Heidelberg

Walked miles today exploring Heidelberg. Nice sunny day after last night’s heavy rain. Heidelberg’s a medieval town on the Neckar River. Apparently there’s a castle on every bend of the river, once home to the German royal families of Hohenstaufen and Hohenzollern. It’s one of the few German cities that wasn’t leveled by air raids in WWII and has original buildings from the later Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It’s a university town – has been since 1386 but a student told us today it’s been proven it’s actually since 1100 something! Very popular with tourists, as we soon found out – huge groups of Germans, Americans and Japanese. Can’t imagine what it must be like in the height of the tourist season, July and August.

Walked up the hill to Heidelberg Castle (the building you see above the bridge in the photo). The guidebook said it was a very steep walk which can take 30 or 40 minutes, depending on your stamina. I don’t know who they test these times on – a skinny little kid pushing his overweight granny in a wheelchair perhaps. We did it in well under 10 minutes! It’s a ruin now. After remodeling in the 16^th century, it became one of Germany’s most beautiful Renaissance residences. However its splendor was extinguished by the 30 Years’ War and the 1689 war with France, during which much of the structure was destroyed. It has fabulous views down onto the town and the Neckar River. The Wine Vat Building houses the Great Cask, a symbol of the exuberant life of the inhabitants. It’s a huge barrel, capable of holding more than 228,000 litres of wine! The castle also houses the German Apothecary Museum, with utensils and lab equipment from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. As Andrew said, who’d have thought an apothecary museum would be so interesting. Surprisingly, it was!