Heidelberg, Wurzburg, and Mespelbrunn

To think that I actually visited this grand castle over 50 years ago!!!  And Jim served here for two months while on his mission in Germany...even more than 50 years ago.  Dare I say nothing

 has changed?  Actually, this time was more enjoyable because rather than being surrounded by a bunch of BYU classmates or a companion, we were actually with family members--

Derek, Renee, and Josten!

This amazing castle was originally constructed over 500 years ago and looked more like this.  However, the Thirty Years War did serious damage and was followed by other successful attacks, leaving the castle mostly in ruins by the late 1600s.  Further damage was inflicted by a lightning strike in 1764, pretty much sealing its fate.

This drawing shows the huge gardens installed by King Frederick V in 1613 in an effort to please his new bride, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of the king of England.

As we waited for our tour to begin, the first thing to catch our attention on the site was the
powder turret, destroyed by an explosion. 

  

Our guess was as good as any that perhaps this was King Neptune,
reclining at the bottom of the sea.

 Inside the courtyard, it was very impressive.

Our guide showed what the castle looked like when originally constructed. 

And then he compared it to what now remains.

The various composites of brick and stone made the exterior very interesting.

Numerous statues of past leading residents lined an exterior wall.

Behind this wall had been a palace addition to the castle.

 I was impressed with the ornate finishing of the exterior walls.

The 500-year-old sun dial was still doing its thing.  It told the times of the zodiac as well,

although it was beyond me!

 

We were impressed with the rooms which had been restored and furnished with period furniture.

I loved with woodwork over the doorway!

And this one was even more impressive!

Residents of the past... 

Amazing detail work in the ceiling!

Our guide pointed out the ceramic "furnaces," 

placed in the interior rooms that did not have fireplaces.

I really liked the detail on this cabinet.

The guided tour ended in the castle's beautiful chapel.

One highlight of the visit to the castle was to see the largest wine barrel in the world.  

It holds 220,000 liters of wine!

We walked up one side, across the top, and down.  On the next floor above that, we saw the hole in the floor through which the the local citizens paid their taxes by pouring wine

into a spout, which drained down to the barrel two floors below.

Locals having a good time entertaining the tourists.

Heidelberg Castle will rank among our favorite castles for a long time to come! 

Then on New Years Day we drove to Wurzburg.  

But instead of ending up at the famed fancy Baroque Residence below, 

we mistakenly went to the castle/fortress, Festung Marienberg.  We drove the 1.5-hour drive in complete fog only to find the castle closed!  Oh well, we did the best we could with what little vision we had.  It was supposed to look like this:

But this is what we were able to glimpse through the fog!

Since this closed castle was a fair disappointment, we tried to end on a good note by taking Derek and family to one of our favorites, Mespelbrunn, the castle that sits on a lake.  Three strikes and you're out, right?  Let's see, (1) crummy fog, (2) closed castle, and (3) another closed

  castle!!!  Oh well, at least we were able to get this photo, thanks to Renee's Selfie Stick!

After our grand tour of Heidelberg and not getting to see much of the next two castles--inside as well as outside--Heidelberg remains a front-runner for sure!