Avis' 2nd Genealogy tour Baden- Alsace
The Black Forest Caper - 8

Day Eight - Heidelberg & Speyer

These beds are much better than the Mulhouse one. Tremendous breakfast with buffet & eggs (apparently compulsory). The landlady seems to be a big mother to the guests. I asked if we could stay an extra night & was given the impression that this was a stupid question. We left on the road North to Ettingen, where we picked up the motorway to Heidelberg. The whole journey took little over an hour & we found a covered car park near the castle. This was important, as it was getting hot very quickly.

There are 303 steps up to the castle but at this time of day (10:40), they are in the shade. Built in the 17th century, the castle was trashed by the French during Louis XIV's attempt to push his frontiers to the Rhine. Enough remains standing to impress considerably.

Schloss Gate	Schloss Courtyard	The East Wing
Under repair	The Terrace	Ruins West of the Courtyard

The views over the town are splendid.

Heidelberg from the Schloss

The Old Bridge

There was an exhibition about whether to restore it. There were several conferences on the subject towards the end of the 19th century & before WWI. Some work was done but the matter was left in abeyance. Now, apparently, it is under discussion again. I told the girls on the door that they should restore it while they had the money, as times are likely to be harder later. There are two what might be called jokes: the Little Barrel only holds 45,000 litres of wine, while the Grosser Fass (big barrel) holds 220,000 litres.

The Little Barrel

The Big Barrel

Tickets were E10 altogether & big coffees in the café just outside were E4 for 2. We walked back down into the town, coming out near Spook Church (holy ghost), which is now protestant & quite light & airy inside, although started in 1400. There is some good modern glass, put up for the millennium. We wandered down the Hochstrasse, down to the river & up to the old bridge. We had lunch in the street going back up to Spook Church, only a tomato salad between us & water (E8.90), as we fancied dinner in the hotel. After, we retrieved our car (E3.60 for parking) & set off for Speyer.

The Hochstrasse

Further West on the Main Street

After some musical chairs, we parked (E2) near the huge cathedral, finished in 1225. This was also quite airy but had bad wall paintings. Well worth a stop. There are other things to see in Speyer but not in these temperatures.

Speyer Cathedral

Speyer Cathedral front

Virgin in the cathedral

We took Route 9, built like a motorway, to Essingen & back to Bad Herrenalb by 1645. An easy day's driving. Dinner was Salmon for Avis & Jager schweinsschnitzel for me with 0.5ltr of decent Riesling & coffees (which we had outside) for E34.90. We went for a walk through the Swiss garden to the posh railway station, which is posted as an enthusiast's line but looked like ordinary electric to me. The, through the Kurhaus garden with its not-very-good band & ditto art show. This Germanic Buxton looks like somewhere time has passed by, which is very pleasant for a holiday.

Hotel Kühles Brunnen

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