River Cruise Oct. 2/14

Oops!  I think I said MAY 1st instead of OCT 1st in yesterday's blog.  Sorry!  And I have no idea how to fix it once it's posted.
Oh well, onward and upward - to the Heidelberg Castle ruins on OCT 2nd.  Heidelberg is home to Germany's oldest university, dating from the 1700's, and also to a castle ruin, which has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times over the centuries.  Interestingly, Heidelberg is one of the few German cities spared by allied bombers during WW2.  What a beautiful city it is.  We were bused partway up the hill to the castle, and carried on on foot, being thankful that the earlier fog had at last started to dissipate.

 
 If the castle was under attack, the family would go to this tower by the moat bridge for shelter.

 
The moat had various uses over the centuries. It wasn't always filled with water.

When the family was in the tower, the gate would be dropped - I wouldn't want to be under it when that happened!

Because it was destroyed and partially rebuilt several times, there are various styles of architecture evidenced.

The castle houses the biggest wine barrel in the world, holding 55,345 gallons.  I think it was 6 metres high by 9 metres long, or something like that.  Apparently there was a pump which pumped it straight up to the dining room.  One of the former owners of the castle (I forget who) is rumoured to have been a very prolific wine drinker, who drank gallons every day, and the story goes that someone once gave him a glass of water, and that's what killed him.  :-)

Heidelberg is in the Neckar River Valley, and this view from the castle wall shows a small dam.  to the right of the dam is a lock, as boats ply the river regularly.

Another view from the wall shows the bridge over the Neckar River.  I love the red roof-tops in the town.

The flag atop the tower indicates that the castle ruins is a museum.

We rode down to the town in a "funicular".  Cool!

                                                               A view of the "church" in the middle of Old Heidelberg.  It has been a "cathedral" at various times over the centuries, but is now protestant as opposed to catholic.

                                       
The insides of these places are remarkably similar in many ways, though this one is not nearly as elaborate as yesterday's

The altar was decorated for thanksgiving.  I was surprised at that, because I thought that was something started by the pilgrims, and was North American.  Theirs, though, is strictly a church thing, not a holiday.

This is a commemorative window - has some scripture and a date on it, the date being 6-8-1945 - marking the end of WW2.  During the war, the pastor of this church, Herman Maas, was able to get 1000's of Jewish children out of Germany, and into British homes, which I had never heard before, and found fascinating.

Just because.....

I didn't quite get my head up far enough to look out of the cat's eyes.

A view of the castle from the town.  The scaffolding you see indicates work being done to keep the castle as it is, and not to let it crumble further.

A view from the bridge.

Some of the friends we met on the trip, including Barb and Walter from Cobourg.

We were given 20E each for lunch, and went away from a lunch of 4 kinds of German sausage, and lots of delicious bread and butter, stuffed!  And we sure didn't spend anywhere near our 20E!  Yummy!

An interesting fountain.

A very beautiful old building on a corner - again, of another square.

Just a picture I particularly like.

This statue shows the world (golden globe)  being upheld by angels, with Mary on top holding Jesus.  There is a serpent circling the globe, of which we can just see the pointed tail from this angle,  and Jesus is holding a spear, which is piercing the serpent (Satan).  Rather an interesting statue, I thought.  The castle tower is in the background.

There is a bakeshop in the old town where they make this delicious chocolate confection still.  It has been made there since the 1700's when the boys and girls would gather for coffee, and the boys would buy these for the girl they wished to "kiss".  They were called "kisses".  We were too cheap to pay 4E each for them, so didn't buy one, but when we got back on the bus, Jeremy presented us each with one that he had bought for us.  Yummy!  Was it ever good!  But I'm still too cheap to pay that much for one.  :-)