After breakfast, we disembarked our ship in Mannheim and took the coach bus for a tour of Heidelberg. It is the home of Germany’s oldest university, founded in 1386. We drove on the autobahn while our tour guide Roman provided commentary. We drove along a very narrow windy road up to the Heidelberg castle, and walked around the sandstone ruins which overlooked the Neckar River Valley and the city’s many red rooftops.
The castle had some intricate buildings inside, with statues and carvings, and was very extravagant. The original owner built this gate for his wife’s 19th birthday and in the columns there were small animals carved and for each one she found when he presented it to her, she was rewarded with a kiss!
In one building next to the dining hall, there was a huge, and I mean huge, wine barrel with a dance floor on top. It would hold 220,000 litres of wine and the king would collect 10% of each harvest of wine from the village people. Apparently the first time they filled it, it got to one third full and then burst! What a waste of wine!
Afterward, we set out on a walking tour through Old Town of Heidelberg. I was so excited to visit Kathe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas shop as one of my most cherished childhood memories are of Christmas in Germany and I found the same ornaments I choose to buy as a child and could have spent hours in that shop. I also bought some gummy bears at a candy shop I would have loved as a kid! As an adult, we elected for more civilized treats (meringue and nutsnacker!). So good!
On the drive back to meet the ship, we watched out the window along the autobahn and then side roads. We saw a shepherd with his flock of sheep, lots of crop fields and many little side paved farm roads that I remember walking as a child. I recalled that you are not allowed to drive on them, but my dad decided to take our Jetta on a shortcut and was stopped by the Polieze!
We arrived back for lunch on the ship and then enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon of cruising on the Rhine river to our evening destination, Rudesheim. We watched a demonstration of coffee and brandy and sampled the end result. Upon docking, we decided to take a walk into the quaint town as we did not have an excursion booked. We explored the streets, a church and then noted darkening skies and the wind starting to pick up. It began to get ominous, with cats running for cover and the wind propelled us across the train tracks and back to the ship. We enjoyed another amazing supper on board and a glass blowing demonstration to end the night.
Sounds like a wonderful day! Love the pictures!