Tech bytes for tea?

Mannheim is the start of the castle route that originally extended to Kulmbach but it’s now been extended all the way to Prague. We also visited Schwetzingen and Heidelberg.

Wasserturm (Water Tower) at Friedrichsplatz in Mannheim. Taken with an Olympus E5 DSLR.

Mannheim was a small fishing hamlet as early as 766 AD. In the eleventh century, a fortress was built at the junction of the rivers Rhine and Neckar. The fishing hamlet grew into a trading settlement and eventually into a town.

The Kunsthalle museum in Mannheim. Taken with an Olympus E5.

The sleepy town is the second largest town in the region, with a Baroque palace replacing the former fortress in the eighteenth century. We visited the Wasserturm (Water Tower) and the Kunsthalle museum in Friedrichsplatz. The former is a symbol of Mannheim while the small museum featured many quirky installation art. One involved a room full of junk and fake logs to extoll the need to save the planet from environmental pollution.

Using an Asus EeePad Transformer tablet instead of paper to do museum sketches

The centrepiece for the day was a group of artists positioned around various paraphernalia of daily life. Before we could figure out what it was all about, we had to shuffle the kids out when one of the young nubile artists began to undress herself fully.

Using an Asus EeePad Transformer tablet instead of paper to do museum sketches

There were many German school children visiting, holding paper sketch pads to sketch the paintings and exhibits on display. Erin used her Asus EeePad Transformer tablet instead drawing curious looks from the locals. She was trying out this Android app called “Kids Doodle”.

Schloss Schwetzingen. Olympus E450 with Pop-Art effect.

We decided to give the Baroque palace in Mannheim a miss since we were visiting the more reputed Schloss Schwetzingen. Located between Mannheim and Heidelberg in Schwetzingen, the Baroque-Renaissance palace was built as a summer residence on the site of a medieval castle. The original hunting lodge was converted into the main building with two curved side wings added. The palace garden was originally modeled after Versailles palace but converted into an English style garden.

It was a pleasant park visit and we had our picnic lunch by the lake.

Partially scaffolded Heidelberg Castle overlooking the Neckar river.

After Schwetzingen, we headed for Heidelberg. Sitting right by the river Neckar, it is one of Germany’s most beautiful towns. Germany’s first university was established here in 1386, while the ruins of the castle sits on a hill overlooking the town. Originally a Gothic castle, it repeatedly extended between the 13th and 17th century. It was remodelled in the 16th century into a beautiful Renaissance residence, before being destroyed in the 17th century as a result of the Thirty Years’ Was and the 1689 war with France.