books and fairytales, Heidelberg

July 21, 2022. Heidelberg

I think most everyone visits Heidelberg when they travel to Germany. Heidelberg is an odd place, like a utopia, beautiful and oddly eerie, let me see if I can elaborate.

I’ve never been to a city with so many beautiful and unique book shops. There’s not one alike, every detail carefully placed and touched by the owner, who were usually older German ladies in silk scarves and spectacles on the edge of their noses ☺️

In one shop, my friend asked about a particular book and the owner came out of her corner and it turned into an session of sharing her recommendations and conversation about topics of philosophy and design. It was an amazing collection of books, new and antique, and also paintings. I absolutely loved them, made me want to paint again, for me those are the best kind. Anyway, it the entire experience was amazing but also it reflected the city itself. From any other place I have visited, Heidelberg is a fairytale. The unreal scene from the Schloss, overlooking the river, bridge, lush greens, and old rooftops but it also missed a sense of authenticity. Most people were tourists like us and the rest were wealthy locals, you know the scent of discreet and refined class. Classic cotton button downs in light pastel tones with minimal or non existent logos, book in one hand and their well groomed furry friend’s leash in the other. I never saw any homeless or troubled people, very different from Frankfurt just a hour away. Like that bookshop, long-standing, rich in knowledge, culturally refined, and a controlled space that people who understood the culture enters.