This afternoon we visited the historical town of Heidelberg and the famous castle where the Heidelberg Catechism was written. Unlike Paris and some of the other German towns we’ve visited, it was easy for us to communicate with the locals in Heidelberg due to the American military presence in the city since the end of WWII. As a result, many locals have an excellent understanding of the English language and were more than happy to communicate with us in that way. On our tour of the castle we learned that it had suffered a great deal of damage in the 17th century due to an attack by the French. It suffered more damage again later in the 17th century due to a pair of lightning strikes. Nonetheless, the Heidelberg Castle is still a marvelous sight to behold and was a special experience for our group to visit the place where such an important document in the Protestant faith was drawn up.
Before and after our tour of the castle, we had a number of hours to explore the city and pop into the shops and restaurants that make up the city’s culture. Two other students and I used this time to hike up to a tower just outside the city. The 2 mile hike provided me with a great opportunity to get to know these guys who I didn’t know very well before this trip and it gifted us with an incredible view of the city and the castle. After a couple days in the busy city of Paris, the hike to the tower was a much needed change of pace and will go down as one the highlights of my trip.
