Happiness in Heidelberg

Early Saturday morning we hopped on the train and headed north to Heidelberg, a 35" ride on the high-speed ICE train. We were met at the station by Sebastian, a good friend of William Sundquist, who is the son of our good friends, John and Alice Sundquist. Sebastian met Will at flight school in Statesboro, GA, and now lives in Frankfurt, where he works as a flight attendant for Lufthansa. We spent the day with Sebastian, touring Heidelberg and the Neckar Valley in his convertible BMW. The weather was glorious, the scenery spectacular, our guide delightful...we are having the time of our lives!

After stopping to get coffee and cake at a small town just north of Heidelberg, we had breakfast here on the banks of the Neckar River. 

Here is a view of the suburbs of Heidelberg. 

This is one of the oldest backerei (bakeries) in Heidelberg, where we stopped for another snack. 

View from the pedestrian bridge, which crosses the Neckar. In the background, you can see the Heidelberg castle. Heidelberg was not bombed during WW2, so lots of buildings dating back to the Middle Ages and early Renaissance still remain intact. The town has lots of lovely squares (platz), narrow streets, and outdoor cafes.

Here is the palace of Friedrich IV, which was built in 1601. 

The castle is quite large and built on many levels, with lots of beautiful terraced gardens. This is one of the oldest structures on the castle property, built in 1549.

The gun tower.

This part of the castle, which contained the gunpowder, was blown up by the French in the late 17th century. Note the exterior wall on the left hand side of the picture, which was detached from the castle by exploding gunpowder.

Here is the entrance to the castle, which is reached by crossing a bridge over a moat. This part of the castle was built by Friedrich V in 1615. 

Another view of the castle grounds. This castle was the first stop on Cindy and Sam's tour of Europe when they were in high school. Look familiar, girls?

This is the great cask, built in 1751, which held 55,000 gallons of wine. Party time! 

View of Heidelberg and the Neckar Valley from the castle. You can see the pedestrian bridge in the background, which was built in 1800's.

This is one of the fraternity houses we spotted on our way down from the castle. Heidelberg has been a university town since 1386 and is home to the oldest university in Germany.

Sebastian and Art having lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes.

A typical street in the old part of town.

The Marktplatz and the Heiliggeistkirche (church), built in the 1400s.

A nice view of the castle from town. 

After a wonderful day, Sebastian dropped us off at the train station; here is the parking lot outside Heidelberg Hauptbanhof.

Many thanks to John, Alice, and Will for enabling us to meet Sebastian. And, many thanks to Sebastian for being such a hospitable tour guide. We hope to reciprocate the next time he visits GA.