Hatfield European Adventure, Part 2, 2016: Heidelberg castle 09-04-2016

Our trip into Germany is winding down. Tomorrow we head for the City of Lights (Paris), but today was castle day for us. We spent the day exploring the Heidelberg Castle. This castle has its beginnings in ca.1225, developed through the centuries and even today is undergoing restoration. The castle ruins are among the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps. It has been damaged severely by lightning, devastated by wars, been rebuilt, damaged and rebuilt again. 3,000,000 people visit this castle every year. Many of them are from Japan. I think now a large portion of these visitors are from the Middle East, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries from that region. Certainly a walk through history and the views are spectacular. We rode up on the trolley car and later continued to the summit in a cable wagon that began service over 100 years ago. The weather has been great. We had a drizzle today and the temperature is in the mid 70's.
After leaving the castle, we returned to the city and strolled along the Neckar River. We walked across the "old bridge" (first one built by the Romans.) There have been 8 bridges built on this site. The others were destroyed by floods and ice flows. The current bridge was constructed in 1788 on the foundations of the other bridges. This bridge was damaged by the German army on March 29, 1945 when they vacated the city in advance of the US Army. The Germans damaged 3 bridge arches. This city is also the home of Heidelberg University. It was founded in 1386 and is the oldest university in Germany. The city did not suffer the destruction as many German cities did in WW2 because it was of no strategic importance. It was a school town. One in five of the residents here are students at the University. A lot of history and well worth your visit.