Guten Tagg

We never made it to Amsterdam. We decided to go to Heidleberg so, here we are. The German trains are the best. They are beautiful inside and out. We cruised from Brussels to Köln at about 90 miles an hour and when we got out of the station we were standing beneath the great Cathedral. You could already feel the excitement of the events to come. It felt odd to be on our way out of the city upon which so many were converging. We were fortunate to be approached by someone taking advantage of the WYD gathering to advertise their company, a hotel reservation service. At the time, we had decided to go to Heidleberg but had no place to stay. I made a phone call to the service and found a terrific hotel directly in the old city center. We got on another train to Heidleberg and took a bus to the old city. The city is beautiful and built mainly of red stone and brick. We entered the big gothic church in the center square and saw the logo for World Youth Day. We asked a man who worked there when mass would be the next day. He said 11:00. As we walked around, I was struck with some differences from churches we had been seeing. There were no statues. There was go great art. The place was essentially bare. Then I realized there was no tabernacle. I asked the man about the blessed sacrament and when he understood he told me it was a protestant church. He said the Catholic church was about 300 meters away.

We had delicious German food and beer last night. We had bratwurst and soups and german noodles.

After dinner we went to find the chuch and heard music coming from it even at 9:00 at night. It was a concert given by young people accompanied by three adult musicians. They were singing songs from World Youth Day. It was lovely and we felt another connection to the big event.

We went to mass this morning and I don't know when I have heard more beautiful music. Two instruments, a pipe organ and a flute, filled the great church with wonderful harmony. I understood nothing of the readings nor the sermon, which were somehow still inspiring, but I was able to sing along with the music pretty well.

Heidleberg has a castle and a river and today we will go exploring. Tomorrow we are going back to Köln. I don't have any idea if we will have a chance to meet up with the older kids. It would be nice, but I'm not counting on it.



auf Wiedersehen!