Lunch with the Selbys

On Tuesday afternoon (1.19.10) I met up with friends of my parents who, as luck would have it, are living in Heidelberg too. Their names are Gary and Tammy Selby and they are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Gary is here for the school year as a professor in Pepperdine University's study abroad program and so of course his wife Tammy came along. When I met them, you'd have thought we'd seen each other all the time in the States but I've never met them before in my life as they live all the way in Malibu. Big hugs and smiles were exchanged, and "It's so good to see you!" was the greeting of the day, not "to meet you." I appreciated that they greeted me with such warmth and familiarity. My dad emailed them before I left to ask if they would mind being my "surrogate parents" while I'm so far from home and I see why he trusts them so much. Gary went to high school with my dad so they clearly have a lot of history together and I'm looking forward to hearing more stories as we all get together in the future :)

Since I'm still unfamiliar with the good restaurants around here, the Selbys suggested we meet up at the old reliable Hauptstraße and go from there. I already feel so at home in this city; it was so natural to just walk down to the tram and ride it for 3 stops until it stopped in Bismarkplatz, where the Hauptstraße starts. It's also a very pleasant walk once you get there because it's a quaint pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants. It kinda reminds me of the Champs-Élysées only it's better because it's not so crowded and normal people can actually afford to go in most of the stores. After meeting up, we had a great lunch at a little place called Chili's and I had some of the best pizza I've ever tasted. We talked about one of my favorite topics, travel, and I got a lot of pointers about places to go and how to get there. I also found out that they have to make the tiring trip up and down the steps by the castle I mentioned in my castle post almost every day. That's rough right there. As we wrapped up our visit, they said several times that if I ever needed anything or just wanted to spend time in a home, I'm more than welcome to call or stop by. I will definitely take them up on that offer. My family is so fortunate to know so many wonderful people.