Day 5 Mannheim to Speyer

After a nice long sleep, we got up fixed breakfast and headed out to Speyer today.   

Back in the saddle again. Gene Autry keeps going through my head. Better than Eddie Grant I guess.  Did I tell you my ass hurts?  I’m not used to this.  Yesterday we walked 14,000 steps. That’s more my thing.  

Today’s ride was much shorter.  We only went 27km according to the book. We were able to see more of the flooding along our route.  The dirt on the trees and shrubs was much higher up, and the water had not receded as much in this area.  I have to admit, the overgrown trees was absolutely stunning.  This is what I remember of the German countryside from years long gone.  

When waiting for OJ to get off the ship, George befriended another couple who ended up following us as they were a bit lost.  Around 11:30 we stopped to have a coffee and use the loo.  

I was smart and wore the sweatshirt I purchased yesterday.  It was bloody cold today.  Oskar pointed out some of the pockets of warm air we were traveling through, but I assured him that was just George outgassing.  Old men do that a lot you know.  

While having a coffee I got the news that our kitchen flooring was being delivered!  Every day we get closer to moving into the palace. 

We carried on past yet more industry.  One of the electrical plants we went past was rather dystopian.  Here we crossed on yet another ferry and  headed on our way back to the ship. 

We had a picnic in the park before OJ headed off for the Technology museum.  I wanted to go, but George was exhausted and our nipples were ready to fall off.  We returned to the boat, took a very long shower and crawled into bed to warm up.  It was funny listening to a conversation about....quantum computing, these 2 gentlemen were trying to school Oskar on his area of expertise.   I didn't really understand it, but it was just funny when George explained what Oskar does for his real job. (Not the puzzles.)  Anyway, it reminded me of a conversation we had a few days ago about not bragging if you only know a little bit about something.  (Note to self, stop being a know-it-all!)

We met everyone for dinner later that night as always.  tonight it was Italian night.  

Oskar womansplaining photon spins

No comment on the food, but given where I live.... Bless them, they tried.  

After dinner George and Heidi played a game of chess.  He won again, but said she was stiff competition. 

Until tomorrow.

Day 4 Mannheim

 Mannheim 

Today we opted out of riding our bikes.  I wanted to see Heidelberg Castle and OJ had already seen it 25 or so years earlier and didn’t want to go.  

Here’s how rusty my German is. I got us on the train instead of the tram. Now this normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but I did tell George it would be a bit of a milk run.  That my friends is an understatement.  It was nothing but a milk run!  We detoured so much it wasn’t funny.

In the end, we took a route that took us through the German countryside.  I won’t make that mistake on the way back.  Train route 5 had two lines, one that went through Weinheim and one that is a straight shot to Heidelberg.  Well, thankfully we took off at 9:30 because you know I got us on the one that took the longest route.  

It was fun though.  We got to see a lot of small towns along the way.  56 stops later, we finally made it to Heidelberg, but I was freezing.  First stop H&M to buy a sweatshirt for me.  Then we had a nice long walk down a pedestrian walkway filled with shops and cafes.  We wandered down until we came to a direction board.  I needed the restroom.  Of course they are on every other corner, and we took off in search of one.  There were 3 on the street we chose so this should be easy to find.  

No such luck!  By this time, George found a bush and I said I would suffer through until the castle.  There had to be one there.  So we carried on walking. We got to the gate and saw that it was straight up hill.  Now, I quit smoking over 7 years ago, but I still don’t own my lungs.  This hurt.  I imagine it was much like what it would have been like to climb from the valley below to our castle. Why is it that most castles are built on hilltops?

We got to the top and paid our entry fee of €9 each. And then we walked up more.

At the top was the expected WC and George and I agreed to meet in a same spot at the top.  I went off to the loo, and when I returned, he was no where to be found!  I ran around like an idiot looking for him to no avail.  Eventually I called him on the phone.  He had wandered inside to look at a big wine barrel.  He had forgotten that he said we would meet outside.  Silly man!

He was so thrilled by this barrel that we had to go back inside and take a look.  The barrel in the photo to the left is a normal sized one.  The one to the right is massive!  But even bigger still is the one inside the room below!  It holds xxx liters of wine!  Now that is impressive.

We then walked around outside and took a look at some of the sculptures that are adorning the walls.  I am beginning to get sculpture envy now.  I can’t wait until The Lovers is uncrated and installed.  

From here we took a walk around the grounds until we came to a bench to have a bit of a picnic.  It was truly a magical afternoon.  I was sitting with my lover on a bench dedicated to Johann Goethe and his lover.  Can it get anymore romantic?

After lunch, we saw a statue of Bacchus and a grotto that had been dug out of the hillside.  It reminded me very much of our garage.

The round tower of the castle had slipped and 1/2 of it had fallen over.  I’m so glad Antonio fixed our long slit before we arrived in Italy.  I can just see 1/2 of our tower falling off.  I am guessing the maintenance fees on this place are astronomical.  And just look at the thickness of those walls!

The view of the city from the castle walkway was magnificent!

After we had taken in the view, we decided to head back to the ship.  We were in no rush as the ship was docking here over night so we wandered back down the pedestrian area where I stopped for a currywurst. 

It wasn’t very good so I’ll be getting another somewhere along the way before we leave.  Or maybe I’ll just buy the stuff for it and make my own when we get home.  (One more thing for the shopping list!) George wouldn’t let me buy the monkey :(

We got back to the train depot and had issues finding the right train.  I saw a conductor and he told me which way to go.  We found train 5 that was taking the fast route and hopped on it.  As we were traveling, it stopped at a station and the doors wouldn't open.  When they eventually did, most people got off.  We of course knew we had to stay on to continue back to Mannheim HBH.  WRONG!  I looked up after 3 more stops and saw the number of the train we were on changed to 25.  I saw where it was headed and realized we were on yet another milk run.  Back to Weinheim for us.  

Some of the graffiti was nice.  

Our adventure came to an end after about another hour. From here we walked back to the ship for dinner . 

George and Oskar did something with a puzzle. 

After, we decided on  an early night for tomorrow we ride again.

Day 3 Worms to Mannheim

Once again we woke around 7:30 and went to breakfast to make our sandwiches for the day.  This actually pleases George because he is so used to having the same thing again and again.  On this trip he gets good German bread (he really likes the rye bread) with ham and cheese.  I made a trip to the grocery store this morning before he was awake as it was only 1/2 km from the pier.  My mission was to buy 0.0 beer for José, beer for George, oj, real milk (I can't stand the powdered stuff they have here and after getting a mouthful of spoiled milk, I'm leery now), bananas, mayo and mustard for sandwiches.  He is a creature of habit as are we all.  So today's sandwiches were closer to what I give him at home.  

Ugh...I'm going into a dull rendition of a food blogger.  I'll stop.  Sorry about that. 

After breakfast, I packed our lunches into the side bags and off we went.  As with eery day, we travel over the dykes and alongside some beautiful countryside.  Well....mostly.  This is a heavily industrial area and looks like one.   There are beautiful flowers along the way and many other things to see, but today the view is not quite as nice as some of the other trips we've been on.  Add to that the flooding and the left over mud and dust and you get the picture.

We had a small hiccup as usual.  Yesterday we took a ferry to cross the river.  George as usual fell down and hurt himself.   He landed on his already sore wrist and knee so he just exacerbated the problem.  Oh boy! There goes the rest of the trip! Well, as luck would have it, José had some Advil, I gave him 2 and put him to bed early so he could heal.  I fully expected him to cancel his ride today, but he was feeling spry and took to the bike a though nothing happened.  

We rode through a lot of previously flooded area, and other than a few birds and some cows (have I told you I have a thing for cows? Must be all those years on the farm.  They are the most gentile creatures.) There really was not much to see except for the flooding and the dirt on the trees where the river had been.  Of course Oskar had to go check out the high water mark.

This area is filled with industry.  It is rather dull looking as you can see.  The metal recycling plant was interesting to me.  I've heard of these places, but have never seen one.  

At one point we saw a stork and some geese.  I was wondering if the geese would attack, but the stork was a bit of a bully and walked right between the two and they very quickly shifted to the side. 

Here we had a bit of a break for coffee and cookies. 

I did enjoy the stickers on the machines and poles, some of them really tickled me.  

That night in the restaurant it was asian night and we had an Indonesian buffet.  Not bad considering the location.  They even had Sambal so I was happy.  I will also admit to eating one too many shrimp chips but since I haven’t seen them in Italy, it was a treat for me.  (One more thing to add to my shopping list on the way home.)

Tomorrow we head to Heidelberg for yet another adventure.