In Heidelberg

I made it to Heidelberg without issue, arriving at the Hbf at just shy of 11 AM local time. Found the tourist information kiosk, bought my city card, and scoffed a free map (Berlin has been the only city to charge for a map.)

This station is considerably smaller than the others I've been to but it also serves the smallest city I've been to (population <150,000).

I used the tram system to get to my hotel. The second most expensive hotel on my journey. Unlike my other hotels so far, this one charges to access the Wi-Fi service, a whopping €4,80 for an hour (about $6.50). I paid the freight to upload my Frankfurt report, but I think I'll wait until I arrive in Munich tomorrow before filing this installment. Here are my obligatory hotel pics:

The first thing I noticed about Heidelberg was that it has hills. Everywhere else has been flat as a pancake. I started noticing some hills on the brief train ride (about 45 minutes) from Frankfurt. The train was nearly empty, which made me wish I hadn't gone online the day before to reserve a seat for €5,50 - I had figured that where this train was the only direct train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg, it might be crowded. Oh, well!

I do have a great view from my hotel room, unlike the views of back alleys or busy streets that I haven't bothered to tell you about. Here's what I see from my room.

Pretty, huh? It gets better as the blog goes on. It's Monday, so I already know that most of the museums are closed. But Heidelberg is a living museum, with a large medieval Altstadt (Old Town) and a big Schloss (castle!) I did some planning beforehand and I knew that the castle would be open, and of course the Altstadt is always open.

I settled into the hotel quickly and set off for the castle and the old town. The public transportation system in Heidelberg is confusing and I got turned around a couple of times. So what should have taken about 20 minutes took me about 45.

Did I mention the funicular? That's a stepped train that runs at a steep angle up a hillside. Yup, you guessed it, I got to ride one to the castle.

Here's what the view from the castle looks like:

The Heidelberg Castle started life in the 15th century, but was added onto significantly in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is partly in ruins, but that's part of the reason it's cool. It houses a giant wooden wine cask, capable of holding more than 58,000 gallons of wine - wine was often paid as tax to the Palatinate electors (the rulers of this region in the day). Also at the castle is the Deutsches Apotheken-Museum (German Apothecary Museum) which chronicles medieval herbs and cures and continues on through today's cutting edge modern stuff I'm sure my brother Alan invented. There were exhibits including dried crocodile parts, toads, toadstools, medicinal roots and plants, and also full-scale representations of what pharmacies looked like from the 18th century forward.

My picture of the cask is a little fuzzy because it was really dark in there and I didn't hold my camera steadily enough for the high ISO setting I used to take the pic. For scale, notice the staircase to the right and the platform above. Twenty people can easily stand together on the platform. Maybe my picture really came out a little blurry because I had just supped on bratwurst and potatoes, and, of course, a Heidelberger Pilsner ...

OK, so you're saying to yourself, "Self, enough with the wine cask and dried beetle testes. Show me pictures of the castle already!!" Your wish is my command:

OK, so I'm teasing you a bit. These pictures are of the castle, they're just close-ups. Scroll down a little further for some exterior shots, and enjoy. This blog entry is getting a little large, so I think I'll post a separate entry for Heidelberg's Altstadt - very pretty and many pictures required.