Written by Kim
I’ve been trying everything to fix the photos. I hope I finally got it. I’m not very good at this website stuff but disabled some plug-ins (not even sure what they are) but…here goes
Heidelberg is located in the southwest of Germany on the Neckar river. It’s a small town with about 160,000 people so we thought it would be a nice stop to cut the train ride between Munich and Antwerp. I had been here with friends from my Roche days when I went to SAP in Waldorf to help them with their software development. We did a Voice Map self guided walking tour through the quaint little old town before the craziness began…read on
The main church in town was originally both a Protestant and Catholic Church at the same time. There was a wall down the middle so both services could occur at once. Now it is a Protestant church. There are little doors on the outside that become shops in the marketplace each day
The bridge over the Neckar River is very picturesque. There are vineyards on the plateaus opposite Heidelberg.
Heidelberg University is here. It was founded in 1386, is Germany’s oldest and one of Europe’s most reputable universities. Heidelberg is a scientific hub in Germany and home to several internationally renowned research facilities. Approximately 30,000 students live in Heidelberg.
Heidelberg Castle (German: Heidelberger Schloss) is a ruin in Germany and landmark of Heidelberg. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. The earliest castle structure was built before 1214 and later expanded into two castles circa 1294; however, in 1537, a lightning bolt destroyed the upper castle. After being rebuilt another lightning strike in 1764 caused another fire. The views were incredible from the castle. We took the funicular up to the castle after struggling a bit to find the right bus to get us to the funicular we ended up just walking there.
We learned when we arrived that our quiet little weekend in Heidelberg was not going to be too quiet because it was there annual Autumn festival which is the biggest weekend of the year with thousands of visitors. We rolled with it and met some Germans to party with. The festival had live bands in was square with beer, food, crafts to buy, etc.
Of course we had some good food too!
Tomorrow we’re off to Belgium to see some friends. Until then….
