My trip to Heidelberg

I was invited to give a talk in Heidelberg, Germany, in their astronomy department.  And I was lucky enough to be able to explore the city a  bit when I was there.

On my way there I had a "layover" in Mannheim.  I was able to see their "water tower", which is one of the famous sights in the city.

Heidelberg is quite lovely.  It's in a valley with steep sides and a wide river meandering down the middle.  The city sustained little damage during the war, so it still has many of the old buildings.  

In the evening...

And during the day...

There is a large pedestrian mall where people can stroll up and down the cobblestone walks.  It was quite a nice place to wander at night.  

Sunset from one of the main bridges over Heidelberg.

One of the churches.

This is an amazing building - it's a library.  I had to wander inside because the outside looked so extraordinary.  Inside it's very library-esque.  

The one church I got to go into, the Jesuitenkirche, was very clean, white, and bright.  The windows are huge and clear, so it's probably the first time it was "easy" to take pictures inside a church.

At the end of old town is the Kornmarkt.  At the center is the Madonna, crowned in stars.  It's a pretty impressive little sculpture.  

I took the walk up to the castle, up the steep sides of the valley.  It was a steep walk, but not too bad because it was relatively close.  And it had nice views of the surrounding homes...

Walking up to the castle.  

I finally reached the outside castle walls.

And once I made it to the top, the view of Heidelberg below was quite spectacular!

It also has a nice view of the Holy Ghost church (which I could not go inside, because it looked like they were tearing down some of the walls inside).

And a nice view of the old bridge spanning the river.  

And of course, the obligatory self-picture.

Walking into the castle - a very thoughtful lion.

Walking into the courtyard.  Here,  you could fully appreciate the castle walls on each end of the courtyard, each from different eras and built by very different people.

And for Bram - another obelisk!

The facade of the newer castle walls was lined with life-sized statues, holding what looked to be real (or close to real) swords.

One of the towers of the castle, walking across the bridge to the castle.

Inside the courtyard. 

Inside the castle is the world's largest wine barrel - The Heidelberg Tun.  It holds 220,000 liters of wine and is 6 meters in diameter.    Note the staircase for scale.

Also in the castle was a museum on the history of pharmacy, which was quite interesting - to see how the science of pharmacy developed over time.

It was a common practice to hang stuffed alligators from the ceilings of pharmacies back in the day.  Odd. 

Back outside, I make my way down to walk through the "moat".

Elizabeth's gate.

Back in the town of Heidelberg.  I crossed the Alte Brücke bridge.  The nifty tower dates back to the 16th century.

Bridge and city.

My next stop was the Philosophenweg - the Philosopher's Path.  It is a nice scenic path that spans the hill opposite the castle, overlooking the city.  For centuries, poets and philosophers would walk along this path contemplating life.  So I decided to do some contemplating of my own.  In order to get to the path, I had to make my way through a narrow passageway covered in moss.

Steep climb!  *Pant*

A nice garden along the path.

Finally, I did some final wandering around Heidelberg. 

I stayed a bit too long in Heidelberg and I actually got to the train station 15 minutes after my train left.  I thought it would be ok - I would just get on the next train (since supposedly it didn't matter) but *yipes!* I couldn't find another train!  But then I realized my train was delayed by 15 minutes!  I ran to the platform and jumped on my train as it pulled away!  Success!

So ends my excursion to Heidelberg!