A Day in Heidelberg

July 9, 2015

Although our hotel room was spacious and comfortably furnished, the hotel is in a noisy location so we could have either a cooling breeze with the windows open, or peace and quiet, but not both. Although the weather outside is now much cooler, all the buildings seem to have held the heat.

Breakfast was disappointing. The rate I'd obtained through booking.com did not include breakfast but the buffet pictured in the hotel brochure, of which there were several copies in our room, looked pretty good for 8€ per person. The hotel itself did not provide breakfast but had an arrangement with the contiguous cafe. Hotel guests get vouchers which they exchange for breakfast at the cafe. However, no buffet this morning. We were simply asked whether we wanted breakfast with meat or without meat, whether we wanted tea or coffee, and directed to sit down. My "without meat" breakfast consisted of a single plain scrambled egg, two small brotchen, three small slices of cheese, a wrapped pat of butter and small packet of jam. The same meal on the cafe menu was 6.90€. Al's "with meat" breakfast exchanged one of the cheese slices for a couple of thin slices of sausage. It's menu price was 7.80€.

What's the number one thing to do in Heidelberg? Visit the castle, of course. We chose to hike up--its not actually very far above the Altstadt.

The path up to the castle. I felt sorry for the horses that would have pulled supplies up to the castle.

Admission was 6€ and the English guided tour an additional 4€. Admission included the Apothecary Museum (located in the castle) so we visited that while waiting for our tour time. Very interesting. There was a great deal of informing in German and somewhat less in English.

The tour was also worthwhile. There isn't much left of the castle as only one section was rebuilt after a devastating fire caused by lightning strikes in the 1600s. Only masonry elements (and the chapel) survived the fire; all the interior was wood.

Palace facade with prince (?) and golden gargoyle

The castle windows have been modified over the years

The tower that's still standing, though roofless

I will never figure out how these sundials work

Inside the Apothecary Museum were reproductions (or were they the real artifacts) of pharmacies from various periods in history. This one was from a Benedictine monastery, first half of the 18th Century

You wouldn't want to be below this--Heidleberg Castle had indoor toilets.

The Powder Tower was used to store explosive until it was destroyed by an explosion from inside. Oops!

Another photo of the two of us not on our bikes.

Vater Rhein fountain in the castle gardens

This cute little guy decorates the gate in the wall behind Vater Rhein

We next headed across the Neckar via the Alte Brücke and hiked up to and along the Philosophenweg. We weren't sure where it ended so made our way across the bike/ped bridge at the locks just upstream of the Altstadt.

Statue of Athena (with her owl) in the Kornmarkt

View of Heidelberg from the Philosopher's Walk

For dinner we crossed the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke to the Neuenheim neighbourhood. This area seemed to be where the young locals lived. It was a nice change from the tourist/shopping zones of Trier and Heidelberg. We ate at a restaurant that accepted credit cards--but not Canadian credit cards.

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