Mark Twain at the Neckar River

The Neckar River is not the Mississippi River. But you can also have some exciting adventures around Heidelberg - if your name is Mark Twain and you are a writer looking for stories. If necessary, you can just make them up. In his book ‘A Tramp Abroad’, the American author writes about travelling along the Neckar River in a raft: “We glided silently along, between the green, fragrant banks, with a feeling of joy and contentment that grew and grew”. Unfortunately, the wooden vessel hit a pier in Heidelberg and the raft capsized. Fortunately, he and the rest of the crew were able to reach the banks of the Neckar River and safe their lives. Is this true? Probably not, but Twain wasn’t writing reportage, he was writing travel literature. So why not fib a little?

On 25 April 1878, the author and his family arrived in the port of Hamburg and soon travelled to southern Germany. He had left America looking for a change of scenery. He also had money worries and urgently needed material for a new book. Mark Twain got around a bit, visiting Lucerne, Baden-Baden, Venice, and Milan. The family stayed in Europe for about a year and a half. The author enjoyed the continent and even learned a little German (but also complained vociferously about ‘the awful German language’). On the other hand, Mark Twain loved the romantic student town of Heidelberg and the Neckar region, which he explored extensively. He writes: “One never tires of poking about in the dense woods that clothe all these lofty Neckar hills to their tops.” He also notes, with a touch of irony, as is his wont:

And because the American dedicates several sections of his travel book to Heidelberg, he has now found a contemporary alter ego there: City guide Klaus Mombrei occasionally does city tours dressed as Mark Twain - in a white suit with a cane and a hat.

Following in the American Author’s Footsteps

“At some point, I was asked if I would do it,” explains the guide. And he filled the role he had taken on rather by chance with such life and humour that he couldn’t get out of it, and didn’t want to. These days, he only does tours like this occasionally on request, and today we are among the lucky ones: we are exploring the old town together and cruising along the Neckar River for a while. In ‘A Tramp Abroad’, Mark Twain reveals a few surprising things about the river and its castles and about Heilbronn and Bad Wimpfen. At one point, for example, he writes: “In many places the Neckar so narrow that a person can throw a dog across it, if he has one […].”

Heidelberg Castle - an Abandoned Ruin

At the time, the author was living in the no longer existing Alberts Schlosshotel, which was situated on a cliff above the river. He enjoyed the wonderful view of the water and Heidelberg, noting that it sits in a gorge shaped like a shepherd’s crook. There is more about Heidelberg at sunset: “I have never enjoyed a view that had such a serene and satisfying charm about it.” He describes the castle ruins as “abandoned, dethroned, battered by storms, but royal still, and beautiful”. So it is no surprise that visitors from the United States are still drawn to his poetry and prose and like to follow in his footsteps in good old Germany and especially in the Heidelberg region.

Graffiti on the Walls

“Howdy, howdy, der friends in Germany,” the Mark Twain imitator greets us at the giant wine barrel in Heidelberg Castle, explaining with a mischievous undertone that, in his opinion, the barrel was used to store cream rather than wine. It’s a pleasure to listen to the guide, and at some point, everything blends together: the original Mark Twain, his Heidelberg alter ego, the Neckar region then and now, fiction and reality. It is charming and fun, and the real Mark Twain would probably have liked it, as he was also a fan of irony and playing with words and truths. Back in the here and now, we move on to the Scheffelterrasse (Scheffel Terrace) with its wonderful view of Heidelberg and then to the student prison, the “Studentenkarzer” down in the old town. It is world famous as the students imprisoned here for disturbing the peace by night or being drunk used to pass the time by painting the walls, so you can see political graffiti from the late 19th century in these small, dark rooms. Mark Twain described the prison as follows: “The walls were thickly covered with pictures and portraits (in profile), some done with ink, some with soot, some with a pencil […] and whenever an inch or two of space had remained between the pictures, the prisoners had written plaintive verses, or names and dates.” He adds: “I do not think I was ever in a more elaborately frescoed room.”

Back then, Mark Twain once started hiking along the river, but not for long, as he was happy to reveal. He walked from Heidelberg to Heilbronn with a good friend, but then decided to take the train instead. On the way back, they take the fateful raft ride that came to such a dramatic end. And even if it is all fiction, Heilbronn, the Neckar River, and the rafts are said to have given Mark Twain the inspiration he needed for the sequel to the Tom Sawyer story. At least that is what Klaus Mombrei tells us. After all, huckleberry in German is ‘Heidelbeere’. Heidelbeere, Heidelberg, rafting down the river, something clicks, doesn’t it? And is at least this story true? It doesn’t matter, ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ went on to become Twain’s most famous work and a key novel in American literature. And, of course, the Germans can enjoy taking a tiny bit of credit for this massive success. Even though the Mississippi River and the Neckar River are still worlds apart.