Heidelberg is full of tourists and students having a great time.
Our first view of the city, driving down from Darmstadt, was when we emerged from the parking lot up on the hill and took in the beautiful little city along the Neckar River.
Here is Andy’s view of the castle:
To get to that vantage point we walked through a beautiful park which was probably off-limits to the commoners back in the days of yore:
At the end of the far pool were some somewhat unwelcome guests:
There was an evening wedding reception about to take place at the castle. Lots of fancy people dressed to the 9s were arriving for the big, private affair.
Here’s a view of the castle from a town square:
Another view from the old bridge:
Tourists from everywhere enjoying the sights:
On the left is the Church of the Holy Spirit, the biggest in Heidelberg.
At first I didn’t know if it was Catholic or Protestant, but seeing the whitewashed walls on the inside, I knew it must be Protestant. The Catholics of course adorn their walls with paintings and statues and such. It used to be Catholic, though. From Wikipedia:
The congregation was originally Roman Catholic, but the church has changed denominations more than ten times through its history. Intermittently, over a 300-year period, the nave and the choir of the church were separated by a wall, allowing both Catholics and Protestants to practice in the church at the same time. The wall was ultimately removed in 1936, and the congregation is now solely Protestant.[3] Today, it is a parish church within the Evangelical Church of Heidelberg and is part of the Protestant Church in Germany.
Walking around Heidelberg, and so many other towns in Europe, you see and hear all the normal stuff, tourists enjoying themselves, friendly service people in the bars, cafes and restaurants, the bustle of people at and going to work, and you start forgetting that the world’s going to pot. Back home you tune in regularly to your daily ain’t-it-awful news stream and you are up on the latest outrage, but traveling around without cell-tower signal or the Twitter app on your phone, you can go days in sweet, fear-pornless oblivion.
Leave it to the church to remind you, intentionally and unintentionally, that all is far from well.
That poster was for an exhibition on prostitution
I wouldn’t be surprised if the prostitution slide show, with a handful of attendees, attracted a larger group than Sunday service.
My spirits slightly dampened by the blank walls, the rainbow and Ukraine flags and the prostitution show, I said to myself, “Time for a cold Heidelberg!”
Heh, I don’t know if they have a beer here called Heidelberg, but I certainly remember it from my youth in Seattle. If you drove from Seattle to Olympia on the I-5, you’d first pass the old Rainier brewery in Seattle, then the Heidelberg brewery in Tacoma. Who remembers this beer?
Gorgeous. Real structures built of Stone and Cement as opposed to the sticks, particle board, and drywall which they codified here. Those walls could actually stop bullets and shrapnel. A novel idea. Now, they just need to obtain guns again and they could get rid of the Duckers, etc.
Funny, that ever since Hitler confiscated the Guns the Germans have kept that NAZI regulation. Is this true? Should we bring up the fact that they still adhere to the Reich's statutes?
FTJ!
A long, long time ago, I remember hearing about a black bear which broke into a camp and drank all the Olympia (Oly) beer but left the Busch alone.
Too bad about the Church. Ya ever notice that the more "inclusive, diverse, and woke" it becomes, the less it has to say to the greater society around it. This, too, shall pass.
Funny thing about the photo with the tourists from everywhere. I didn't see one person in that picture from Montana.
Love the castle, but what is the concave structure at the right? A staircase, perhaps?
As far as the ducks from Africa go, since they are displacing the native species, it sounds as if they are taking their cue from their human "cousins". They probably even poop on the sidewalk.