.:pilgrimage--or less worms and more celts:.

Having seen the sights in and around Worms, we departed our little hopeful hotel--the owner doted over us at breakfast, and despite some noises in the night, I think we were the only guests there, and I hope that they catch a break, even though there are no concessions for poor planning and location in business--and took a tour of the Heiligenberg high in the mountain, overlooking the city of Heidelberg.
The trails afforded a magnificent view, despite the impending grayness of the morning, of Heidelberg and the Neckar below, and wound around several anachronisms, including remnants of a Celtic fortification and wall, the ruins of St. Michael's basilica, and a bit of statecraft, an amphitheater, Thingstatte, with seating for 8 000 built to showcase propaganda and show to the rest of the nation that even the intelligensia of Heidelberg endorsed these doings. 

After seeing the Cathedral at Worms yesterday, we continued on through the region to the old papal seat of Speyer.  Given the weather, we stopped off at the Technic and Transportation Museum, and had fun seeing the classic cars, motorbikes, locomotives, submarines and jumbo airplanes there.  It's a strange business, this sort of taxidermy, especially considering that just up the road, there is another museum at Sinsheim dedicated to the same themes.  The installation at Sinsheim has the last Concorde but the Speyer museum has the Buran, the Soviet version of the space shuttle.  It was really impressive.

The weather cleared up and it was if Spring was busting out all over, after the dreary skies and dirty, hard-packed slush, as we meandered towards the old town dominated by the cathedral.  We had a nice walk and peeked around a bit.  The cathedral's interior was simple and plain compared to the gaudy excesses of Trier and Worms.  Trier has the tunic of Christ, and Worms has the depiction of the Rood of the Cross, which legitimizes the ruling royal families of Europe.  Speyer had no such artifacts but was very impressive architecturally. 

We started back towards Bavaria, along the patchwork of lands claimed by Hesse and the Rhineland-Palatinate, and paid a visit to a friend and former colleague along the way.