On Wednesday we went to Heidelberg, which is about a 1 1/2 hour train ride south of Frankfurt. Heidelberg was our favorite town of the whole trip. The old town was much bigger than in the others, and new wasn't mixed with old. There was a distinct, yet invisible, line where the old town ended and the newer things began.
I found a hotel called Elite Hotel, that was in an old row house. The price was the cheapest in town that I could find, and it wasn't too far from the old town. So we stayed there, and I loved it. Our room was across the street in "Haus Bunsen".
On the way from the train station to the hotel.
Waiting to check in.
Haus Bunsen our room was on the left with the balcony.
Miss A loved walking around on the balcony.
The Heidelberg Castle was the first thing we went to see after giving the kids a snack in our room. We picked up a map while we were at the train station and also looked online. So started out on our hike. The Castle, like most, is on a hill. The first part of the walk wasn't bad, but once we started going up the hill, it was tough to get up. Steve pushed both kids, who fell asleep on the way, up the hill. I took a few small turns, but he did the lion's share. I think he didn't want to walk as slowly as I was while I pushed :). It was hard work. I was hot and wanted to take off my scarf and hat and gloves by the time we got to the top.
When we got to these stairs, we weren't sure which way to proceed. (up obviously, but whether to follow the road, or go up the stairs) If there were only a few stairs we could do that. I went up to investigate, and found that it was a lot of stairs. Not something we could have managed with the stroller. So up the street we went. The last little bit was on cobble stone, which is not easy to push a stroller on.
We bought tickets to go inside the courtyard and I bought a ticket to go on the last tour of the day, which thankfully was in english. After our experience in the Marksburg Castle, Steve didn't want to take the kids in and not be able to get out and have Miss A scream the whole time again. He told me to go. I really wanted to go inside, so I was glad I got to go. I took more pictures than I normally would have so that I could show Steve and hopefully remember what the guide said.
The part behind me and to the left some was the part the was restored in the late 1800s
While I was on the tour, Steve took the kids through the Pharmacy Museum, where they had a kids area where the kids could follow recipes and make herbal concoctions like they used to do. Big E made one for me.
They also saw the massive wine barrel and looked around the balcony.
I liked that the castle is mostly in ruins and that they are keeping it that way. They only do maintenance work, nothing to restore it. The part that is restored was restored in the 1800s in the Renaissance style.
These are medieval bathrooms. We were standing on what used to be the moat.
This is a pump that was connected to a massive wine barrel (it's about 23 ft high, and 27.9 ft wide, and holds 58,124 gallons of wine.) It is located just off a banquet hall. They filled the massive barrel from a whole in the floor.
The massive wine barrel. That is an adult man at the bottom and adults at the top.
The not quite as massive wine barrel.
This is the upstairs hall in the restored palace.
These little doors let the servants keep the furnaces hot. The guide said it got so cold in there, even with the furnaces burning, that they would have to drink their wine quickly before it froze over.
The furnace doors aove and the statue below (there were others, but I only took one picture) are original to the castle.
All the stair cases were round and went clockwise going up. They did this as a defense mechanism.
After seeing the inside, we walked around the outside. The ammunition and gun powder were kept in here.
When we bought the tickets to go in, we found out that there was a funicular to take you up and down. Had I known about that, we wouldn't have trekked the whole way up. The lady at the counter, when she asked if we took the funicular or drove and I told her we walked, said "that's sporty." Really, that's just not reading the map carefully enough as it was even marked on the map we got from the train station. But it was good exercise. Needless to say, we took the funicular down.
We then walked through a bit of the old town to find the restaurant I read about. We had dinner in the oldest restaurant in Heidelberg, Essighaus.
On the way home, Big E wanted to see the "big fountain", which we had passed on the way to the Heidelberg Castle.
I found a hotel called Elite Hotel, that was in an old row house. The price was the cheapest in town that I could find, and it wasn't too far from the old town. So we stayed there, and I loved it. Our room was across the street in "Haus Bunsen".
On the way from the train station to the hotel.
Waiting to check in.
Haus Bunsen our room was on the left with the balcony.
Miss A loved walking around on the balcony.
The Heidelberg Castle was the first thing we went to see after giving the kids a snack in our room. We picked up a map while we were at the train station and also looked online. So started out on our hike. The Castle, like most, is on a hill. The first part of the walk wasn't bad, but once we started going up the hill, it was tough to get up. Steve pushed both kids, who fell asleep on the way, up the hill. I took a few small turns, but he did the lion's share. I think he didn't want to walk as slowly as I was while I pushed :). It was hard work. I was hot and wanted to take off my scarf and hat and gloves by the time we got to the top.
When we got to these stairs, we weren't sure which way to proceed. (up obviously, but whether to follow the road, or go up the stairs) If there were only a few stairs we could do that. I went up to investigate, and found that it was a lot of stairs. Not something we could have managed with the stroller. So up the street we went. The last little bit was on cobble stone, which is not easy to push a stroller on.
We bought tickets to go inside the courtyard and I bought a ticket to go on the last tour of the day, which thankfully was in english. After our experience in the Marksburg Castle, Steve didn't want to take the kids in and not be able to get out and have Miss A scream the whole time again. He told me to go. I really wanted to go inside, so I was glad I got to go. I took more pictures than I normally would have so that I could show Steve and hopefully remember what the guide said.
The part behind me and to the left some was the part the was restored in the late 1800s
While I was on the tour, Steve took the kids through the Pharmacy Museum, where they had a kids area where the kids could follow recipes and make herbal concoctions like they used to do. Big E made one for me.
They also saw the massive wine barrel and looked around the balcony.
I liked that the castle is mostly in ruins and that they are keeping it that way. They only do maintenance work, nothing to restore it. The part that is restored was restored in the 1800s in the Renaissance style.
These are medieval bathrooms. We were standing on what used to be the moat.
This is a pump that was connected to a massive wine barrel (it's about 23 ft high, and 27.9 ft wide, and holds 58,124 gallons of wine.) It is located just off a banquet hall. They filled the massive barrel from a whole in the floor.
The massive wine barrel. That is an adult man at the bottom and adults at the top.
The not quite as massive wine barrel.
This is the upstairs hall in the restored palace.
These little doors let the servants keep the furnaces hot. The guide said it got so cold in there, even with the furnaces burning, that they would have to drink their wine quickly before it froze over.
The furnace doors aove and the statue below (there were others, but I only took one picture) are original to the castle.
All the stair cases were round and went clockwise going up. They did this as a defense mechanism.
After seeing the inside, we walked around the outside. The ammunition and gun powder were kept in here.
When we bought the tickets to go in, we found out that there was a funicular to take you up and down. Had I known about that, we wouldn't have trekked the whole way up. The lady at the counter, when she asked if we took the funicular or drove and I told her we walked, said "that's sporty." Really, that's just not reading the map carefully enough as it was even marked on the map we got from the train station. But it was good exercise. Needless to say, we took the funicular down.
We then walked through a bit of the old town to find the restaurant I read about. We had dinner in the oldest restaurant in Heidelberg, Essighaus.
On the way home, Big E wanted to see the "big fountain", which we had passed on the way to the Heidelberg Castle.
After we got back to our room, we pretty much crashed.
1 comment:
How cool that you get to do this with your little family!
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