Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Monday, July 2, 2007
We awoke to our first dreary day--we really have been lucky not to have had more rain--but were a little disappointed because this was our day for the Rhine cruise, and a very picturesque day it should be. We voted and decided that we should have only stayed in Hiltons, this place is enormous--to get to our room we have to cross a glass bridge to another building. It looks like Hilton bought out another hotel and just combined the two. Anyway I digress. We finally found a breakfast that outdid all others. This one was a huge buffet; something for every nationality. But most important they had my Brotchen!! Life is good. After breakfast the weather cleared just in time for us to again board our bus and head north along the Rhine where we would pick up our cruise and then cruise upriver to the town of St. Goarhausen. The route north winds just beside the river and we were treated to views of huge vineyards clinging to the hills on either side of the Rhine. How in the world they harvest the grapes is beyond me. The hills are too steep for tractors and carrying the harvested grapes to the top (or bottom) would be backbreaking. No wonder the wine is so expensive!! Along the way we learned some of the history of the castles that line the tops of the hills, but we decided photos would be better taken from the top deck of the boat. By only cruising one way, Nino filled us in on everything we would see before we even got on board. We have done this trip before but on a different section of the river so it was new to us. Finally we reached Boppen, where we boarded the boat. The Rhine is a very swift flowing river that runs from Switzerland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It seems a little strange to think of a river flowing north, but the Rhine empties into the North Sea. From the top deck it was a little windy but the views are worth it and it doesn't seem like you are moving very fast. Going down below to the covered lounge, you can see how fast we were moving, and it was a pretty good pace. The highlight of this section of the river is of course the Lorelei. This is the narrowest and most dangerous turn in the river, and legend has it that a beautiful madchen (girl) lived at the top and would sing to the sailors and so mesmerize them that they would crash their ships there. Sort of like a more modern day version of Ulysses and the Sirens. There was a statue of Lorelei at the turn, that looked very much like the statue of the Little Mermaid that sits in the harbor at Copenhagen. We continued on, enjoying the cool temperatures and sights of castles on both sides of the Rhine. After about 2 hours we reached our pickup point at St. Goarshausen. Again...back on the bus for a tour of
Heidelberg. Most of us napped while Willy drove. This is an industrial area so there isn't much of interest to see on the way. Heidelberg is a city famous for its University and as the site of "The Student Prince". It sits on the banks of the Nekkar River and still is the home of a well respected university. Overlooking the city is a huge castle, very much in disrepair, but the walk looked straight uphill, and the shopping looked better! For once Bill even agreed with me! As in every old city there is a central market square, and this one was very quaint. Pigeons were everywhere, and vendors had booths ringing the square. We chose to take a walk down the Hauptstrasse (Main Street) and find a place for lunch. We settled on an old restaurant called the Furstenburg which boasted Gulashasuppe on the menu. You can't go wrong eating this great soup. Every restaurant seems to have their own version--sometimes it tastes like a vegetable soup, sometimes like a stew, but its always flavorful and very filling. This was no exception. Beef, onion, peppers and spices in a thick broth with some good German rye and we were good to go! We did a little more shopping. I found a Euro store, everything under a euro, and was amazed at the selection. Since I'm going to be Florian's Show and Tell exhibit later in the week I found some pencils with the American flag and got enough to give his class. The group reassembled and reboarded the bus for our last ride. By now we've got the routine downpat. We go to our assigned seats, the kids head for the back of the bus, and Nino counts and recounts us to make sure we are all aboard. This time however there was no time to stop at the auto-grill. Already we're beginning to miss our tradition, and we realized that our time together was drawing to a close.
Soon we were back at the Hilton, and all we had left of our trip was our Farewell dinner. Nino went over airport departure times for the shuttle, and everyone wondered how they would possibly fit all of their newly acquired goodies into that one suitcase. We are so glad we are staying for another week; we'll borrow a suitcase from Ines, and then return it to her when they visit us. Andrea and Jose are meeting us in Gottingen and I'm sure they will have things they want to send home with us too. Most of the group is flying from Frankfurt, transferring at Heathrow in London, and then home. With the terrorist alert on critical, they are worried about long delays. We'll worry about that next week, but know the new security measures will cause some problems. We noticed that when we came through Heathrow, how inefficient it was, and the huge lines, and dread having to transfer there. Oh well, not much choice! At least we have no schedule to come home to, so delays wouldn't be critical for us retirees!
We freshened up and met for our last dinner together. The Hilton does have their act together and the service is outstanding. Our room overlooked the Rhine, and we watched all of the river traffic as we ate a typical Deutsch meal (salat, suppe, hundeschnitzel, nudeln and carrots) Dessert was to die for--Bavarian crème with a compote of fresh berries, black, raspberries, red currents and cherries, topped with pure crème. No calories there! We reminisced over our favorite things, and chided each other on the fun stuff. Pictures were taken and promises made to keep in touch. Then we all headed back to our rooms for our final night. It was a fun group to be with, and we all have personal memories to carry back with us. Guten Abend from
Mainz. Love to all, Bill and Margo
