Burning of the Castle - Heidelberg

While in Heidelberg we visited the castle and planned to find a spot in the city to view the annual "Burning of the Castle" and fireworks. The burning is a reinactment of when the present structures had been damaged by wars and fires in 1689, 1693 and 1764.

Brad decided that we should try and view the burning from the castle instead of the marktplatz where we had seen the burning 10 years ago. As we ventured up the steep, winding, pitch black road to the top, we realized we were only one of the few people up there. We briefly thought we had the wrong day and time of the event. After seeing a few people venture to the main entrance of the castle we decided, "When in Rome...." and followed. Just our luck they were beginning to close parts of the castle for the burning. We kindly asked the guard if he spoke english and asked him if we were in the right spot. He promptly told us that in order to view the event we would have to go downtown and cross the Nekar River and view from the other side. Our conversation lead to the fact that we used to live there and had traveled all the way from Stuttgart to see it. So....he said follow me! After pointing to an old wooden door he said, when these doors open in 15 minutes you'll see some people go in...just follow them! Okay, we said.

Not knowing what exactly was on the other side of the door, we proceeded to follow all the Germans. Of course we were the only Americans for miles. We promptly climbed the spiral staircase not one flight, but 5 flights to the top of the castle. (You can see the top in the photo on the left). As we climbed in the complete darkness there was a mystery about where we were going and with whom! Of course we were telling the kids earlier in the day about the dungeons of the cave - so their imaginations were running wild. Upon exiting the staircase we came to a balcony and thought this is where we'd be viewing the burning. Oh, no...more climbing still. After following the Germans through yet another doorway, we continued to climb another 3 winding stairways to the TOP! Still in the complete darkness of the night, I saw this out of the corner of my eye....

Brad and I both looked at each other with wide eyes and weren't sure what we'd gotten ourselves into. So we just stood back and watched for a while. The view of the city was beautiful with all the lights and the river below. Soon there was a man bringing a box and unloading items along the castle wall. I couldn't see well, but were those flares? Oh yes .... flares! (John, I think you'd have enjoyed all this!) Still seeing the rockets (fireworks) out of the corner of my eye and watching everymove of those who were smoking and flicking half burning cigarettes, I heard "Achtung, Achtung" one word we did know - Warning, warning! We stood back and BOOM! We were in the midst of the burning of the castle! Talk about the best seats in the house!

Come to find out we were with the German dignitaries who were selected to light the flares for the event. What an experience we'll never forget. AND it was free! Afterwards we had an awesome view for the fireworks. Well, until the next adventure.......