"I'm so excited to see Heidelberg. It looks so beautiful." I love watching, Hope get excited.
"I am too. We have two days dedicated to food and sightseeing!" I said, getting excited myself. There's so much to see while in Heidelberg, well Germany in general.
Heidelberg is apparently a college town with the oldest college throughout all of Germany. As we were entering, I noticed the city was surrounded by forested hills, as it sat on the Neckar River banks.
We started our day off in Market square. It was absolutely beautiful; I loved how old everything was. We decided to shop around for knick-knacks then we stopped to get a bite to eat. We stopped at this place that had traditional German cuisines. We both decided to try the popular Crispy roast pork knuckles, schnitzel, spätzle, which are some type of noodles and sauerkraut. While there, we tried German beer and some of their wine. The beer was slightly bitter but as you kept drinking was pretty good. I preferred the white wine we tried over the red wine.
Next, we decided on crossing the Karl Theodor Bridge. It's one of the most significant landmarks of Heidelberg and very old. It was still beautiful and seemed to still be in great shape. We stopped in the middle and overlooked the water. Why is Europe so gorgeous? One day, I want to live in Europe, but then again, I think about just being a nomad. I sighed and looked over to Hope.
"I wish you weren't being sent away because I would love to travel the world with you. We could be nomads together." She looked at me with sad eyes, then shifted her gaze to look out towards the water.
"I wish I could too." I could hear a small break in her voice, so I brought her into my side, gently rubbing her arm in a comforting manner.
"Come on, let's go check out the castle." Hope looked up at me and nodded with a small smile. She hugged my arm as we walked, never letting up her grip for a second.
The castle overlooked the city of Heidelberg. The castle definitely looked worn down from years of weathering, but nonetheless charming. I had a random person take a picture of Hope and me with the city's view in the background and then one with the background castle.
"You both are such an adorable couple." The person who took our pictures said. I slightly coughed and looked over to find Hope blushing. Hope was the one to speak.
"Actually." I cut her off.
"Thank you," I spoke out. I didn't mind claiming Hope as a significant other. I would rather say that than have another episode of what happened at the fight. The person smiled and was on their way.
"Sorry, I cut you off and made you upset by what I said." She still had a blush on her face but smiled widely at me.
"No, it's perfectly fine." She said as she laced our fingers together, leading the rest of the way to the castle. I stopped and took a lot of pictures of the scenery around me. I have so many pictures on my camera from everywhere we've been throughout this trip.
"Okay, where next?" Her stomach growled.
"Alright, food it is," I said with an amused grin. We found another place that served traditional German cuisines and tried something different this time. No idea what it was, but It was absolutely delicious.
"Let's turn in for the day. I'm exhausted." Hope looked a little pale, so I agreed. We always had tomorrow to finish sightseeing.
We were almost to our youth hostel when Hope stopped. She went over to a bush and emptied out the contents of her stomach. I went to her and held her back. Once she was done, she looked up at me. She looked like she was even paler than she was earlier.
"I don't feel so good." I just nodded and went to hold her up.
"I've got you. Just lean your weight onto me." She just nodded her head. We didn't even make it three steps before her legs gave out from underneath her. I caught her and looked down at her, and realized she had fainted.
"Shit." I picked her up and rushed her to the youth hostel. Once I was there, I called out for help. Soon a lady who looked to be in her thirties came saying she was a nurse.
"What happened?" I felt like everything was moving so fast, and I was moving too fast. I was panicking.
"Breathe. I need to know what happened so I can help her, okay?" I nodded my head and took a shaky breath.
"She wasn't feeling good at the restaurant; she was so pale. When we were close to here, she got sick then fainted." She hummed.
"She probably just has food poisoning and is dehydrated. Come one; my husband has a practice not far from here. When she can get her fluids and monitor her." Thank god.
"Thank you so much." I am truly so grateful.
"Of course." I picked Hope up and carried her to the lady's car.
We got there about ten minutes later, and Hope was still pale and passed out. We didn't waste any time getting her in the small clinic. We were met with an older gentleman who seemed a little older than the lady. The lady explained everything that's been going on. He agreed that it was most likely food poisoning. He got Hope on an IV drip and gave her anti-nausea medicine. After a couple of hours, Hope finally woke up.
"Oh, thank god, you're okay. How are you feeling? You better never do that to me again; I was so scared." I rapidly spoke. She weakly chuckled and gripped my hand.
"I feel much better. Thank you for taking care of me." I told her to thank the lady and her husband right before I went to get them. The older man, I found out his name is Hans, and his wife's name is Adele. They were a beautiful couple. Hans checked Hope over.
"You look a lot better. You should be fine. You just need rest and to drink lots of fluids. I'm going to send you back with anti-nausea medicine, okay?" I spoke for Hope.
"I'll make sure she follows your orders, Doc." Hope looked over at me and rolled her eyes.
"I can talk for myself. Thank you both so much. I truly appreciate it. How much do I owe you?" I felt a little bad about speaking for her, but oh well, I'm anxious.
"Don't worry about it, young lady. I'm glad you're doing better. I'll go get your discharge papers and be right back." Hope looked over to me; then, her eyes turned into saucers.
"Shit. My parents!" I just squeezed her hand.
"Don't worry, I already talked to them, and so did the doctor. They are updated and are calm. They want to hear from you soon, though." You could see the relief wash over her.
"Thank you for everything." I smiled, saying it's no problem. Hope called her parents and assured them she was perfectly fine. Doctor Hans had perfect timing as he arrived right when Hope got off the phone.
Adele dropped us off back at the hostel and wished us well. I carried Hope up to our room even though she protested it. I wasn't taking any chances because she still seemed weak. That night I didn't get much sleep as I spent most of the night awake keeping an eye on Hope, making sure she was truly okay.
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We had a late start to our day, but once Hope was up, she seemed to have loads of energy. I have no idea where it came from, but honestly, if I had gone through what she did yesterday, I would not have gotten out of bed today.
"Hope I really don't know if this is the best idea. I think you should rest." She just crossed her arms and huffed at me.
"I'm fine. Let's take pictures!" Her smile was infectious. As much as I wanted to drag her back to our room, only for resting purposes, of course, I knew she wanted to enjoy our time while we were here.
We are currently only The Philosopher's walk. I convinced Hope to do something somewhat less strenuous than the other activities she had in mind. The walk wasn't too long, and it had amazing views of the Old Town and the river. We were submerged into nature surrounding us. I loved how peaceful Europe seems to be. It feels like a fresh breath of air every time.
By the time we got done with the walk, I must have taken at least a hundred pictures of Hope, the scenery, and us together. As I'm looking back at some of the pictures of just Hope smiling, I can't help but adore her. It's crazy how a complete stranger walked into my life a month ago and is now one of the biggest parts of my existence. I was brought out of my thoughts by the very person occupying them.
"Let's get some dinner before we turn in for tonight." Her and her love for food, I swear.
"Okay, but let's find some easy on the stomach type of food, okay?" I was not about to take the chance of something happening like yesterday.
"Agreed. I want to go to this place I saw yesterday." Instead of answering, I just grabbed her hand and waited for her to lead the way. I'll follow you anywhere, Hope.