Heidelberg and Frankfurt

Flying to Frankfurt/Main tomorrow, ostensibly for the book fair, though I probably will get a chance to visit it only on Saturday. The book fair, I'm told, will be immense, an impressive gathering of publishers, agents and writers from all over Europe. Besides the fair, I'm excited to be seeing more of Frankfurt/Main beyond the airport -- the point of entry when one flies to Europe via Lufthansa.

Another anticipated journey -- the one-hour train ride to Heidelberg, which Vagn's colleague Arthur Krasinilkoff describes as a very beautiful place, with a world famous medical college, now home to a research center for tropical diseases. It's the place where Jose Rizal, Philippine national hero, received further training as an eye surgeon. Sixteen kilometers north, through what seems to be a forest and nature park, is the town of Wilhelmfeld, where Rizal lived for a few months in the winter of 1886: it has a statue of him, in a park that bears his name. Seeing these places will be a dream come true.