Monday, 21 August. Our first sightseeing after breakfast was the old Heidelberg Castle, on the hill over the city.
The only tour we could catch was in German, and this confirmed our doubts about English being such a prevalent language in Germany.
I had started studying German before we found out we would be assigned to Italy. What
I'd learned was helpful, but not nearly enough.
However, the guide did give us a few words in English once in a while. The Castle was a conglomeration of styles built a little at a time beginning in the 13th century. Parts of it are in ruins, other parts very well preserved. Jane liked "Perkeo,” the court jester whose life-size statue (about four feet high) stands next to the world's largest wine vat. The vat with a capacity of nearly 60,000 gallons, is so large that we had to climb up a stair case to the top where there was a dance floor. There was a great view of the old town and the famous Old Bridge (Alte Brücke) across the Nekar River.
After a walk around the Castle grounds, we toured the old part of the city. We visited the 15th century Holy Ghost Church (1398-1544), the Corn Market, and the Prince Karl Hotel (where Tennyson, Longfellow and Sir Walter Scott had stayed).
We had lunch
(bratwurst) at the "Roter Ochsen" (Red Oxen), an old student inn loaded with atmosphere but frequented primarily by tourists.
Our next stop was the University, the oldest in Germany, founded in 1386. The buildings cover a large area of the old section of the city. The most unusual thing here was the "Karzer,” a student prison with the walls covered with graffiti drawings and inscriptions, mostly in Latin. (Our word “incarcerate” comes from “Karzer.”)
We walked to the "Alte Bruecke," the picturesque old bridge with the twin-towered gatehouse. The bridge, originally completed in 1788, was destroyed by the German army in World War II, but has been beautifully restored. We decided to walk up to the Philosopher's Way across the river on the hill overlooking the city. We went the shortest but, I'm sure, not the easiest way-up, the Schlangenweg, a narrow path almost straight up the side of the steep hill. We were exhausted by the time we reached the wider, less steep Philosopher's Way. But the view of the city was just as breathtaking as the climb had been. Please excuse the somewhat repetitious pictures of this bridge, but we thought it was one of the most beautiful sights we'd ever seen.
Finally we went back to the car and took a drive along the Nekar
River. After a quick stop at the PX, we found our way, with some difficulty, up Holy Hill (Heilegenberg), which is also
across the river from Heidelberg. There was once a Celtic temple there, later a German temple to Wotan, then a Roman temple
to Mercury. Finally a monastery was built there in 853. The ruins of the latter are still there. So is a well preserved
outdoor amphitheater and a lookout tower overlooking the city far below. For dinner we went to the Officers' Club in Patrick Henry Village. The Club was beautiful but the service was terrible. A Colonel who had joined us finally got up and left because he couldn't get any food.
Copyright © 2000-2023 DarrellPeck.com All rights
reserved. | |||||||||||||||||
