The ship arrived sometime during the night at Mannheim, where another busy day was planned. The first tour was to Heidelberg Castle and after the castle tour a walk through old town. We boarded a bus after breakfast and drove from Mannheim to Heidelberg, skirting the town to approach the castle from the rear. The bus parked, we disembarked, then walked into the castle grounds. This was a castle destroyed not by Louis XIV, but by fire. Several buildings were destroyed when the roofs caught fire and collapsed, reducing the interior to rubble. But not all of it was destroyed and some interesting things remained. For one, it has the largest wine barrel ever built in its own separate basement room: the exact dimensions I don’t remember, but it must have been about 15 feet tall. I is reputed to hold about 58,000 gallons. But, of course it is empty. Why? Because it leaked badly. From a patio outside the entrance to the cellar, there was a stunning view of the Neckar River and old Heidelberg.
On the north and west side of the Neckar were the expensive old houses apparently built by professors at Heidelberg University, one of the oldest in Germany. The town itself, a city of about 160,000 inhabitants, has about 40,000 students, about a quarter of the population total. In the forest above the houses on that side of the river there were extensive paths, where students spent time when not attending classes, known as the “Philosophers’ Walk.” It was called that not because of any famous philosopher, but rather because all students back in the day had to study philosophy.
From the castle we drove down into the old town and viewed several of the old squares, a church and the market square. With free time there, I wandered about and stopped to try the local brew. The guide suggested a place, but it didn’t open until the time set to rendezvous back for the bus ride to the boat.
After lunch we boarded buses for a trip to Speyer, a town up river a little from Mannheim. It was founded as a Roman village and fort in about 10 BC and the grounds were used as the site for the Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Stephen, completed in 1061. It is another example of the destructive doings of Louis XIV, but has been rebuilt to its former splendor.
We returned to the ship about 5, then before dinner we had a briefing on the disembarkation process. We will be gone from the boat by about 9:30, when it get prepped to return to Amsterdam the next day. I arranged for a taxi to my hotel as an “independent:” one not being bused to the airport to return home.