Heidelberg

Here's the view out of our hotel window in Heidelberg. Yep, another train station. And this is a busy one - on the main line from Frankfurt, Cologne, and points north to Stuttgart, Zurich, and points south.

Being at the Hauptbahnhof has advantages. Food is readily available within walking distance. There's usually a McDonalds for Terry's morning weak American coffee. Most trams and busses stop there. The rooms are extra soundproofed and the neighbors don't bother you.

At the entrance is a full-sized statue to the full-sized
Johannes Fries, 1837-1905, a dienstmann muck,
Evidently a well-loved porter.

But let's go to Heidelberg proper. The sprawling town of 70,000 occupies the edge of a plain and the old section goes up the Neckar River where it exits the hills before merging with the Rhine. It's the old section that makes it famous - that's where university and the ruined castle are.

The university is all over. Famous partly because it was founded in 1386. It occupies buildings downtown and up in the hills in a park setting. There is no real center building and you wouldn't know it even exists in July except for the standard student hangout areas, many cultural events put on by the arts section, and a tourist stop at a student prison last used in 1914.

That leaves us with the old town and the castle. The old town is much like many Europe city centers, basically a pedestrian mall with lots of restaurants and shopping. In fact, the official city chronology ends with "1975 - Start of activities to extensively modernize the Old Town". We'll spare you that and concentrate, as usual, on old buildings.

The pedestrian bridge in the old section is the second most photographed
spot in town. The towers are "new" but the bridge was built in 1786.

The foreground is the Grand Ducal Palace, now the Academy of the Sciences.
Built in 1717-1719 but given a symmetrical facade of plaster in the 1800s.
The castle, of course is in the background.

Ah yes, the castle. Tourists flock to the courtyard (3€) to have their pictures taken, at least Korean tourists seem to. The one problem with the castle is probably the reason for its fame. It's mainly just ruins. Back in the 1600s the area's ruling Palatines tried to become their own kingdom. Not to be. The town was laid to waste from 1689 and again in 1693. Just ruins of the once-ornate castle were left and Mannheim, 20 miles downstream, became the new court.

Once no royalty cared about the place it became basically a quarry for red sandstone blocks; the surrounding hills are the source for the original material. Back around 1900 an effort was started to rebuild the castle but only one building was completed (or started for that matter), a renaissance palace, below. WWII brought no destruction to the town and since then the castle has been restored as a working ruin.

Terry stands in front of a big wine vat
in a basement room of the castle.

But this one, the Gross Fass, built in the
18th century, holds 221,726 liters.

What about museums? you ask. You guys always go to museums. Well yes, There was the Apothecary Museum. Don't ask why, but it was in the castle courtyard. Then there was the Kurpfalzisches Museum which promised some patchwork quilts but it was locked up.

Oh, and the Packaging Museum. This CARE package and a tin of Titanic cigarettes were their proud highlights. A couple of dozen other exhibits of stuff like the history of Nivea Cream tins was overshadowed by the bulk of the exhibit - the complete 2-room history of Schwann pencils obviously donated by the factory. If you want to see those pictures, just email us. Hey, they did invent the highlighter.

But not all was lost. At 5:15 each day the Church of the Holy Spirit invites the public (at 3€) to a half-hour organ recital - heavy on the Bach. The house organist or a university student plays a fine, short concert. Ignoring the breathy voice and the ugly console, it was an experience that should be attended by more than the 20 or so people present each day. Every city with a music school should have a similar program.

Other sights. Ugly all-glass blocks are the bane of post-war Europe if you ask us.

And this statue at the Print Media Academy near our hotel was ghastly.
A 3-legged horse, a shield, and a rotating head on the shield are supposed
to somehow represent the grand history of printing in the area.

The forested hills around Heidelberg are crisscrossed with hiking trails, some quite steep. They lead to various small towns and university buildings. and are well marked.

We came across the Stephansklosters ruin. A small church was here in 1090 that was extended through the 16th century. Archeologists uncovered the foundations in the 19th century and built a tower in 1885. The only apparent purpose for the tower is a good view, across the river, of Heidelberg proper.
A short way further, a sign talked about an amphitheater used by the Third Reich for political speeches. Goebbels spoke here in 1935 to the student body of the university. It's abandoned but someone keeps the steps weed-whacked.

We'll leave this page with some views of Heidelberg. You know you've been waiting for them.

Bob's so proud of this picture it's available as a full-sized, 920k, image,
suitable for framing. Don will approve.