Another early start with the sun shining and the promise of a warm day.  After breakfast, everyone except Evie, climbed aboard a bus for the drive to Heidelberg and the tour of Heidelberg Castle.  Evie joined the walking tour of Mannheim. 
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The castle was fascinating but we didn’t get to see as much of the castle as I had hoped. There were many areas that I remembered from my visit with Chana 14 years ago that I had hoped Mom would get to see. That would have taken more time than we were allotted.  I guess that means we will have to revisit Heidelberg in the future.  Here is the history of Heidelberg Castle. 

​The tour ended with us being taken on a short walk in the old part of Heidelberg and given about an hour of free time to meander around.  As per usual, I headed to the nearest public bathroom.  After, Mom, Victoria and I walked a bit and found ourselves in a tiny grocery market.  We then wandered across the plaza to the Lindt store where we did more damage to our wallets.  With it close to the time to meet the bus, we headed down to the water’s edge for a leisurely walk to where we were to meet the bus for the return trip to the ship. The three of us wished we had spent more time at the castle and less in the town.  

​The bus headed out on the main highway between Mannheim and Heidelberg. The bus driver found us in a major traffic jam.  Since Mom and I were sitting in the very front of the bus, I could see two large flashing arrows guiding all the traffic into a merge and onto the off ramp.  The driver called to a road construction worker sitting on a guardrail to ask what happened.  It turned out that one of the highway lanes was closed due to construction. A very wide vehicle of some sort didn’t see the sign stating that the lane was closed and entered the road.  The vehicle, when it realized it could not continue, had to back up about 2 kilometers which is about 1 ½  miles.  Hence the reason the road was closed.  While taking the off ramp, the car in front of the bus slammed on its breaks causing the bus to do the same.  Thank goodness Maarten had reminded us to put on our seatbelts.  Apparently this is a law in Germany even on Buses.

​Our ship left Mannheim for Speyer while we ate lunch.  We pulled into port around 3:00.  Linda c. Evie, Victoria, Mom and I joined the walking tour.  Evie was looking at a map of the area and found there was a Mikveh in Speyer.  So after looking at and hearing about the Speyer Cathedral and the Trinity Church which were very old and grand structures, I asked if the Jewish Quarter was on the tour.  Our guide let us know that he would lead us in the right direction.  We found out that the Jewish area is an area of ruins. It houses the remains of the men’s synagogue and the women’s synagogue.  It also has the oldest and most well preserved mikveh in all of Europe. We made it back to the ship in time for the best meal we have had thus far.  It was rack of lamb night.

​After dinner we listened to Karaoke in the Lounge before heading to bed.