May 23, 2025

Weather partly cloudy, 60’s

Mannheim from the dock

Paul caught a touch of sinus misery overnight and so eschewed the adventuring in lieu of resting and drinking lots of water, (Alka seltzer plus and Flonase). Bob, Anna and Shirley were joined at breakfast by the Hotel Manager, Karin.  She regaled them about her 32 years on the water working with Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Viking cruise lines. She said she has travelled the entire world, except Japan.  She was scheduled for Japan five times and each time something happened to prevent it. She has been on the river cruises for about five years, and her favorite is the Nile cruise. She was most interesting to chat with!   After breakfast and the short spiel about extensions, Shirley and the group ventured out to the central city of Mannheim to do a little shopping. My goal was a hat to shield my face and avoid more sunburn.  I achieved that goal and had a nice walk.

After lunch on the boat, Paul was still not up to the Speyer walking tour, but the rest of the group soldiered on.

Fillipa

Our guide Filippa joined us on the bus for the half hour drive to Speyer.  She began with giving us info on Mannheim.  First, she pointed out the John Deere factory.  The museum there is quite entertaining for her husband and two boys (the younger is two).  She can drop them off at the museum and enjoy two hours of relaxed shopping.  Also, John Deere decorates a tractor for Christmas instead of a tree.  Also, Mannheim, a town of about 350,000 is the largest inland harbor in Germany.  Thirdly, the first automobile was invented here.

John Deere Factory

She told an interesting story about Mr. Benz and his car.  It was not very successful.  People felt sorry for those with cars.  Obviously, they could not afford a horse and carriage!  Then Mrs. Benz decided to visit her mother who lived 80 kilometers away by car and had three problems on the journey.  First, the car stopped running because of dust in a tube.  Fortunately, ladies of that era wore hats fastened with hat pins.  She used her hat pin to clean the tube and off she went on her journey.  But woefully, she ran out of petrol!  In those days, there were no gas stations, so she stopped at a store for ten gallons of cleaning petrol.  The owner told her that was not enough to clean her filthy clothing!  But she bought her petrol and refilled the tank.  That store later became the first petrol station!  Further down the road, the brakes failed!  This resourceful woman went to a shoe store and bought some leather to repair the brakes and, thus, invented brake pads. She then arrived at her mother’s house.  After this journey the cars were more popular.  The Benz family moved to France and Mr. Benz went into business with Mr. Daimler who had a daughter named Mercedes and so we have the Mercedes Benz!

Cathedral

Speyer is a small town of about 50,000. Filippa began our tour with the Cathedral which has quite a history. Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II began building it in 1038.  The architecture is mostly Romanesque with some Gothic additions.  The town was mostly destroyed by the French in 1608. The Cathedral remained standing but was destroyed inside.   The interior has been restored but remains rather plain without ornate décor.  The crypt contains the tombs of most of the Holy Roman Emperors. Filippi also showed us the Jewish quarter and the very large Protestant Church. On the way we saw a statue of a pilgrim on the way to Santiago de Caposella (the Camino is everywhere!)

Camino Pilgrim

She then gave us free time.  Loren, Bob, Anna, and I strolled the quaint streets and enjoyed a pretzel.  Speyer claims to be the birthplace of the German pretzel, but so do other towns. We returned to our assigned meeting place.  Anna and I enjoyed a small garden where we identified (with Seek) some new varieties of flowers. Beautiful parks and flowers are everywhere!

Flower garden

Then back to the ship for the Explorer’s club toast, Dinner and rest. France tomorrow!