Here you see 4/5ths of our group on the "Scheffel Terrace" by the Castle.
The 1/5th was yours truly taking the picture!
Sorry about the lighting. I would have had to turn Castle and Terrace around.
But as you can see, the 4/5th group has the "usual suspects" apart from me!

The Castle towers above the Old Town and the Lotte Hostel,
so we thought we should include a visit on one of our walks.




On the brickwork of the Castle we see the "Heidelberg Castle Coat of Arms" (1683). My knowledge of history is modest, but two things I do recognize. (1) "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (seen this before?) and (2) the Bavarian "diamonds" (white and blue if coloured). There was Bavarian influence hereabouts through a branch of the House of Wittelsbach who, as Electors of the Palatinate owned Heidelberg Castle. "Honi soit ..."? Albert (Count) von Wittelsbach was, amongst other things, Count Palatine of the Rhine and a Knight of the Garter. Howzat for an extremely potted history?




There were actually two giant barrels or vats in the Castle. I only realized afterwards that we actually placed ourselves in front of the slightly smaller barrel. The larger barrel is not so easy to photograph, although we did walk over the top of it. In days of old when these barrels were actually in use, a barrel would hold the wine for the whole year or more. Everything was poured into the barrel: grapes, dead mice, insects and more. One did not speak about a vintage.




Perkeo (1702-1735) was a well-known court jester and court dwarf of Prince Charles III Philip, and was guardian of the Great Heidelberg Tun (Barrel or Vat).




Even this barrel is ginormous.




Here we are again in front of the ginormous barrel.




And yet again.




The King's Hall is the largest room in the Castle and dates from the beginning of the 16th Century. The room is used for festive and official occasions. Pigeons not welcome!




As we enter the pharmacy museum, we are greeted by this still or distilling apparatus.
I didn't check what sort of potent brew was brewed.




This is the first of a number of pharmacies on show. Lots of tinctures, ointments, pills and sundry medications. They are all neatly lined up like books on shelves, and all awaiting their turn to improve the health of some wealthy people from past times
- perhaps the 16th, 17th, 18th or 19th centuries.




The shelf life of the tinctures, ointments, pills and sundry medications could be improved by putting these said products into dark drawers. However, the unified appearance of these storage elements meant that labelling was important so that ointments for the toes did not end up rolled into pills for the mouth. Precision weighing was also required.




The separation fence may be to keep light-fingered visitors at bay, but does give the impression that the pharmacist of old was often regarded as a sort of high priest with great powers of healing.




Nice carving tops this collection of hopefully healing substances. In the past, medication was seen as a local matter, with knowledge collected over centuries about which roots, herbs and leaves and other natural substances had actual or assumed healing properties.
None of your international drug and pharmaceutical companies.




Sorry. I forgot to check this out.
This looks like an elaborate bell-pull - probably not a leg-pull.




Out into the sun light, and the Castle Courtyard with the elaborate Ottheinrich Bau.
If you forgot your watch, mobile phone or other portable time-piece, there's a sun dial high up on the building on the right. Whose obelisk I do not know.

By the way, Otto-Henry, AKA Ottheinrich, (1502-1559) was from the Wittelsbach family and one time owner of Heidelberg Castle. The Ottheinrich Bau is named after him, and was built in the Renaissance style sometime in the 1800s.




Castle Courtyard. Ottheinrich Bau. Tower with sun-dial.
A glimpse of one of the main castle towers (NW tower) disappearing on the right.




We have done our "culture vulturing". Just a final "we woz here" piccy on the "Scheffel Terrace", with Castle behind and Old Heidelberg beyond.

This is the start of the "Ladder to Heaven" (or "Himmelsleiter" as the engraved stone sign tells us) - all 1200 sandstone steps - which links the Castle to the King's Chair. The "Ladder" is useful if you can't find your ticket for the funicular or merely want the exercise!




Here's more of the "Ladder to Heaven".




Nice view at the top. Funicular Car arriving on the left. The new university campus of the Heidelberg University (Neuenheimer Feld) is on the north side of the Neckar River.




Funicular car number 3 is now arriving - with some more tourists.




The winding gear may be technology from 1907, but it's still operational
- admittedly after a recent overhaul.
I like the brass governor with the two shiny brass spheres (on the upper right).

Here's the Kohlhof with its apple trees. This is the view towards the east. The "hump" in the distance is the "Katzenbuckel" (Arched Back of the Cat), which at 626 m is the highest elevation in Odin's Forest - higher than the King's Chair (567.8 m). The light patch towards the right is Dilsberg which some of us will see again today and indeed visit tomorrow and on Thursday.




View to the north.
We have just come up this path, with the former pub on the right.
Behind is the clinic for heart patients.




Looking towards the east again.
The shadows look longish, but there's time to complete our walk.




Just behind us - in a westerly direction - is "Posselt's Jolly" or "Posselt's Folly".
This viewing tower was built in 1881, and was funded from an endowment in the will of pharmacy Professor Louis Posselt (1817-1880).

Autumn is not yet quite upon us, but the interplay of light and shadow
in the forest has its aesthetic appeal.




This is Bammental Station where two of our party took the S-Bahn back to Heidelberg.
This part of the line was inaugurated on 22 October 1862 and opened for customers a day later.
This indicates the age of the station building.
Now it is home to the local museum. (I took the picture on 24June 2018, but it fits here.)




The remaining three of us went on to the Roebuck Cliff with its splendid view over the Neckar Valley towards Dilsberg. It so happened that some of us would see this view again on Wednesday and Thursday when we walked up Dilsberg. However, it's a splendid view the likes of which many of us would probably not see for quite a while.
For us it's then a short walk to the S-Bahn station for Heidelberg.