Last Saturday (8 March), Mikey and I drove about 150km to Heidelberg for the afternoon. It was a more impressive place than I expected, steeped in fame and history.
Our first stop was the Heidelberg castle, or Schloss, where we quickly realised we had forgotten to take our camera. For once, I was actually glad for the camera that is in my mobile phone, although I expected the photos to be poor. However I was pleasantly surprised when the end result was not too bad give the apparatus.
We hired handheld audio guides (as is our custom) and wandered around the grounds listening to stories about aspects of the castle, which is (apparently) one of Germany’s finest examples of Gothic-Renaissance architecture.
Castle grounds
Inside the castle we toured the Grosses Fass, an 18th Century keg (or vat) capable of holding 221,726L. I think they said that wine was held in the vat, although the wine wasn’t very good because, due to the size of the keg, all sorts of wine was dumped in and mixed together.
The castle also contained a German Pharmaceutical Museum, which I found interesting as I’ve done some work in the area of pharmaceuticals. Some of you may be interested to know that pharmacy “location rules”, where only a certain number of pharmacies are permitted within a certain geographical area, were in force in the Middle Ages. In 1350, the Pharmacist Oath of Nuremberg said that pharmacies were entitled to a modest profit from the dispensing of medicines. In the 15th Century, the government mandated the level of profit a pharmacist would receive. Pharmaceutical companies were permitted to produce medicines for sale in 1827, but the monopoly of dispensing remained with the pharmacist. In 1872, a guild was established to represent the needs of pharmacists to government and pharmaceutical companies.
Anyway, one of the parts of the castle I was particularly taken with was the Powder Tower, which looks like it got its face blown off. With such thick walls, it is hard to imagine how this would happened…
Powder Tower
Heidelberg is situated on the Neckar river (the same river running through Tubingen) and from the castle there are beautiful views of the river and the town, which were an inspiration to the famous writer, Mark Twain.
In the overcast weather, it was a little eerie and mystical touring the castle and its grounds, and quite a contrast to the bustling, student-filled streets of the Heidelberg mall we went to afterwards. There is an American influence on the culture of Heidelberg, due to visiting students attending Heidelberg’s university and the U.S. Army base located just on the outskirts of the town. It was surprising to walk down the street and hear quite a few conversations occuring in English with that distinct American accent.
Heidelberg is quite similar to Tubingen in having a university town feel, with a bit of history thrown in. So if you are in the area, Heidelberg is definitely worth a visit!
Main street of Heidelberg
Heidelberg looks great. Just another place we are going to visit.
Those bloody pharmacists get everywhere…