://www.mannheimer-schiffahrtsverein.de/ projekte/ schiffermast-am-rhein/ (Schiffermast am Rhein)

The river Rhine:

The river Rhine is important for all transportation to and from the city. It's one of the longest rivers in Germany with its 1230 km.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Rhine (Rhine, Wikipedia)

Here at the park close to the river we find the missing people and what they do on a Sunday. In background a canoe club and a cafe.

After we had sat down for a while and looking out over the river we start walking back to the city and the castle. We don't take the same way as we came.

It's green here at the river with bushes and flowers. I think the name of it direct translated from Swedish is, Blue Rain.

Graffitipark:

It's not a bridge we use now to cross the railway, it's a tunnel. This is the Graffiti park and it's one of many legal graffiti parks in Germany.

Barockschloss Mannheim:

After the tunnel we got our first nearby glimpse of the castle, it's the backside against the railway.

We follow the castle's wall and found a passage into the yard.

It's a big yard and here is one of the old kings guarding the castle, it's Karl Ludwig, 1617 - 1680.

The other king, Karl Friedriech, 1728 - 1811.

Maybe they could make the yard a little bit pleaser to look at, a garden in front of the castle. Behind us maybe there was a garden, but now a lot of boring grey buildings built after the war. We sat here at a cafe that was closed, it's Sunday. An older couple came to us and ask for an open cafe, they asked in German but we understood enough to answer them, maybe an open cafe in the castle.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Mannheim Palace (Mannheim Palace, Wikipedia)

We look at the map to find an interesting way to walk back to the center of city. We find a park with the name Schillerplatz and according to the map there is an open cafe there. When we walk to the park we found this fantastic building.

Jesuitenkirche St. Igmatus und Franz Xaver:

We are not sure what a Jesuiten church is, some special variant of the religion ? The building look great anyway.

The Schiller park is a green oasis in the city. People on the grass and resting. Sometimes it's hard to find information in English and I'm not skilled enough to understand the details in German, yet. Maybe you can figure out who this Schiller was ?

• https://www.visit-mannheim.de/ ... schillerplatz (Schillerplatz Mannheim)

Friedrich Schiller, 1759 - 1805.

Rathaus:

Back to the Marktplatz and Rathaus. Now the square is almost empty of people and it's easier to take a photo of the Rathaus. It looks like that all shops close on Sunday, maybe a problem for us to find an open restaurant to eat at.

Marktplatzbrunnen:

At the Marktplatz is this fantastic statue, Markplatzbrunnen.

• https://de.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Marktplatzbrunnen Mannheim (Marktplatzbrunnen Mannheim)

If no food we can always take a big ice cream. Dark clouds appear on the sky and maybe it's now the rain starts, we planned for that and are just a few blocks away from our hotel.

Leonardo Hotel:

Back to the hotel and we found this sign with information. In this block where the hotel it was an engineer school once.

Now it start raining but where are already in our room. It's a big room with chairs and a table. We brought something to eat and drink while we wait until it stops raining.

4 hours later at 7 pm the rain has almost stopped. We ask the staff on the hotel where we could find an open restaurant, we got a list of restaurants and their addresses. But we didn't need it, we found an restaurant across the street.

A Pizza Hut restaurant, but no pizza this time, we ordered an delicious pasta dish.