Heidelberg #5

Philosopher's Way.  There's a walkway that's kind of like the trail along the base of the mountain here.  It's a great view and has an amazing stone stairway with viewpoints on the way up.  Jer and I went on our own and watched as the sun started going down before heading off to dinner with my family at this cute little fairy tale themed restaurant.

This was in an orchard.  I was thinking that you couldn't have a tree house in a better place.  Killer view and all the apples you could eat.

From this vantage point, you could see the Fortress, bridge, and three of the five churches in the downtown area.

Fascinating Video on the Castle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBWJSRcIcs

Heidelberg #4

Matthaus Merian

Jacques Fouquier 1650

The garden that Goethe would have walked during his stay there.

 

We took the train up the mountain to the castle.  These kinds of trains are pretty interesting with their gear tracks. 

This was so funny.  In the apothecary museum, they had this unicorn on the wall.  Awesome.

Down in the basement of this amazing castle, the wine cellar boasted some fancy and large caskets.  It was pretty moldy down there so I glanced in, took a picture and ran.

These are all that's left of the gardens... grass and trees.

Apparently they host outdoor operas and things like that here.  Wouldn't that be something to see!

It's kind of cool to see where the floors were.

I LOVE these sundials.

There was also a section talking about shipping of apothecary supplies.

Unicorn fossil

Bezoar

This is the biggest casket in the world.  The ruler would tax their landowners in wine, dump all the kinds into here and there's a platform on top for the nobles to sit and get drunk on this wine mixture.

The castle sustained damage from the Napoleonic War.  They tried to rebuild it and it was struck by lightning and there was a big fire.  For years, the town would quarry rock from the castle to build homes.... until 1800 it became a protected property.

Seth's favorite yoga move...

The train

I think this is my favorite thing about castles... the sculpture.  You can tell a lot about a ruler by their additions to their castles too.  4 generations of rulers built up on this castle... two of them were more notable.  The one who built the façade right behind us in this picture included statues of all the high land holders.... a true politician.  His son focused on a big ball room area and statues of mythical and biblical significance.