There were so many pictures taken by both Ninjas on this day trip that we want to share them in 2 separate blogs. Let's get on to the sights and sounds of Heidelberg...the Romantic City of Scholars!
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| An appropriate sign to begin our pictorial journey. |
We started at the Rathaus (City Hall) to meet our tour group and guide...the awesome Ursula! The tour was in English and we had tour companions from Australia, Asia and the US states of Texas and PA (me)!
The entry into the city
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| A more modern area of Heidelberg. |
A beautiful door to greet us...
Inside the Rathaus the tickets were purchased for the tour and I wandered around to find this beautiful wooden scale design of the city:
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| It was massive...so I just am showing the close-up. |
The main plaza where the Rathaus is located. Our tour started here:
Now you may be asking why Travel Ninjas took a tour of the Old City of Heidelberg. The answer? We, too, are learning on every journey and trip we take. Yes, we could have easily gotten a map and found the sites ourselves, but it was a lot more interesting to hear more of the history and the questions from other tourists. Now we are more than prepared to give YOU the tour when you are ready!
We moved on to view the amazing Heidelberg Castle. We only viewed it from below. The castle tour is a separate tour altogether that we did not do this particular day. You reach the castle by tram or by taking 315 steps! The castle tour is readily available for approximately 6 Euros for adults and 4 Euros for children.
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| Heidelberg Castle view from the plaza. |
From that 2nd plaza we walked over to the Old Bridge. This is also a great vantage point to see the castle as well as Philosopher's Walk and the beautiful Nekkar River. Heidelberg has one of the oldest universities in all of Europe and it is rumored that the professors would walk to the university every day discussing the problems of the world, hence Philosopher's Walkway.
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| The Visiting Ninja on the "Old Bridge". Willkommen! |
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| The monkey holding the mirror asking "why are you looking at me?" |
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| Tennis legends Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi have a home here. |
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| Other tourists boarding the river tour boat which is solar-powered ferry. |
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| Part of the city gate. Austere. |
From the bridge we headed back into the plaza and into the famous Church of the Holy Spirit. It was breath-taking from the moment we approached and awe-inspiring as we entered.
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| Beautiful peach sandstone on the exterior and interior. |
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| Corners formed and cut so that horse and buggy carts could safely travel through town from the main bridge and not damage this masterpiece. |
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| The columns, the windows, the history. We were blown away! |
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| One of the more modern stained glass windows. |
The window above caught my eye as Ursula described that it signifies both the useful and destructive properties of atomic power. The date August 6, 1945 is to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima. Einstein's theory of E=mc2 is also etched into the window. A powerful metaphor in a church.
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| A bit more of the intricate peach sandstone. |
The fearless Ursula gave us a minute to sit and bask in the beauty of this church. We snapped photos and listened to her regale tales of Princes, the library that was saved from fire only because it was moved and other interesting factoids. Want to find out more? Book our Heidelberg tour!
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| The fearless Ursula lecturing at a different spot in the tour. |
This concludes part one of our mini-trip to Heidelberg's old section of town. Stop back for the rest of our fascinating tour of the Romantic City by the River!
Do you like tours? Churches? History? We'll travel to Heidelberg with you...Travel Ninjas style!
Email: tourguide@ok.de or travelninjasworldwide@gmail.com
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Thank you for reading! Comments are welcome!
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| TRAVEL NINJAS!!! |
Inside the Rathaus the tickets were purchased for the tour and I wandered around to find this beautiful wooden scale design of the city:
