0km, 24-37deg, fine and hot. Another hot day in Germany but nothing we can't handle. Brekkie of muesli, yoghurt, fruit and coffee in our rooms started what turned out to be a great day; albeit a little on the hot side. Heidelberg is famous around the world for its Uni, the Baroque Old Town (seriously old Hotel Ritter 1592) and its Castle. It's situated on the Neckar River with mountains both sides, at 568m and 375m. This is the warmest region in Germany and judging by the temperature today we believe it. Almonds, figs and the like flourish in the region, which is unusual in this part of Europe. There's even a thriving colony of wild African Rose-Ringed Parakeets here. Caught the local bus into the city about 8:30am where we trekked up the fairly big hill to the famous Heidelberg Castle. Well what is left of it after 800 years of fires, lighting strikes, several major battles, part rebuilds, floods and time. In fact it has been rebuilt several times but it is still a magnificent structure. It's perched high up above the city and has wonderful views over the city and the River Neckar. In its cellar is the largest wine barrel in the world, capable of holding nearly 220,000 litres of wine. Although it's doesn't hold that much these days due to its age; built in 1751. We had to compete with several tour groups off the river cruise ships to get a look, but we made it! After a wander around the castle, which didn't take long as there's not much of it open to visitors, we waited the few minutes for the German Pharmacy Museum to open. Now that was impressive! In addition to the vast pharmacy paraphernalia, (Wendy was in her element) because it is in part of the castle we got to see more of the inside of that also. We then spent some time relaxing on the garden terraces (now just lawn) of the castle with its great views. The castle is served by a funicular so we caught that to the bottom to save our legs for later. By this time we were all a bit peckish so it was noodles in a box for brunch. Lucky we refueled as we were about to embark on a considerable climb, up the other side of the river this time. We wanted to walk the Philosophers Way and we did after much huffing, puffing and complaining. This walk or way is so called because professors and philosophers from the Uni used to walk out on the forest path and get inspired by the solitude and the great views of the city and castle. It wasn't that great today due to the heat haze and smog which was sitting in the valley. Anyway this lead us to the Botanical Gardens within the Uni Grounds. Compact but interesting just the same. We were a little hot and weary by then so we hopped on a bus to the city where we purchased some nice salads and cold meat for dinner. Oh and a little tipple to cool us down. As it is Gunther's birthday today, we all had our take-away dinners in the hotel stairway with nice comfy chairs and a table. Dinner was over by 8pm, by which time we were all yawning and ready for bed.