Bearsy’s photo of the English lock with pub reminded me how well the English make use of their river and canal banks. After Dinant on the Meuse, we expected Heidelberg on the Neckar to have the same attractive restaurants and cafes along the water front. We were disappointed.
Heidelberg is the oldest German university town and was the setting for the play “Alt Heidelberg” which later became the operetta and film “The Student Prince”. Our journey into the town centre was slightly disrupted by the fact that the heat had softened the tarmac bedding in the tramrails with the result that the tarmac had started to wind itself round the tram wheels and everything had come to a standstill. We never had this trouble with the tramrails in Aberdeen! The Old Town is basically a long street, now full of cafes, restaurants and tourist shops. The Old Bridge is very attractive, but difficult to reach because of the traffic racing along between the old town and the river.
The old bridge over the Neckar
Old bridge gate, seen from the Old Town
Heidelberg has a castle on the hill, which was badly damaged by the French in the 18th century. It was apparently spared more damage during the Second World War because the Americans decided it would make a good base. Other ancient university towns such as Tubingen and Gottingen were also spared though.
Thankfully one of the old river cruisers had been turned into a floating restaurant so we were able to have dinner on the river, with lots of rowing teams out training passing by. In a way Heidelberg reminded me of Pisa, where both banks of the Arno are now graced with dual carriageway racetracks. Such a pity when towns don’t make the most of a natural attraction such as a river. Our taxi-driver got out of his car to inspect the melted curls of tarmac, chuckling to himself at the thought of all the extra customers he and his colleagues would have.
Boadicea's Chariot 
When nearing the the ausfahrt for H’berg, I was always dimayed by a huge placard stating ‘THE US ARMY WELCOMES YOU TO A GENUINE GERMAN BIERFEST.’ It ruined it for me! This was in the early 1980s.
Nice post and lovely pic’s.
I’m glad to say the US Army didn’t welcome us to any Bierfest, though there are still a lot of signs for various American installations. But they’re all meant to be moved to Wiesbaden in the next few years. We didn’t need an invitation anyway. I didn’t realise that General Patton, saviour of the Spanish Riding School horses, died in the US Army hospital in Heidelberg after a road accident.
Germans tend to make the most of rivers. Coming from the German/Luxembourg frontier I grew up around a number of rivers, some with Roman bridges, some with more modern contraptions. That is one thing which the New Worlds (North America and Australia, don’t hurt me, Mr Bear!) often lack — seasoned, genteel architecture in abundance.