Sail into one of Europe's greatest cities

DISCOVERING the student life in Heidelberg, Germany's oldest university town, is a colourful experience for traveller Kari Gislason.

Heidelberg Escape

DURING an extended visit to Heidelberg, Germany's oldest university town, Mark Twain was shocked to see students out and about at all hours of the day and night.

How did they get any work done, he wondered? His conclusion: "German university life is a very free life."

This may not be quite how we like to think of the Germans, but visiting Heidelberg and the nearby campus town of Tubingen  - both in the southwestern province of Baden-Wurttemberg  - shows yet again that students, even in the most industrious countries, always find time for things that really matter, and lectures as well.

 Twain discovered that freedom led in some strange directions. Even in the late 19th century, student duelling was still being conducted more or less in the open. The wounds inflicted during these swordfights could be terrible and Twain noticed, with some horror, that students would later reopen their scars to keep them looking fresh. 

The injuries were fashion items, worn as badges of honour. Why not cheat time a little and pretend they'd only just been inflicted? 

If they landed you a stint in the student prison, all the better, for nothing demonstrated your love of freedom more than paying for it in jail. I made my visit to the prison on a cool, overcast day. It was some years since I'd been a student, but all the same I felt various misdemeanours of my youth re-emerge as I climbed the dark steps.

At the top, the prisoners found an attic apartment with walls covered in celebratory graffiti, and I doubt it took newcomers long to add their names to the lists of prior offenders. They were only doing what all students in Europe must do: make ancient buildings their own.

Maybe that's why the students of Heidelberg were so wild. They had a lot of history to beat down. Much of it was concentrated in the wide ruins of a Gothic castle that still dominates the view from the old part of town and the banks of the Neckar River.

The best story, I thought, told of how a young knight avoided discovery in the arms of his lover by leaping from her window. A heel-shaped dent in the courtyard marks the spot where he landed. Our guide claimed, all too casually, that your real skills as a lover are revealed by whether your foot fits the dent.

Students in Tubingen, a smaller town further along the Neckar, also did their share of duelling, and I'm sure were even occasionally forced to jump from windows.

But as in Heidelberg, the wildest extra-curricular activities seem to have been replaced by a more orderly student life. 

During my two weeks, I discovered that the swimming pool opened in age-specific shifts, and that the water temperature for each shift was slightly different.

I learnt what to put in the green bin, the yellow, the grey, and even the "problem substances" bin. I was told this was a definite achievement on my part. Exchange students, unlike me, were offered courses on Tubingen's colour-coded bins and the "Waste Calendar". 

It was all refreshingly German and not a bit free.

On bitterly cold mornings, I rushed through crooked lanes of leaning, colourful buildings, but only to grab a roll from one of the bakeries near the market square, or to join others warming up in my favourite cafe, Schone Aussichten. 

If anything connects students and travellers it is cafe bars like this one. And one of the joyous things about university towns is being allowed to spend whole mornings sitting on one or two coffees -  in this, the Germans are particularly gracious and you will be unlucky to experience the hovering waiters of some neighbouring countries.

No wonder, then, that cafes make natural second offices for students and their teachers.

When I asked my host whether I should perhaps be doing something, she replied I could visit Stuttgart for the Mercedes-Benz factory or possibly Metzingen, a town close by that brands itself as "outlet city".

The local joke runs that rich visitors pick up their new Benz direct from the factory and then drive it to Metzingen for a wardrobe to match. 

This traveller completed the journey entirely by commuter train, along with all the students of Tubingen not presently having coffee. The most popular of the shops was Hugo Boss, an outlet that makes even a male shopper begin to recalculate how much of his luggage allowance is left. 

In the end, I bought something every Brisbane resident needs, a thick Hugo Boss coat that I will never wear again. In doing so, I employed the logic of an old friend who claims to save her husband thousands of dollars each year by buying only discounted items. 

That afternoon, I wore my discounted item to the cafe and spilt a latte down the front of it before it could get old and properly unused. Sensing my panic, Ingrid or Klaudia or Birgit came to my rescue and said it was OK, she would make me another coffee. 

This, I knew, would mean two or three more days in the cafe. I declined, citing an engagement in a week's time. There was a plane to catch and hand luggage that I needed to pretend felt light on my shoulder. There was time, yes, but only if I remained very free.

-- The writer visited Heidelberg as a guest of Scenic Tours.

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- HEIDELBERG

 Cruising there

Bookings made by September 30 this year on the Scenic Tours 15-day Romantic Rhine & Moselle river cruise will enjoy free flights to Europe, return including taxes.

Prices start from $7095 a person, twin share, including flights and 15 days' cruising with all meals and unlimited complimentary beverages on board, private butler service, all excursions, events and entertainment, wi-fi, airport transfers and all tipping and gratuities.

Tour highlights include Reichsburg Castle, the vineyards of Alsace, Middelburg's Delta Works, Bernkastel's wineries, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Heidelberg Castle, a private soiree at Rastatt Palace and a dining experience in a Dutch village.

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