Very easy. There are frequent, as many as 4-5 every hour, direct trains (S-bahn and RE/RB) to Manheim, and less frequent (1 every hour) direct buses to Hockenheim. You can also get to Hockenheim by trains with one connection in Manheim.

DB website is your friend when you need to check German public transport schedules.

So what about Oma and Opa, do they still live there? Or are they the very reason why she if your GF now? []

 
I am not quite sure what you mean here, but they live in Canada now, we would just like to see where they grew up, and it seems like a nice area, dont know what there will be to do there besides walking around, hopefully it will be nice. It will be right in the middle of our cross europe tour, so maybe a nice slowdown from the big cities
 

That was exactly my question. So they are the people who moved away from Germany as opposed to, say GF parents.

Nothing wrong about going to where (grand)parents grew up, but don’t expect to find much of what they remember. Manheim is a large industrial city, IMHO there is nothing particularly nice about it. No comments about Hockenheim, because I’ve never been there.

If you end up going to Hockenheim and not liking it very much Speyer across the Rhine is famous for its soon to be 1000 old Cathedral, and is otherwise a nice town with just enough going on to slow down and take in the view.

Right on, thanks a lot. I had sort of seen that mannheim is industrial. But that is alright, after that part of the trip I think we might hit up rothenburg au tauber, and that seems to be very touristy and right out of the middle ages so it will be good

 
Rothenburg rules! If you come early or stay late you will actually have some time without all the super touristy jerks too I stayed there for a few days last summer and loved it. If you get bored with the city itself (somehow) you can go down and walk in the countryside below the walls too.

Well we are going in May so hopefully it will be good not too busy, any tips on where to stay?

Rothenburg looks like an amazing town!!  Talk about untouched beauty…
 
What is there to do there besides admire the buildings?  I’ve read that private rooms might be the cheapest lodging (if I can’t find a nice wooded spot out-of-town to camp in)…so if I end up staying, I’d love some ideas.  I know, “ask the locals,” you’ll say haha…but if anyone here has personal experience (Feicht []) that’d be great  

[8D]
 
Technically speaking, it’s not “untouched” beauty, since the US bombed the piss out of it in WWII solely because there was a Nazi official hole-ing up in the town. Luckily though they “only” destroyed like 40% of it, and donations from around the world helped to restore it. If you walk along the city walls you’ll see little plaques with people’s names on them that paid money to help the reconstruction efforts.
 
Anywho, there’s a couple cool things to do. Other than admiring the rockin buildings (which might just take up most of your time) there is a really cool museum about medieval crime and punishment… some pretty crazy shit in there, including some original “Iron Maidens” which I got a kick out of There’s also a “night watchman’s” tour where you go to the main square and wait, and this medieval Jerry Seinfeld comes out and walks you all around the town talking about the&nbsplace… that was pretty entertaining. Additionally, there was another tour that was more historical  that leaves from about the same place (I took em both [])
 
But anyway, it seems like every building has some kind of little shop or restaurant in it, so like I said most of your time will be spent walking around and finding this kind of stuff. Pizza tastes 3x better in a building that’s been there for 700 years, trust me []
 
As for lodging, take your pick. There is a youth hostel, but you’ll probably pay the same as you would in one of the million little guest houses (“hotels” would be overstating it). I stayed in one called something like “Gasthof zum Goldener Rose” and it was awesome. Cozy little room, creaky floors and everything! Hehe… complete with creepy picture on wall… total medieval experience hehe. The ladies that run it are really nice too… I was on the phone for a while one night and I didn’t realise it but they were trying to leave and go home, but they didn’t ask me to hurry up or anything…. I felt kinda bad! But they’ll do what they can to make your stay comfortable and whatnot.
 
I stayed for a couple of days… more of a “relaxing” thing for me, as I went there right after the Wacken metalfest so I just wanted to sleep in a BED by MYSELF for a couple nights in peace and quiet And that it is. A lot of people come there on “day trip” buses but to me, you miss the whole spirit of a place when you do shit like that. I’ll always remember wandering around the cobblestones of Rothenburg o.d.t. under the light of the moon and the few streetlights!

Perfect!  After the bustle of Munich or Berlin (Intl. Beer Festival early August haha) that may be just what I need.  Probably won’t spend more than a night, but I am glad to hear there’s enough to do.  I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t hold 24 hours-worth of interesting things!
 
What’s the geography of the area like?  I’m thinking in terms of hiking/camping/mtn. biking…so is it situated smack-dab in the middle of a field, or forest, or mountains?

It’s like… kinda on a promontory, I guess you’d say. It was probably a great defensive position in the middle ages, because at least one full side of it is sort of a cliff.

Here’s a picture:
[image]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/feicht/DSCN2056.jpg[/image]

I had some pictures of the countryside too, but unfortunately I think I deleted those when my camera was running out of space [:@] But I dunno… like most of Germany, it’s kinda farmland around it, with patches of woods, like you see in the picture. If I recall, the terrain surrounding the town isn’t very hilly but there is kind of a river valley on that one side.

Very cool, it looks gorgeous.  I’m sure the official policy on impromptu camping is “no”, but if you had to venture a guess, would you think camping in the local woods (off the side of hiking trails, maybe) is workable?  It’s not even a thrift thing…I can save money all sorts of places.  I just love camping, and right in the heart or Germany sounds pretty nice!

Ummmmmmmmm… I dunno. I guess you “could”, but if you started a fire I’m sure someone would notice. These aren’t like primieval forests of Scandinavia here, it’s the reconstituted ones in Germany… which are pretty small. Your time would probably be better served just staying in the town!

Got it, that was kinda what I was looking for.  I’m sure there are other parts of the continent to pitch a tent

Yep, like Scandinavia [] You’re allowed to camp pretty much anywhere as long as you don’t start a fire within 50 feet of someone’s house.

See, now that puts a damper on my plans.  sigh…arson just ain’t what it used to be…
 
I’m not doing Scandinavia this trip though…1) I don’t have enough money (and for that matter, may never have enough money for Scandinavia!  Haha), and 2) I think I’d be spreading myself too thin.  Continental Europe this trip, Isles and the North next time around.  I’ll just have to ask locals for some good camping areas near town.  If anyone came to my hometown, they’d be hard pressed to just stumble across spots, but I could refer a dozen!
 
As far as Heidelberg goes (we got a little off-topic lol), what’s there to do?  I’m sure every city in Germany is worth a visit!  For a backpacker is it a good town to check out?

Well, not to step on any shoes, but I hear it’s kind of annoying place… really touristy to the point where the whole place feels kinda “fake.” But I’ve never been there, so I can’t really say for sure!
 
And yeah I totally know what you mean about the camping bit. My friend and I once walked across the state and just found places to camp that were probably technically illegal, but since we knew the areas, it was easy to find places to duck back into, out of the way. As for Europe though, one interesting thing is that a lot of big cities actually HAVE campgrounds. I can’t really recall any off hand, but if you look in a “Let’s Go! Germany” guidebook, they do a good job of listing them.

Yep, way ahead of ya!  For bigger cities it lists some great spots.  Not sure if the likes of Rothenburg made it in, but I’ll have to check out the Germany guide specifically.  There’s always the appeal of roughing it and not sleeping on manicured campgrounds haha…but the intrepid explorer in me may have to keep a keen eye out for those spots [8D]

Yeah, I’ve never done it personally because I never found camping to be much of a “deal”, esp if you’re by yourself. I mean, I like camping in the US, but when I’m in Europe I generally try to sleep as comfortably as possible within my price range, hehehe