Bill&Theresa: Day 7-Heidelberg

Heidelberg Castle

I (Bill) have had a fascination with Heidelberg since high school. I was offered a $1000 scholarship to Heidelberg College (in Ohio), and they had an exchange program with Heidelberg University in Germany. But, $1000 wasn’t much help when the tuition was $13,000 per year. So, it was curious actually being here, 3 decades after assuming I never would.

We started for the Castle (after scraping frost off of the car, since it was 34F). The castle is (of course) part way up a hill. So, tickets to the castle include a funicular ride up the hill. Not really much of a view since the rail is mostly through a tunnel. But it saved a lot of walking! The castle was built from about the 14^th Century on, adding buildings as they went. Some of the grandest were in the late 1600s, into the early 1700s. But it was destroyed in one of the many wars with France, and left in ruins until the last century, when some limited refurbishment began.

The North Wall, above which once housed an English Princess.

While most monarchies are hereditary, from the earliest times, Germanic tribes elected their leaders. As the Holy Roman Empire gradually became centered in Germany (more or less 1000AD), the “King of the Romans”, was selected by a college of “Prince-Electors”, and after being crowned by the Pope, became the Emperor, or Kaiser (Caesar). From 1440 on (with two exceptions), it was a member of the Austrian Hapsburg family. This castle belonged to one of the Prince-Electors. Of course, in the rest of Europe, they traded sons and daughters in marriage to secure alliances, so this prince married an English Princess. When Queen Anne, after 17 pregnancies produced no heir, Princess Elizabeth’s (not QE) son became King George I, and began the Stewart line, which continues to QEII, and her descendants. So, Prince William (and Kate) visited Heidelberg recently to connect with his “distant family”.

Viewing down inside a "tower".
Note the supports for the floors, and the thickness.

Along the wall, and the cross section of the tower.

This gate was built in one night as a birthday gift to the Prince's wife.
(Sorry, Theresa, but you're not getting anything that amazing, this year!)

In the courtyard area. Note the different styles over the centuries.
Also, if you look closely, there is a sundial on the forwardmost wall.
(Not that it helped much today!)

Finished in 1707, this facade has 16 statues, one for each King
from the 1300s to, well, 1707!

Another view of the courtyard...and a much more useful clock!

Now THAT's a BALCONY!!

The largest wine barrel in the world!

At the bottom of the castle was an enormous winery, containing, of course, an enormous wine “tun” (barrel). It is the biggest barrel ever to be filled with wine (58,000 gallons of wine), and is thus a testament to the rich history of wine production in the Rhine valley. In fact, when Mozart was 7 years old, his father brought him to play for one of the princes in Mannheim, and they took a detour to see this very wine tun. You might have expected them to play some Mozart in the room with the tun, but no.

Also in the castle was a Pharmacy Museum. They had a pretty intense coverage of the history and development of apothecaries and pharmacists from the Roman era through modern day, and it was done pretty well. They had over 2000 artifacts, ranging from samples of products to tools, and vessels. And it was warm inside. We split a quick wurst (this time a "Fire" wurst) in the café before heading back down the funicular to the town.

Inside Jesuit Church.

At the bottom of the funicular, in the awnings of a protestant church, we came across a little food stand, and decided to share a cheese crepe and hot spiced wine (gluwein). Both were really good, but sitting in the little square at 40F, was a mix of enjoyable and miserable at the same time.

We went to the church, Jesuit Church, and looked inside. Someone was practicing on the organ, so we were listening to church Advent hymns while exploring the inside. Since it was plastered and painted white, even though the lights were off, it was still bright inside, and (according to Theresa) very colorful. We found stairs down into the crypt, so headed down. It was open, but no lights. (All of those people who laugh at Bill for carrying a flashlight everywhere…yeah…this is why!) It was something between spooky, surreal, and intense creeping through a dark crypt, with only a flashlight. As we shined from surface to surface, new thing appeared, a fresco, a statue, a plaque. We went room by room to the very back, and found…the CRYPT!! Most of the markers on the wall were hard to read, but they ranged from the 1680s or so to the mid 1700s.

St. Ambrose, whose feast day is December 7 (Bill's B-Day).

A courtyard in the middle of Heidelberg University

Next we headed to the University, and looked for the “Student Jail”. It was a prison of sorts, where for centuries they put the misbehaving students. Of course, it was permissible to have guests, so friends of the jailed could bring food and drinks as needed. This naturally migrated into having veritable parties in jail, and ultimately the notion of being in “time out” was completely lost. So it ceased being a “jail”, but seemed to continue as a party spot. We arrived at 4:03. They closed at 4:00.

Haus zum Ritter, the oldest building in town (1592)

While we were searching for a restroom shortly after we parked, we found none, despite noting them on a large city map. Finally, we spotted a hotel, and went in to ask where we might find one. She very graciously directed us to the ones in the hotel! Phew!! After the castle tour, we focused on other places we planned to see, and one of them was Haus zum Ritter, the oldest building in town, built in 1592...and the place we found a bathroom earlier in the day!

Heidelberg University Library, the oldest
public library in Germany.

We continued walking through town and across the campus, and finally came to the University Library. Heidelberg was actually the oldest University in Germany, and correspondingly, has the oldest public library in Germany. It dates from the 1300s, although the building seems to be much newer. We explored the library, and they had a very good display on the early forms of printing, and scribing, including the materials used and some techniques. It was all in German, so we visually enjoyed and moved quickly through.

The Neckar River, valley, and Heidelberg.

After a quick bite in this interesting little place marked with a Golden Arches in the shape of an M, we headed back out into the dark for a walk along the Neckar River. You might notice Neckar isn’t really German sounding. Well, this area was settled by Celts from around 500BC, and they simply called the river “Wide”, so Neckar is Celtic for Wide. We got to see a few areas lit up and glowing in the dark.