Day 6, Speyer and Heidelburg

Tuesday, June 14th

Viking Daily

Rather than Mannheim, we arrived at Speyer at 10:00 and did a quick walking tour of Speyer Cathedral, before boarding buses for Heidelberg.

Google Live Map

As we approached the Cathedral, a children's playground had a special treat for Amanda, our favorite arachnophobe.

Speyer Cathedral's most impressive feature, other than its size, was the pipe organ.

I imagine given the size of the interior it is something to hear.

First stop in Heidelberg was Heidelberg Castle, after a 40 minute bus ride.  Our guide was a Canadian student at University of Heidelberg.  Here is a 1650 painting showing the scale of the castle and gardens.

By Jacques Fouquier (1590/1591–1659) - Own work, Immanuel Giel 07:59, 6 June 2006 (UTC), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=844566

A collage of views of the castle, the bottom is the Powder Turret, split by an explosion, which was described by Mark Twain in his 1880 book A Tramp Abroad.

The castle had an impressive wine barrel, which holds 58,000 gallons, with a dance floor on top.

We made our way back to the buses for the ride down to Heidelberg, another impressive driving feat by our driver.  A quick walking tour, followed by free time. 

 Because of the schedule deviation we were on our own for lunch, rather than having lunch on-board.  Viking gave us a 25 € shipboard credit, per person, to make up for the missed lunch.  We found a nice restaurant, where I had sausage (rindswurst) and sauerkraut, with a mustard that definitely cleared the sinuses.  A nice draft beer finished off the meal.   A little shopping, two bakeries, and a leisurely coffee and it way time to head back to the bus.

On our arrival back at the Vidar we were greeted by crew with food, drink and welcome back sign, obviously bad news about water levels.

  

Felipe had a present waiting in our room, a towel dog and an invitation to the Viking Explorer Society Reception for those who had a previous Viking Cruise, twenty nine on this trip.

While the Minute Steak was very good, I would have preferred the ribeye in hindsight.

Day 7, Seyer - Bus to Strasbourg

Wednesday, June 15th

Today's excursion started early due to the hour and a half bus ride.  They offered a less strenuous version of the walking tour, so Carol & I opted for it.  Today we are group E.  The bus ride had a minor excitement, when the driver went north at the A35/A4 interchange rather than south.  After about two miles he was able to exit and get back on the southbound A4.  Note; Passports are not required when crossing EU boarders.

Google Live Map

There was another delay, at the parking area, after the bus ride there was a long line for the ladies room.  The E group got a ride to our alternate starting point, near the Customs House.

The Cathedral is unique in that it has only one spier, as seen in the collage, which also shows half-timber houses, a gargoyle on the Cathedral, and Sean demonstrating the "pole de meaux".  As the guide explained the populus erected it to demonstrate that the monks were too fat, if you could pass through in profile, you weren't fat.  I didn't try, for obvious reasons.

We had lunch at the former customs house, a very large building.

We had choucroute garnie, sauerkraut made with wine vice vinegar is strange.  

There were three return times, due to threatening weather we chose the first and had a little rain on the way to the bus.  Amanda and Sean took the second, and suffered a hail storm as they waited at the assembly point. 

Before the Daily Briefing this evening Arthur introduced us to Linie Aquavit.  Linie (pronounced “LINN-yuh”) is the Norwegian word for “line,” referring, in this case, to the equator. Linie aquavit is shipped from Norway, across the equator, down to Australia, and back again in oak sherry casks. Aficionados say the liquor gains a richer flavor as it sloshes around in the barrels for several weeks.

The concept of linie aquavit happened by accident in the 1800s. Jørgen Lysholm owned a distillery in Trondheim, Norway. His mother and uncle sent a batch of aquavit to Asia on a large sailing ship, hoping to market it there. It didn’t sell, however, and five barrels were shipped back to Trondheim. When the aquavit arrived back in Norway, Lysholm noticed it had a richer flavor. At that time, Norway was shipping dried cod around the world. Lysholm began loading barrels of aquavit onto freighters that carried the cod, and retrieving them at the end of a long round trip.

If you look through the bottle at the back side of the label, you’ll find the name of the ship that carried it across the equator, along with the date it sailed.

When we returned to our room there was a pair of Aquavit glasses waiting for us.

Day 8, Seyer - Technik Museum and Tour of Worms

Thursday, June 16th.

Based on a glowing review, by a fellow passenger, of the Technik Museum, just across the street from our berth,  Diana arranged for anyone who wanted to visit the museum to go.  In the afternoon there would be a walking tour of Worms.

The Museum.

Submarine Interior

I opted out of the tour of Worms, Amanda, Sean and Carol went, the main attraction was the Cathedral.

As they returned they received a warm welcome from the crew.

Tonight was the Farewell Dinner.

After Dinner we saw a rainbow.

Luggage had to be outside the door by 4:00 AM, with a blue baggage tag.

Time to settle our account and tip the Cruise Director and Staff.

• Beer (ea)                                                 2.90 €                          $   3.30
• Coke (ea)                                                2.90 €                          $   3.30
• Cuba Libre (Bacardi) (ea)                      6.50 €                          $   7.40
• River Map                                              7.00 €                          $   7.97
• Viking Tote Bag                                   12.00 €                          $ 13.67
• Program Director Tip (2 € pp/day)      40.00 €                          $ 45.56
• Staff Tip (12 € pp/day)                      216.00 €                          $246.01

Day 9, Seyer to Basel via Black Forest

Today we travel from Speyer to Basel, where we will stay overnight at the Marriott Courtyard, Basel, Switzerland.

Viking Bus Convoy 

The original plan for Breisach had an excursion to the Black Forest, a trip that based on reviews I had read we had not planned on taking.

Viking decided that today we would go to Basel via the Black Forest.  I would have preferred the option of going directly to Basel, with some free time.  Instead we did a three plus hour drive, picked up the local guides and proceeded to drive through the Black Forest, stopping a Schwarzwald, to see a Cuckoo Clock works and Glass Blowing works.

From there we continued to Feldberg where we stopped for lunch at a very nice hotel on top of a large hill, another demonstration of exceptional driving.

View from the Hotel's Restaurant 

After lunch I was able to check in with British Airways, using Amanda's Iphone.  I was able to get the coveted 15E/F seats.

Back on the bus for the trip to our hotel in Basel, arriving at about 5:00 PM.

Dinner in the hotel.

Packing for the trip home.

Day 10 - Return Flight Home from Euroairport, Basel, Switzerland

Saturday, June 18th

Today schedule:

• Bags out of room by 0700 hrs
• Breakfast in hotel 0700 - 0900 hrs
• Our group's bus to Euroairport, Basel, Switzerland - 0900 hrs
• BA 753, Basel to Heathrow departs at 1155 hrs.
• BA 753 arrives Heathrow at 1240 hrs
• BA 0227 departs Heathrow at 1655 hrs
• BA 0277 arrives Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta, GA at 1956 hrs
• End of Viking journey.
• Overnight a Atlanta Airport Marriott, drive home tomorrow.

I was awake at 0600, Carol slept in, I put the bags out and went to the lobby for coffee and passed the time reading on my Ipad.  Carol texted that she was up.  I returned to the room and we went down to breakfast together.  Breakfast was a buffet, with a good selection, not quite up to Vidar's breakfast but sufficient.  

Settled incidental bill with hotel, they had charged me for high speed wifi, which was free (Marriott Rewards Platinum member), standard wifi was available to all.  They made the adjustment and we proceeded to verify our bags before the were loaded on the bus.  Diane, Cruise Director, rode the bus as far as the Novotel Hotel, where she was meeting her next set of guest.  She again thanked us for being so understanding about the high water levels.  According to Diana twenty seven vessels were impacted by the high water.  Carol and I discussed, a couple of time, the logistic operation Viking must have.  For just yesterday, four buses from Speyer to Basel, pit-stopping to pick up local guides.  Lunch for 190 guest along the route, and hotel accommodation.  Plus they arranged transfers for those passengers who hadn't booked transfers.

Viking representative met us at airport and escorted us to BA counter.  Checked bags and proceeded to lounge to wait for flight, which was on time.

BA 753 arrived Heathrow a few minutes late, from the flight track, due to traffic.  We cleared passport control, thanks again to Fast Track, and made our way to the lounge without any delays. Flight information indicated that our gate wouldn't be posted until 1445 hrs for a 1600 hrs departure. When it did finally come up we were gate C66, about as far away as you can get.  Down to the inter-terminal train for the ride to C gates. and then to the end of the building for gate 66.

Boarded BA 227 for the flight back to Atlanta, settling into 15E/F, we both has empty aisle seats so we were able to leave the partitions down.  Uneventful flight home, had a short nap near the end.

Overall a pleasant vacation, even with the rain, Columbia rain jacket paid for its self.

PS: Received an e-mail from Viking stating we will be receiving a 20% discount voucher; "future cruise voucher for 20% off the paid cruise fare. The vouchers can be used toward any voyage with Viking Cruises—rivers or oceans"

We look forward to using the voucher.