May 5 or May 6 Monday – The Clemens family arrived in Heidelberg, Germany and stayed at the beautiful Schloss Hotel, which overlooked the old castle with its forest setting, the flowing Neckar River, and the distant valley of the Rhine [MTLE 3: 50]. Rodney notes that the hotel’s “family-style accommodations suited the needs of the party. Their situation so delighted Mark Twain that he expended three pages of detailed descriptions of the hotel and its environs in A Tramp Abroad” [98].

Note: Sam’s May 4 letter to Howells stated they would go to Heidelberg “the next day” (May 5), as Rodney also cites [98]; [MTNJ 2: 46] gives the arrival as May 6. They may have arrived late on the night of May 5.