It’s just great. The breakfast was amazing; all sorts of pastries, lox, several kinds of bread, jams of all sorts. Instead of eggs and sausage, they had eggs and frankfurters. The frankfurters weren’t quite to our taste, but the rest was just superb.
Our plan for the day was to visit the castle and old part of the city in Heidelberg. We went to the train station and bought a “Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket,” (Beautiful Weekend Ticket) and so far it has been a fantastic weekend. The weather was perfect, and the train to Heidelberg was on time. On the way there, we saw a (to us) strange-looking building. The trains and track area have a graffiti problem. Hover over the next pictures to see captions.
Once we got there, we had some trouble figuring out the bus ticket machine to get to the castle, and someone whom we asked told us to take bus number 32. That didn’t sound right from what the brochure said, so we went back into the station and got a little map. Sure enough, line 32 would get you there after a transfer, but line 33 gets you to the castle directly. Or rather, to the base of the castle area.
From there, it is a very steep climb up to the castle proper. Now I wasn’t expecting much; a bunch of old ruins; big deal. Actually,there are some newer parts of the castle, one with a particularly clever sundial:
But what really blew me away was the view from the castle; it is just spectacular.
Here are other pictures of the castle (schloß):
The castle also has a huge vat used to store wine. They knew how to drink back then!
The castle has a garden (but no flowers in it; more of a park). Here are some pictures; the bust is of Goethe.
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