The front of an old home in Neckarsteinach, Heidelberg, Germany area
I’ll keep the commentary brief on this one. We traveled by boat a short distance up the Neckar River from the Altstadt Heidelberg area last summer and stopped here to wander a bit and to eat. Our wandering took us up and down some narrow, twisty, hill streets and past some beautifully weathered homes.
The Heidelberg Bridge spans the Neckar River and heads to Old Heidelberg, with the Heidelberg Castle in the hills above.
This may seem odd, but when I travel to a new place I often prefer to not know too much about where I’m going and what I’ll see. One reason for this is that I like to save a few surprises for my arrival at the place itself, and another is that I like to, as much as possible, come to know the place at least partially from my own perspective rather than that of some person who writes about it and tells me what to see and what to think. (There was a time when I was more organized about preparation – perhaps I’ve just sort of “been there and done that” with the very organized approach. Or maybe I’m just getting lazy!) So I arrived in Heidelberg knowing very little about what I would see (or what I should see) and little specific knowledge about the place beyond that which I had picked up from various conversations.
In addition, we were very fortunate to be able to stay with Patty’s brother and sister-in-law, both of whom have lived in Germany for many years. Their home is on a small side street in a portion of the town that is somewhere between very old and modern, and which is on the “other side” of the hill that runs along the Neckar River past the altstadt, or old town. So, knowing almost nothing about what I would see, we set out from their home on a walk, taking part of the Philosophen Weg (“Philosophers Way”) over the intervening hill toward the river and the old town. So my first view of Heidelberg was from a hillside across the Neckar, with the Heidelberg Castle in hills above the town – quite an astonishing and magical way to see the town for the first time! Eventually we made our way to (and past, as we were going out to dinner) this historic Heidelberg bridge that crosses the river to enter the town.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
As seen from the tower of the Heiliggeistkirche, the rooftops of the Heidelberg Altstadt extend into the distance
Heidelberg is a city with a very long history, and a lot of this history seems to be maintained in the altstadt or “old town” section of the city, where most buildings are quite old and some date back many centuries, where streets are pre-automobile narrow, and where you can find a combination of small shops, old churches, university buildings, places to eat, and – of course – tourist attractions.
I made this photograph from the tower of the Holy Ghost Church (Heiliggeistkirche), a structure that dominates the view of the old town area and which is located across the street from the historic Ritter Hotel. The interior of the church is also impressive, and I’ll have some photographs of that a bit later. We paid the 1 euro donation to climb the many twisting steps to the walkway far up the church’s tower, from which a spectacular 360 degree view of the city, the Neckar River, and the surrounding hills is seen. I spent quite a long time up there, watching for good moments in the soft light, and making photographs of the city from this high vantage point. This view looks across the altstadt along the path of the Neckar as is leaves this valley and heads towards the valley of the Rhein.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Sun dappled alpine scenery in the Bavarian Alps above Königssee, Germany
We have been traveling. After a week in London, we spent two weeks in Germany, one of which was in the Königssee area of Bavaria, Germany, where we stayed in an old farm-house. I’ll have more to say about this trip as I post more photographs over the coming days and weeks, both landscape and distinctly urban photographs. But for now, something from the Bavarian Alps.
As some of you know, I’m a long-time “Sierra Nevada guy,” who is very accustomed to hiking long distances in somewhat undeveloped areas in order to do photography. The landscape here is no less spectacular, but the experience is in many ways quite different. Take this day’s hike for example… It began with a ride on the Jennerbahn (ski lift) up to a point high up in the mountains, with scenery that reminded me in some ways of parts of “my” Sierra, but even more of some places I have visited in the Pacific Northwest. From there we hiked downhill for a kilometers, first across the top of a high ridge and then dropping down into a beautiful alpine Valley – complete with the Mahlerian sound of a chorus of cowbells. Halfway down we stopped for (fellow Sierrans, eat your heart out!) a lunch of bier und käsebrot before continuing on down to where we began at the base of the lift. The light in this part of Bavaria, at least during our visit, was very different from the clarity that I often seen in the Sierra – here the atmosphere was often thick with moisture, creating a soft quality. On this day, this was enhanced to a gradual build-up of thunderclouds that led to a spectacular evening lightning show, which we enjoyed outdoors at a picnic table back at our lodgings.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
