Heidelberg and Rudesheim

Our shore excursion this morning left at 8.30 a.m. and again was one included in our cruise holiday. We were heading from our mooring in Mannheim to travel to Heidelberg to visit the town and the castle.  The weather however wasn't too promising, so we made sure we had some waterproof jackets and an umbrella with us.

The plan was that while we were completing our visit here, the boat would sail to Gernsheim where we would rejoin it for the next part of the journey which was a sail down to Rudesheim.  In Rudesheim there was an option extra tour that evening which included a mini train ride and a traditional dinner and show.  We chose to stay on board that night for dinner as usual.

But, to get back to our morning tour, we were taken to Heidelberg Castle high above the town.  It was an impressive castle, partly in ruins, but with really good facilities for visitors. It also boasts that it has the biggest wine barrel in the world!! The weather held out quite well, but we did have a torrential downpour at one stage when we were luckily sheltering under a huge parasol umbrella!

Here are some photos of the visit.

You can see by the puddles that there had been a fair bit of rain!

Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg Castle

Lion's head at Heidelberg Castle

Diorama (tilt shift) view from Heidelberg Castle

Diorama (tilt shift) view from Heidelberg Castle

This is a monkey!

There seems to be a big tradition in this part of the world that when a couple get engaged/married, they put their names onto a padlock, lock the padlock onto a bridge then throw the key into the water. This is the first example I have seen, but there's more to come in later photos!

Entrance to the bridge at Heidelberg

Now, during the free time part of our visit to Heidelberg, we done a spot of shopping! Do NOT miss the Christmas shop!!  It is one of the best that I have ever seen and, although it's obviously mostly Christmas items that are on sale, there are other things as well and it is just wonderful!

After our visit here, we headed to pick up the boat at Gernsheim for our onward journey to Rudesheim and, when we got back to the boat, we were met by the staff welcoming us back!

Staff welcome

After we re-joined the boat, we headed for lunch and, as the weather had really cheered up, we sat up on the sundeck and enjoyed a leisurely sail to Rudesheim.  We were to be docked here overnight so, after dinner, we took a short walk into town and had a couple of drinks in one of the local hotels.

Here are a few photos taken during the sail down to Rudesheim.

Unfortunately, I don't know what this building is, but it is certainly very impressive!

One of the many barges on the Rhine

Container barge

The Gullveig and the Ingvi moored together

When we moored up, one of the other Viking boats, the Viking Ingvi, moored right up beside us, which is something I touched upon earlier in the blog. This is entirely normal and is to be expected. Also, in Rudesheim, I have never ever seen so many swans in my life!

The boat was moored here overnight all set for the scenic part of the cruise which was to start in the morning. We would be sailing to Koblenz and had a tour to Marksburg Castle to look forward to.  It was fingers firmly crossed for good weather for this part of the cruise!!