Heidelberg

The next day we docked in Speyer, a nice town in its own right, and our closest stop to the university town of Heidelberg. Since Heidelberg is actually on the Neckar River, not the Rhine, we had a half-hour or so bus ride ahead of us.

Heidelberg University is the oldest in Germany, dating back to 1386, though not as old as Oxford or Cambridge, and has maintained one old tradition that may seem a little odd  - duelling. Student 'corporations', which is what they call fraternities, will have their members duel against each other with swords, not pistols (although pistols might be more fun!!). This is all done in a safe manner (well, as safe as it can be) using protective equipment, referees to make sure all the rules are being followed (this was also the case back when noblemen fought duels) and probably someone well-versed in first aid on hand, just in case. Fraternity houses were actually built so that the duels could take place inside, where certain rooms have ceilings about 10 feet high to accommodate the duelers and their swords.

One of the student residences. The second floor with the
window alcove has a higher ceiling

Heidelberg Castle sits high above the city; its ruin is one of the nicest Gothic-Renaissance Castles in Germany. Construction originally began in the 14th Century, but each successive heir to the throne changed the design, so as a result it was never finished. Although by the amount of scaffolding that is draping most of it, you would think that they're trying to.

In 1622 it was attacked during the Thirty Years' War and taken for the Holy Roman Empire, and from that point on, no further construction was ever done. After that the Swedes took it over, then the Holy Roman Empire got it back. In 1688 the French took the castle and, before abandoning it not much later, they tried to destroy it. They set it on fire, blew up one of the main towers, but couldn't do more damage. They came back a couple of years later but couldn't take the castle back, so they destroyed parts of the town instead.

As if that wasn't bad enough, in 1764 the current elector, Karl Theodor, was planning on moving into the castle. The night before, it was struck by lightning - TWICE! Karl Theodor, being a good Roman Catholic, saw it as something of an omen and didn't move in at all.

Since then it has been used for building materials for the town but no new construction was ever done. It was no longer an important castle for Karl Theodor as he had become ruler of Bavaria and moved to Munich.

Now some parts of the castle have been restored; the courtyard is used for festivals and the Königshalle or King's Hall, can be rented out for wedding receptions. It is also used for state visits. In fact, the current King of Sweden, Carl Philip, and Queen Silvia, who happens to be from Heidelberg, were married in the castle.

Here are a few photos from around the castle:

Views of the town

One of the older parts of the castle. You would think that a moat ran around it
but being so high up they didn't need a moat; instead it was an
easy hunting ground. They let the game graze there and just shot 
what they needed as they needed it.

The Elisabethentor, an Arch built by Elector Friedrich V as a
birthday present for his English princess Elizabeth Stuart

The Royal Residence

The tower view down the Neckar River

This is the largest wine keg in the world. It holds
220,000 litres or 58,000 gallons. The platform on top will
comfortably hold 20 people.

Our lunch in Heidelberg was included - imagine 100 cruise passengers (they're no different on the river than they are on the ocean) crowding into a brauhaus restaurant all at once, all looking for beer, wine and lunch, in just about that order. We were already told that it would be served family style so we were looking forward to seeing just what we were getting.  It was too crowded and busy to be able to get a photo, but we had: cream cheese mixed with spices, sauerkraut, spätzle and small bratwurst sausages. We wanted to do a little extra looking around in town, so we skipped dessert (yes, it does happen!) which was apparently a very delicious homemade apple strudel.

One thing we had to see beside the old bridge was the little statue of the Monkey. There has apparently been one here since the 1600s. The story goes that the monkey is there as a reminder that neither the people living in the city, nor those living outside, were better than the other. The actual legend is that one of the church leaders on the opposite side insulted the people of the city side by calling their leader a 'monkey'. The figure was erected with its backside to the outside of the city to respond to the insult, but a mirror to also keep an eye on what is behind him. This current sculpture was installed in 1979.

Some of the beautiful houses along the river. This one has a
unique way of showing German patriotism

After lunch, we drove back to Speyer and took a look around. One of the interesting places in Speyer is the Technical Museum, which exhibits technologies such as aircraft, boats and aerospace. There is actually a Lufthansa 747 perched on top of the main building that you can climb into and walk around, and then take a covered slide to get back into the building!

We chose to walk into the old town instead and visit the cathedral and the Marktplatz. The cathedral of Speyer is important in history in that a number of Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire are buried in the crypt there as well as four Kings of the German Empire, denoting that over the centuries the town was an important ruling seat.

The tombs of the Kings of Germany

Here are a few photos of the Marktplatz

Looking back toward the cathedral you
can see just how it dominates the town

The Maypole with the crests of
all the towns in the Speyer region

Once back on the ship and underway again, it was time for Monica to take a chef's turn and make her Smoothie for Marina, the Hotel Manager, and the Bar Staff. On the second day out, Marina was up at the bar during cocktail hour cutting up cucumbers and mint to make a smoothie recipe that she had found. Of course, she and Monica got to talking about smoothies and we described ours (right down to needing a wrench to take out the bar sink). Marina was intrigued and asked for the list of ingredients, and showed up with a tray full when we arrived at the bar. Here's what transpired:

Tasting - Marina & Monica on the outside,
Bar Manager Farhan behind the bar.

That evening we sailed onward to Boppard but before getting there we would be traveling through the Middle Rhine to view all the castles. Weather forecast - sunny and cloudy and 20 degrees - let's see if it finally changes or keeps up with the cool, cloudy mornings and nicer afternoons we've experienced so far.