Heidelberg

Heidelberg with castle

Heidelberg is home to one of the nine electors of the Holy Roman Empire. When the emperor died these electors would choose one among them to become the next emperor. This area later became Lutheran which led to many wars between the Catholics and Lutherans. Heidelberg castle was destroyed during the war of succession. In the middle ages, a stone bridge crossed the river here, making this a rich town for commerce. The Church of the Holy Spirit is unique. At one time it was both used as a Catholic or Lutheran church. On the outside, there are gargoyles for the Catholic portion and none for the Lutheran.

University Prison

Heidelberg is famous for its university. Today, if you join a fraternity you can have free housing while you're studying and then you pay back after graduation. It was traditional to have sword fights between the fraternities, a badge of honor was to have a scar from a blade. We visited the student prison where students would be jailed from a few days to a few weeks. The first two days you were on bread and water. The walls are filled with silhouettes, sayings, and names. It was an experience one could brag about. There was also an exhibit on the history of the University: the founding, when women were allowed to attend, the “cleansing of the faculty" by the Nazis, the student protests in the 60s, etc. For lunch we had a local dish, “the feeding bag" finely ground pork mixed with spinach in a pastry shell. Created by monks to hide the meat which they were forbidden to eat.

Frederick V portion of castle

Heidelberg castle was built over many years, but primarily by Frederick V who started the war of succession. The Renaissance building was built by his father. The castle is mostly ruins, due to lightning strikes and the stone being reused by the villagers after the castle was abandoned. The tower of the castle, which stored gunpowder was blown up by the French. Inside is a huge wine cask, where the wine taken as taxes was stored with a dance floor on top. It must have been a lousy wine with the mix from every vineyard in the area. The pharmacy was fascinating with multiple rooms from different times and places including a drug preparation room.

The 58,000 gallon wine cask

We drove two hours to finally meet our ship. The crew was as happy to see us as we them, they could serve us instead of maintaining the ship.