It was an overcast fall afternoon in Schwetzingen, Germany. I had just finished training for the day. I felt fortunate to have just returned from Ireland the week prior, and now I was standing here in Germany. I had arrived in Frankfurt the night prior, driven the Autobahn south to this lovely little town of 22,000, which lies just outside of Heidelberg. It was now time for some exploring. I threw my camera over my shoulder and head out, on foot, to see what I could find. To my amazement, I discovered my hotel was within blocks of Schwetzingen Castle.

Schwetzingen Castle Front

On my first attempt to visit the castle grounds, I had arrived right at closing. My surprise discovery quickly turned into dissapointment. The next day, I finshed training early, raced back to my hotel, changed, grabbed my camera, and headed promptly to the castle. Fortunately on this day, it was a beautiful sunny October afternoon. The temperature was in the mid 60s and all of the garden trees were in full change of color. It was a spectacular site.

Castle Right

Once inside, I discovered many of the locals had decided that the castle grounds were an excellent place to enjoy the lovely fall afternoon. Mothers with their children running about. Older couples slowly strolling down garden paths engaged in conversation. "What might they be discussing" I thought to myself as they passed by speaking a foreign dialect.

Castle Path

Once I realized how expansive the grounds were, I became the mad photographer, trying to cover as much ground as possible before sunset. On my way down one of the paths, I came across this fella. The trick here was to come up unnoticed, and catch him in action tending his garden. While the picture didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, the image before me was perfect. The sun was illustrating mulitcolor rainbows as the light passed throught the individual streams of water.

Gardener

He quickly realized my presence and couldn't understand why I wanted to photograph him. Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, he attempted to engage me in conversation. We realized quickly that he and I didn't speak the same language. We did manage to convey that he was from Poland and I was from America. We sort of became friends in that brief instant as he allowed me to pass through. Shortly thereafter, he watched as I fell into the pond immediately behind him while I was setting up for another shot. He tried to play it off like it wasn't funny, but my entire right leg was soaked past my right knee.

Castle Garden

Each of the indivual garden layouts were intricate hedge workings intermixed with beautiful patterns of flowers. There were stone sculptures throughout, some with fountains dating back to the Renaissance period. It was an amazing time, feeling completely alone with my camera, passing by the locals, and enjoying the day.

It wasn't until the next day that I realized that this castle is one of the most important castles in Germany.

References and more...

http://www.zum.de/Faecher/G/BW/Landeskunde/rhein/swetz/info_e.htm
http://www.tompgalvin.com/places/de/baden_wuerttemberg/schwetzingen.htm
http://www.cvb-heidelberg.de/e925/e928/e2195/index_eng.html
http://www.smart-travel-germany.com/schwetzingen.html