We are mere steps from the Hauptstrasse in our apartment here in Heidelberg. This is the shopping central, main walkway for tourists to get to the big churches and the castle, and the most direct route for most people living in the Altstadt (Old Town) to get to a major bus station. The Hauptstrasse has its own set of rules for walking, driving, bike riding, and avoiding being stepped on or running into tourists who don't pay any attention to the people around them.
Here is the Hauptstrasse at 6:30 am as I cross it to go buy Broetchen (rolls) for breakfast. The car on the right is actually an anomally. Normally at this time there are no vehicles, save the early shift of the street sweeper.
Mid-morning every type of vehicle can be seen driving through or parking at odd spots along the Hauptstrasse. Deliveries, construction, garbage removal, private citizens, taxis, and bikes flying along with little regard to the pedestrians trying to weave in and out of all the vehicles. Needless to say, not the best time to take a picture, so it isn't truly representative of what is typical this time of day.
As the day progresses, more people show up and the cars and trucks fade away. Things get busier towards the afternoon.
However, on the weekend in the afternoons, it is actually hard to cross straight over the Hauptstrasse. You almost have to start walking with the flow of foot traffic in one direction and weave your way across until you can stop and turn around to safely make it to the other side.
And then there is the REALLY touristy area farther east from us. It gets so thick with people you can hardly move sometimes. Not really my scene.
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