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What an usual name of a city – Worms! This is where we dock for the morning; we disembark for the included trip to Heidelberg Castle, a red sandstone early 13h century Renaissance castle remains. (the setting for the opera, The Student Prince). We mostly walked around the grounds with a short stop in the cellar to see the Great Tun, claimed to be the biggest wooden barrel in the world ever to have been filled with wine – 221,725 litres to be exact constructed from 130 oak tree trucks in 1751.
The bus drops us off, so we can walk through the old town of Heidelberg for free time. Heidelberg University is Germany's oldest. A mixed relic of the period of romanticism, Heidelberg has been labelled a "Romantic town", lively, loveable city. Master Chocolatier and confectioner Fridolin Knosel had a long standing cafe Knosel that sold exquisite creations and is still located in the heart of the Old Town where many residents lived in particular students. The young ladies attending finishing schools, loved his sweet chocolate delights and were frequent customers, so the students would flock to the store, hoping to exchange furtive glances with the fairer sex, alas their ever-watchful governesses were never far away. These secret longings did not go unnoticed by the good-natured Fridolin, so one day he created a chocolate delight impishly called the Student’s Kiss. Given as a present, it was such an exquisite, gallant token of affection that not even the chaperones could object. At last the students and young ladies had a discreet way to send a sweet message in the form of a Student’s kiss.
We were given a few hours to explore the city on our own, this is where we found the famous Christmas shop – Kathe Wohlfahrt – wow, Christmas all year! It’s the most beautiful Christmas shop I have ever seen. Leanne found herself an elephant and I couldn’t leave without a small nutcracker German Christmas ornament. In the earlier times people used to crack nuts using stones, hands or even their teeth. Later on artists made mechanisms out of metal or wood with screws and levers to crack open the nutshells without damaging the nuts. Wooden nutcrackers were a sign of wealth in the middle ages. The early nutcracker designs resemble characters of authority, people of authority usually treated the common folk with disrespect, the toy makers used their imagination and switched roles by making these authoritative figures do 'work’ for them by cracking nuts.
Our return to the longship from Heidelberg, is at Gernsheim, as the ship has sailed a few hours along the Rhine to meet us.
The wheelhouse is open for inspection, I keep thinking this ship is just a larger version of the houseboat I navigated down the Murray, the set up is very much the same just on a much larger scale. At the time I visited the wheelhouse we were going 11 knots.
Bummer, it’s been so warm it’s easy to decide to have a snooze, and I snoozed too long!
I missed the Rudesheimer Kaffee display – made of coffee, brandy, sugar, whipped cream and dark chocolate -delectable hot coffee drink. I have the recipe so will make it at home on a rare cool night in Cairns!!
5pm we arrive in Rudesheim, a favourite stop of Cherie and John’s. It has a famous cobbled lane called the Drosselgasse, the pedestrian-only ‘wine alley’, is lined with inviting quiet, cozy wine bars and big taverns with live brass music and dancing. This is also the town that boasts a unique collection of self-playing musical instruments housed in the museum called Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet. At 6.30pm we join a group for an optional tour into town for an earth to table approach to dining – fresh flavours from the region and entertainment that keeps a smile on your face the whole time, with the oompah-pah tunes and the folkloric music, a sample of the local schnapps – of course a great night was had by everyone! A mini-train returns us to the ship to just catch the end of a German tradition glass blowing demonstration. Leanne found something for her friend, and I bought a very small Christmas decoration (in hope that it will get home in once piece).
I will say the white wine that is onboard and is part of the package so not an extra cost, has been superb, does not seem to have preservatives and too easy to drink because it is nice, I’ve had German and French. I knew French wine was good but really didn’t have too much knowledge on the German. I thought Rhine wine would be too sweet, but haven’t been stung by a sweet wine since I boarded the boat.
Noone is certain why Heidelberg area was spared from the Allied bombing during World War 11, but some residents credit Mark Twain for saving their city, when he was there for a few months in 1878, he fell in love with the city, calling it “the last possibility of the beautiful”, a breathtaking city on the Neckar River.
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