We started the day with a boat tour up the Neckar River to Neckarsteinach where there are four castles over-looking the river and town (by the way have I said how much I love boat tours). This was supposed to be 'a three hour tour... a three hour tour.' I started getting a little concerned when I heard the first mate being called Gilligan, but I never saw a millionaire and his wife. We sat at the front of the boat where Robyn had a good view of the river. It was a beautiful day and the sun beat down on us the whole way so much so that I ended up with a bit of a sunburn on my face. The cruise itself was fine especially since they had a bar and served beer. I am attaching pictures of various sites including the Altes Brucke, the first set of locks we went through, a Benedictine Monastery (started as Benedictine Monastery several hundred years ago was used for many other activities and is now once again a Benedictine Monastery), and a general view of the river from the boat. The Neckar is a beautiful river and there were many people camping and fishing along the river. As the boat approached Neckarsteinach the first sight is of the mountain fortress town of Dilsberg which was a nearly impregnable fortress. My brief research showed the castle was only taken once and that was after a lengthy siege during The 30 Years War. After we passed under Dilsberg the first castle of Neckarsteinach became visible. All four castles were built between 1100 and 1230. Two of the castles are ruins but the other two are privately owned and still occupied. The castles are given names based on where they are situated on the river. The first is 'Vorderburg' or the Furthest Castle; next is 'Mittelburg' or Middle Castle; the third is 'Hinterburg' or the Castle Behind; and finally the last one is 'Schwalbennest' or the Swallows Nest. The boat stops briefly in Neckarsteinach before heading back to Heidelberg. We could have gotten off and caught a later boat back but since the two castles Robyn would have liked to have visited are privately owned we stayed on board. The trip back was longer than the trip to Neckarsteinach because of delays at the locks so the total trip was longer than a "three hour tour."





















Robyn was determined to go through the Heidelberg Castle but English-speaking tours are only given starting at quarter after each hour. Since it was already 2 we knew we were not making the 2:15 tour and since we had not had lunch, we set our sites on the 4:15 tour. The Heidelberg Castle (or Schloss Heidelberg) is primarily ruins now, but there are some restored areas. The first construction was completed in 1214, and it was expanded into two castles by 1294. A lightening strike in 1594 destroyed the upper castle (I think there was gun powder stored there that blew up and set the rest of the building on fire). The castle was built with incredibly thick walls (well over 7 feet) in most of the defensive areas. The lower part of the castle also had multiple gun emplacements making it nearly impregnable. The first time it was attacked was during (wait for it) The Thirty Years War when the town was overrun. The town fell on September 16, 1622 and the castle surrendered a few days after that. I don't believe much was destroyed during that period, and after the Thirty Year War ended it remained in peace until 1688. In 1688 the castle was taken by the French during the Nine Year War which was primarily a religious war, when the castle was lightly defended. The French had such trouble taking the castle because of the thick walls that when they abandoned it a few months later they decided to destroy as much of the castle walls as possible and blew up one of the thick walled towers. The castle was partially rebuilt and the French retook it again in 1692 and did a more complete job the second time they abandoned the castle; they blew up the main front tower and some of the battlements where guns were placed. They then set the inner palaces on fire, and this is also when they destroyed the majority of Heidelberg. In the 18th century the palaces were rebuilt in a Renaissance style and just after completing this the castle was once again struck by lightening and the palaces caught fire and were destroyed. At this point it was decided not to waste money on castles so the ruins remained until the 19th century and the center palaces were restored. At the end of WW II when the US Army was occupying Heidelberg they used the restored palace as a headquarters. The castle contains a 400+ liter wine cask that was made from oak trees. It is so big they used a pump to remove the wine and never filled it more than half-way. It was used for about 20 years and then started leaking so it was emptied and left as a curiosity. There was also the German Pharmacy museum that was on the castle grounds which we quickly went through. So that is the quick story of the castle I have many pictures for you to see of der Castle (no werewolves).





























Tomorrow we catch another train to Munich. I don't know how much I will have to write about but something interesting always happens.