Heidelberg, Germany Sept 1

 

Arleen stayed back at the house to work on the pictures and find a place for us to go when we left Germany in 2 days.

Duane went with Bill, Eileen and Kai to Heidelberg (with Arleen’s camera).

                                      

 

 In Germany, most older cities have a castle or palace that served as the residence of a prince or a duke.  Many of Germany’s castles were destroyed in WW II because they were in the industrial regions and therefore had to either be restored or abandoned. 

Heidelberg was different in that it had no war related industries which would have been targets of Allied bombings.  Therefore, Heidelberg Castle has remained as is without being restored. 

To enter the castle you had to pass under a gate with a coat of arms above it.  The Heidelberg coat of arms included two lions.

Once inside, there was a large main square with buildings on all sides.

 

           As you enter the castle, the first thing you see is a wall with empty windows at the top.  This served as part of the fortifications and gave the troops inside the opportunity to fire on the enemy.  Adjacent to this wall is the palace.  All kinds of buildings, shops and homes used the castle walls as part of their buildings saving them the cost of one wall. 

                                                                                                                       

These are some pictures of the palace in the castle.

 

                                       

It may sound strange for stone buildings to burn, but fire was also a major cause of destruction of castles.  This castle had one wing that was destroyed by fire and this is what was left.

       

The palace is on the left and the destroyed parts are out of sight.  In the center of the courtyard were the gardens.                

                                                                  

In order to maintain the palace and castle, the lord of the manor collected tithe from all of the farmers he protected.  He would take a tenth of everything that was produced on his land.  That included wine.  The square hole in the floor opens up so that the winemakers can pour their wine down into a huge barrel underneath.  We couldn’t help but wonder what you got when you mixed all those wines together.

               

And, of course, we saw another castle on the way back to Kai’s home.