Writhe and Shine

From Writhe’s journal:

I arrive in Heidelberg, exchange some money, and begin to think that I got ripped off. Nothing I can really do about it. I find a phone that accepts change and actually works. I call J, my distant relative and he gives me directions to the Max Planck Institute where he works. I get really lost going finding my way there, but finally arrive. J seems pretty cool. He’s an electrical engineer. One of his ringtones is the photon torpedo from Star Trek. We make plans to meet at 5:30 in the Alte Kirche to listen to an organ recital.

I met J on the internet when I was looking for people with which I shared a last name. I was hoping to find people to connect with and possibly show me around while I visited their home towns. J was one of the people that responded to my emails.

The organ recital was nice. I walked around beforehand and went to the Schloss and took some cool pictures. Wandered around the shopping streets which mostly had chain stores. After the recital, J and I went to the old library and saw some fabrications of a lot of famous books. Illuminated Manuscripts, Dürer’s work, sheets of music by J.S. Bach and others. It was all really really cool! Then we walked to O’Reilys pub and drank, ate, and talked about a lot of random stuff; Germany, laws, family, etc.
-Some girl just asked me to write a postcard for her! I guess she’s playing a trick on her friend…
After the pub, J and I went to his apartment and looked at our family tree. I didn’t see any solid connections but “J” is a very common name among the people with our particular spelling of our last name. My host listens to music that is very similar to my tastes.
I got up this morning and went to the train station to check the times for departure. I walked to the Philosophenweg and Schlangenweg and then took a trip to the Museum, which was decent. Then I walked along the University and Marktplatz. I met J at O’Reilys at 2:30 when he got off of work.
Heidelberg is an old city and most of the buildings were not destroyed in WWII. Beautiful place, really. I would like to come back some day.