Heidelberg

We transferred from one scenic riverfront location to another, from the Rhine to the Neckar, stopping a few nights in Heidelberg’s pretty and bustling old town.

The Bergbahn, a funicular railway, runs up the hill behind the city, past Heidelberg Castle. A sleek, modern rail car whisks you up to Molkenkur, a station beyond the castle, where you transfer to a vintage-looking rail car based on the original 1907 design. This one then creaks and groans in vintage fashion up to Konigstuhl, 567 metres above the town and with views seemingly to Luxembourg, so high is it.

The castle was destroyed by the French in the late 1600’s, and has only been partially rebuilt; the ruins are great to stroll around.

We saw some other attractions there as well: the Museum of German Pharmacy, with an endless array of potions, pills and poisons displayed in magnificent, vintage cabinets, and the Big Wine Barrel.

The Big Wine Barrel is surely the equal of any of Australia’s big things. Built in 1751 from 130 oak trees, it has a capacity of around 55,000 4-litre Berri Estates casks.

It was in Heidelberg, too that we parted with Steve and Kim, after another fabulous week holidaying together; hopefully there will be many more to come.

The 1788 Old Bridge - Alte Brucke - is a beautiful focal point for the town and swarms for much of the day and night with happy people and their cameras. It’s also a great excuse for a party: the Old Bridge Festival took place while we were there, with bands, beer and sausages on bread.

The atmosphere was terrific and it was so close to our hotel we could watch and listen from our window. There was a marching band with some very unusual brass instruments and quite fancy duds, and a very entertaining (probably even more so if we understood what they were saying) group that played everything from Eric Clapton to Boney M to Midnight Oil.

We also hiked up a lot of steep and uneven cobblestones to the Philosopher’s Walk - Philosophenweg - a path on the far side of the river formerly used by the academics of the town to do their thinking. The views were spectacular, when our heart rates returned to normal.

Later in the day, after some more music and bratwurst, we found a competing festival in the Universitatsplatz, this one Filipino. Line dancing to Achy Breaky Heart - what bliss!

Then, in the evening, outside our hotel were “ The Shades of Soul”, triggering all those wonderful memories of Donna Summer and Hot Chocolate and endless other atrocities from the 70’s.

Anyway, enough of this high culture. Next off, we are on our way to Fussen, to look into the creations of Mad King Ludwig II.Read more