German Holiday

My first day in Tübingen blew me away. For one thing, it was sunny and warm so we spent the entirety of it outside.  :)  Everywhere Matthew took me in the Altstadt ('old town') had to be captured on film.  This is because I fell instantly in love with German architecture.  How can one not love actual Medieval buildings that are so colourful and cheerful and look like layer cakes?  Pink, orange, yellow, blue, green - colour everywhere!  We started out day by having tea and traditional German cakes with a German friend we had met while she was in Edinburgh doing an Erasmus exchange (which is the same exchange that took Matthew to Tübingen). 

After exploring the Altstadt on foot a bit we ate lunch on a patio overlooking the Neckar River, which was near bursting its banks.  This meant that the swans were able to plow their way through the current, but the poor coots were peddling hard and only managing to move laterally across the river!  I had Tübinger Käsespätzle (which is a Swabian dish, so it is über local), finished off with lemon-basil ice cream and a walk along the island in the Neckar.  Then we walked up to the Schloss Tübingen, which is the castle at the highest point in the city.  It is open to the public to come up for a look round, but the buildings are Uni faculties.  Lucky students! Everywhere we went, I felt like a German fairytale could be taking place at any moment

Tea and cake with Anik.

Happily surrounded by shutters and sunlight!

Fun little 'twiddly bits' on the roofs.

The Neckar river complete with a Stockerkahn, colourful Medieval buildings, and locals sunning themselves along the wall.

Lemon-Basil ice cream perfectly paired with a hot summer's day and a walk along the river.

Germany is full of great doors.  We stumbled upon these two sets walking up to the Schloss.

Shutters, window boxes, a Vespa... if only I spoke German, I may have never left!

Covered exterior stairways seem to be a recurring feature.

All the buildings are pretty friendly with one another.

Merrily standing tall amidst all the crazy, sloping alleys.

These roofs made me think they were winking at me after a long doze.

Market!  Asparagus season is apparently a big thing in June.

Fell in love with this lemon-yellow building!

Were these lines supposed to be parallel with the ground?  Or no?

Can't get enough of the beautiful German architecture!

Window boxes.  Shutters.  I want them.

Matthew and the view from the Schloss.

Entrance to the Schloss (Castle).

Poking around the Schloss.

Stadtsmarkt - one of the many beautiful squares in the Altstadt. Perfect setting for a fairytale!