The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-10-23
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.

Heidelberg, its Castle. Scenery and Uni
versity Baden and its surrouudIngs-
Hot Baths Ohenb'rg and Black Forest
/ Railway, its Tunnels and Elevation
Falling of Farms to be Killed From
schauffhausen 10 Zurlch-Over the Divide
to Lucprnc-The RighI Hotel Cattle
Feeding on the Tops of the Alps Rail-
way up PiIatus-AIpine Scenery in July.
Especial Correspondence Of the Bdnner.l
NUMBER ".
| Heidelberg was next visited to see the
famous old castle. The town lies at the
mouth of the narrow valley of the
! Neckar, between high and heavily
wooded hills; the castle far above the
town on the hillside, among fine old
trees and in the midst of fine park
with lovely walks. 1t is very large
place, surrounded by a great moat, and
in very good condition considering the
ravages of gunpowder and fire when it
was last taken in battle. From the
highest tower is a splendid view across
the town and far out over the Rhine
valley, very much resembling that from
Nc Gregor, One great piece of the wall
about 20 feet square was blown by pow
strength of the cement, that it fell in
one piece unbroken, and still lies there
after the lapse of hundreds of years.
Parts of the castle are still very hand
some, especially about the great court
yard: few rooms have been restored.
and are occupied by those in charge:
the chapel also has been rooted in. 1t
| is very interesting to wander about the
old rooms, towers and passages, such
good idea is gained of the old methods
of war and defense. In the cellar is the
famous great cask known as the "Heidel
berg Inn " holding $4,000 gallons or
100000 bottles of wine; near by is
another nearly as large, the only one
left of five like it. A very fine macad
amized road winds up the hill by a
moderate grade to the castle, and
an inclined railway gives access to
the top of the mountain behind it.
The famous University buildings are
very plain, but the town was full of
students, each wearing colored cap,
the badge of the five different corps;
red, yellow, blue, green or white: it
was some special day, and large
numbers of the graduates were
back. The faces of nearly all the
students | saw were SCARED, some ter
ribly, the result of that most absurd of
customs the frequent sword fights
between the members OF the different
corps, not duels but done simply for the
glory of each corps. The fighters are
carefully covered up except their faces,
and the eyes protected by goggles, then
with extremely sharp swords each
tries to slice the others face.
They are extremely proud of these
scars.
The town with its nice buildings, and
clear shady streets, is very pleasant: the
curious old stone bridge across the river,
with it's two quaint towers is quite a
feature. The route from Heidelberg to
Baden lay through the flat Rhine valley
to the edge of the famous "Black
Forest" a mountainous and heavily
wooden tract hundreds of miles square,
every part teeming with legends and
stories. An exceedingly queer costume
is worn by the natives of this district,
entirely of black, while the women wore
caps with great wings sticking out a
foot from each side of the head; a
wagon load of people had very funereal
appearance.
Baden lies in narrow valley about
two miles long, ,slOping back into the hills;
and a wonderfully charming place it is.
Through the centre of this valley runs a
narrow stream, the bed of which has
been paved with stone blocks as we pave
a street; spreading the water out into
clear thin sheet: the banks are sloped
gradually down to the water and nicely
sodded. Graceful bridges spar this
stream in various places, and it flows for
long distance through a beautifully
kept park, having smooth walks and
roads, lovely green lawns, beds of choice
flowers, shrubbery and great numbers of
grand old trees; a lovelier place could
not be imagined. The wooded hills are
full of hard smooth roads and paths,
winding for miles in every direction;
several weeks time would be necessary
to see them all. On these hills the
hemlock grows tall and straight just as
the pine does with us, and the under
brush is carefully cleared away. Hand
some hotels abound: most of them sur
rounded by well kept grounds, while
with its winding hilly streets and good
buildings is very pretty place. Two
ruined castles occupy the tops of hills
back of the town and 1900 feet above it,
1900 above the sea: to the nearest, the
old castle of the late ruler of the Duchy
of Baden, splendid road leads, winding
up the hillside under great trees, while
la broad footpath is provided for pedes-
trians; both road and path having won
derfully easy grades.
Though not so large or so splendid as
Heidelberg, this castle is very inter
esting, particularly so because visitors
can wander all about it as they choose
what they are not allowed to do at
Heidelberg. The oldest part, the high
tower built by the Romans in the year
300, is well preserved, and the old wall,
stairs and roof, are very curious. The
middle part was built in 100, and the
latest in 400: once very strong it
is now only shell. The view
from the tower is grand, taking in
the Rhine valley for 200 miles, with the
winding river, the Vosges mountains
fifty miles away in France, great dis
tance over the Black Forest Mountains,
and the town at your feet The battles
around Metz and Strasburg in 1S70-1S71, g,
were seen from this tower, these and
many other cities and towns are in plain
view. On the top of the hill behind the
lcastles are two great masses of rock
called felsen, which look exactly like
ruined castles although entirely natural:
the path leading to them goes through
some very wild spots, in places stairways
built of the flat stones scattered about,
winds upward among great masses Of
rock. Near the town and a few hundred
feet about it, is the new castle now occu-
, pied by the Grand Duke. We drove to
the old castle, up the winding road
through the dark evergreen trees at dusk
one evening, and as we went along
all talked about the old legends of the
forest we could remember, until we
almost peopled the woods with gnomes,
fairies and elves; most fascinating
ride il was.
The great building called the "Con-
versation House" was formerly the
gambling hall so often spoken about
before gaming in Germany was abol-
ished, very properly, by the Emperor.
II is gorgeously furnished, but is now
only used as a music room, the outdoor
concerts are held in the small but very
pretty park in front of the building.
We were fortunate enough to hear one
of these concerts, and witness the illun1i-
nation of the grounds for the occasion.