Mannheim / Heidelberg - German-Rican-Mafia

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With approximately 295,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Baden-Württemberg, after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe.

Mannheim is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Neckar in the northwestern corner of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the city of Ludwigshafen, just to the west of it in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the border of Baden-Württemberg with Hesse is just to the north. Mannheim is downstream along the Neckar from the city of Heidelberg.
Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that its streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, leading to its nickname "die Quadratestadt" ("city of the squares"). The eighteenth century Mannheim Palace, former home of the Prince-elector of the Palatinate, now houses the University of Mannheim.
The civic symbol of Mannheim is der Wasserturm, a water tower just east of the city centre.

Some important inventions were made in Mannheim:
   Karl Drais built the first two-wheeled draisine in 1817.
   Karl Benz drove the first automobile on the streets of Mannheim in 1886. At his workshop in Mannheim he produced a lightweight three-wheeled vehicle powered by a single cylinder petrol/gasoline-fueled engine, first shown in public during 1886. This powered tricycle                  subsequently came to be widely regarded as the first automobile/motor car powered by an internal-combustion engine. Karl's wife Bertha Benz undertook the world’s first road trip by automobile from Mannheim to Pforzheim in August 1888.
   The Lanz Bulldog, a popular tractor with a rugged, simple Diesel engine was introduced in 1921.
   Karl Benz developed the world's first compact diesel-powered car at the Benz & Cie. motor works in Mannheim during 1923
   Julius Hatry built the world's first rocket plane in 1929.

Famous people from Mannheim:
   1762: Constanze Mozart, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
   1821: Friedrich Engelhorn, founder of BASF
   1856: Henry Morgenthau, Sr., United States politician and manager
   1887: Emmy Wehlen, musical comedy actress and silent screen star
   1897: Sepp Herberger, coach of the German national soccer team 1936–1964 ("The Miracle of Bern", world champion with his team in 1954)
   1905: Albert Speer, Nazi architect, Minister for Armaments and Munitions during World War II
   1939: Christiane Schmidtmer, Hollywood actress
   1946: Fred Breinersdorfer, writer
   1960: Norbert Schwefel, musician
   1962: Uwe Rahn, football player
   1969: Steffi Graf, tennis player
   1971: Xavier Naidoo, pop singer
   1972: Christian Wörns, football player for Borussia Dortmund and formerly Germany
   1976: Bülent Ceylan, German-Turkish comedian
   1977: Jochen Hecht, Buffalo Sabres National Hockey League

Heidelberg is a city in south-west Germany. The fifth-largest city in the State of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg is part of the densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. In 2011, over 149,000 people lived in the city. Heidelberg lies on the River Neckar in a steep valley in the Odenwald.
A former residence of the Electorate of the Palatinate, Heidelberg is the location of Heidelberg University, well known far beyond Germany's borders. Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination due to its romantic and picturesque cityscape, including Heidelberg Castle and the baroque style Old Town.
Heidelberg Castle:
The castle is a mix of styles from Gothic to Renaissance. Prince Elector Ruprecht III (1398–1410) erected the first building in the inner courtyard as a royal residence. The building was divided into a ground floor made of stone and framework upper levels. Another royal building is located opposite the Ruprecht Building: the Fountain Hall. Prince Elector Philipp (1476–1508) is said to have arranged the transfer of the hall's columns from a decayed palace of Charlemagne from Ingelheim to Heidelberg.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Prince Electors added two palace buildings and turned the fortress into a castle. The two dominant buildings at the eastern and northern side of the courtyard were erected during the rule of Ottheinrich (1556–1559) and Friedrich IV (1583–1610). Under Friedrich V (1613–1619), the main building of the west side was erected, the so-called "English Building".
The castle and its garden were destroyed several times during the Thirty Years' War and the Palatine War of Succession. As Prince Elector Karl Theodor tried to restore the castle, lightning struck in 1764, and ended all attempts at rebuilding. Later on, the castle was misused as a quarry; castle stones were taken to build new houses in Heidelberg. This was stopped in 1800 by Count Charles de Graimberg, who then began the preservation of the Heidelberg Castle.
Although the interior is in Gothic style, the King's Hall was not built until 1934. Today, the hall is used for festivities, e.g. dinner banquets, balls and theatre performances. During the Heidelberg Castle Festival in the summer, the courtyard is the site of open air musicals, operas, theatre performances, and classical concerts performed by the Heidelberg Philharmonics.
Notable inhabitants:
   José Rizal (1861–1896), National Hero of the Philippines
   Petar Beron (1799–1871), Bulgarian educator
   Vasil Radoslavov (1854–1929), Bulgarian Prime Minister
   Heinrich Neal (1870–1940), composer, directed the Heidelberg Conservatory of Music.
   Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), Indian Poet, Philosopher
   Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), philosopher
   Albert Speer (1905–1981), German architect and Third Reich minister
   Ananda Mahidol (1925–1946), King of Thailand
   Klaus Schütz (*1926), politician
   Harald zur Hausen (*1936), virologist, Nobel Laureate
   Christiane Schmidtmer (1939–2003), Hollywood actress and model
   Dietmar Hopp (*1940), software entrepreneur
   Paul Kirchhof (*1943), former Judge in the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht)
   Silvia Renate Sommerlath (*1943), Queen of Sweden
   Karl A. Lamers (*1951), politician, former President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
   Antje Duvekot (*1976), singer-songwriter
   Michael Fassbender (*1977), German-Irish actor born here
   Ian Harding (*1986), actor
   Marius Yo (*2000), German-Japanese singer, part of Japanese boy band Sexy Zone
Notable people who died in Heidelberg:
   Robert Bunsen (August 16, 1899), chemist
   Felix Heinrich Wankel (October 9, 1988), mechanical engineer and inventor
   Walther Dahl, Luftwaffe ace
   George S. Patton (December 21, 1945), US Army general
   Alexandru Ioan Cuza (3 May 1873), Prince of Moldavia, Prince of Wallachia and later domnitor (ruler) of the Romanian Principalities
   Konstantin Hierl, leader of the Reichsarbeitsdienst (24 February 1875 – 23 September 1955)