What a day. It encompassed so much. We arrived in Frankfurt hours earlier than scheduled due to the lock farie I think - she must have twinkled her nose each time we arrived at a lock at night and moved us to the front of the line. Or she made the line disappear. All I know is we were scheduled to arrive at 11:00am and in fact we were docked when we woke up some time before 7am. We had breakfast and since it was still just after 9am and the tour we'd planned to take to walk around Frankfurt wasn't scheduled until 1pm we had HOURS of free time. Mom, Dad, Ken and I went walking around Frankfurt armed with our trusty Uniworld map. I think we managed a good chunk of what would have been covered in the City walking tour that we (Ken and I) were planning. Dad had been suggesting we go on the Heidelberg tour (rather than stay in Frankfurt) for days....with all the small villages/towns/palaces and such we'd visited so far, Ken really wanted to walk around a European CITY. So walk we did. For about an hour and a half. And it was pretty interesting. I got to see the headquarters of the European Bank, a church for St Katharine's, St Bartholomew's cathedral (which isn't truly a cathedral since no bishop has been in residence - even for 5 minutes - but was given honorary cathedral title since numerous German Kings/Emperors have been crowned there) and a building with a hole in it. Truly.
We got back to the boat after our informal tour to find out there were two seats left on the Heidelberg tour. Serendipity!
The bus drove off at about 1:00pm and away we went on the Autobahn! Wheee!!! Of course buses can't exactly drive at whatever speed they want, and it was a weekday, so traffic was a bit heavy. Never saw anyone fly by. But we can say we've been on the Autobahn....
Heidelberg is a beautiful city. Right on the Neckar River with the castle high up on the hill. And giant wine barrels. And sneezing lions. and yummy sausage and sauerkraut and bier.
And if that wasn't enough, since we'd eaten the sausage and sauerkraut at about 4:30 we weren't hungry for dinner at 7pm. But the staff on Uniworld is the best. We were up on the sun deck and I mentioned that I'd love a cheese plate and someone else mentioned peanuts. Next thing we know this big platter of cheese, fruit, crackers, etc and three bowls of peanuts are delivered to us. A few others saw a restaurant right next to where we were docked (it's called Main Nizza) and thought they'd like pizza delivered. Turns out Main Nizza wasn't willing to serve Pizza. They were actually quite rude to Jonie. The desire for pizza was mentioned to the front desk staff and again, they went above and beyond and searched until they found a place to order pizza that could be delivered to the ship (and we found out later we were the first to ever ask for pizza to be delivered to the ship in Frankfurt so it wasn't like they had anyone on speed dial). The crew delivered plates and utensils up to the Sun Deck, cocktails and beer, and then here came the pizza. We had a great time! There were 8 of us up there for that part of the party, then more joined us, it finally got dark around 10:00 pm and a few more joined us. I think it's safe to say a great time was had by all up on the Sun Deck tonight.
We sail away at midnight tonight. Arrive in Rudisheim at 6am tomorrow. More adventures await, I'm sure!
Headquarters of the European Bank
Yes, I'm immature enough to take a picture of a building that says Frankfurter!
There's the UBS building in the background (Hi Todd, Patricia, Marinka, Lisa)
Notice the hole....you'll see it again shortly
A general City View
When Mom realized this was St Katharine's Church
Interesting sculpture
Yep - it really has a hole in it...you can see the sky through it
And honest to goodness organ grinder (with stuffed monkey)
St Bartholomew's cathedral - a lovely museum docent saw us looking around and showed us some of the amazing things about this cathedral, including the tomb where a Lady is buried, within the original site, which was built in 680. Yes, 680, not 1680....
I'm standing in the portion that was built in 680, though there is nothing left of that section it is marked on the floor so you know where it was (it was about the size of a small house)
On the bridge next to our ship
The River Princess and the Frankfurt skyline
Dad and Ken discussing something
Self explanatory
Ken and I played two games - the first I lost in 4 moves, the second we agreed was a draw - I've never played before, so that's not too bad.
Juxtaposition of the centuries - ancient cathedral next to high rise
Yep - we were on the Autobahn
The ruins at Heidelberg
This gate was made overnight. Some interesting details include one column made with animals while the other 3 do not have any.
Stone cannon balls still stuck in the wall, as well as masonry marks (which are usually to be hidden)
Love this view - see the sky through the top windows.
A happy lion
and a not so happy lion
The view from the castle
This lion I was told was sneezing....A-chooo.... (there are 8 others in a row all with different expressions - it makes as much sense as any other explanation)
That's Ken in black on top of the wine barrel
Our bus had to make this turn....it did
Bier at the base of the Old Bridge in Heidelberg
the view from the middle of the Old Bridge - you can see the castle to the left, the bridge gates in white and the church to the far right
Another view of the castle from the bridge
We were eating under the white umbrellas on the right - see Ken and Mom and Dad???
Sausage and sauerkraut and mashed potatoes
No idea what this says, but Ken spotted it
Grey Goose Martini - it isn't all bier for Ken
Up on the sun deck with the cheese plate
Pizza is here!
The skyline as seen when sitting on the Sun Deck
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