This morning we are docked in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Last night, Nana and I decided that we wanted to try room service for breakfast this morning. At 8:00am, Veljko (our butler) delivered our French toast, bacon, fresh fruit, coffee and tea. It was such a leisurely way to start our day.
We decided to take the Heidelberg Stroll excursion today. So just before 9:00am, we headed outside and boarded the bus. The trip to Heidelberg was about thirty minutes away but our guide Bertelon kept us entertained with fun facts and witty commentary.
We arrived just before 10:00am and once we all got off of the bus, it was time to start our tour. We started by walking to Karlsplatz where we had a beautiful view of the Heidelberg Castle. The Scenic provided headsets made it much easier to hear our guide.
Our tour then took us to Heidelberger Marktplatz where we admired Heiliggeistrkirche (Evangelical church) and the Hercules Fountain.
From there we strolled to the Old Bridge where we had another incredible view of the castle. One of the pillars of the bridge has markings to indicate the flood levels that have been reached. The bridge also has a famous bronze statue of a monkey called Brückenaffe. Legend has it rubbing the monkey brings you good luck.
Bertelon mentioned that we would be meeting the bus at 12:30pm. So by 11:00am, we decided to leave the tour and explore Heidelberg on our own. What we really mean by that is that we wanted to go shopping. Nana and I headed in one direction while Marie and Karen headed in another. It was nice to just wander around the cobblestone streets and check out the various shops.
By 12:30pm, everyone was back and we boarded the bus for the trip back to the ship. We arrived just after 1:00pm and it was straight to the Crystal Dining Room for lunch. Once we finished, Nana and Marie headed to the cabins while Karen and I headed to the Salt Therapy Lounge. While we were relaxing, I decided to go and get a drink. I ran into a friendly staff member who offered to deliver my Virgin Passion Martini to me in the Salt Therapy Lounge. How’s that for service. Forty-five minutes later, Karen and I headed to the Lounge where we were able to procure a bowl of chips. It started to get chilly so it was back to the cabins for the rest of the afternoon.
Every guest on Scenic Jasper receives an invitation to dine at Portobello. It is a separate area in the Lounge where you get to experience what it would be like to dine in an Italian family home. At most there are twenty people dining. Tonight would be our night to attend. It is a fixed four-course menu with the Chef preparing each dish right in front of us. The three waiters attending to us made sure our wine glasses were topped up and explained each course in detail. Dinner began at 7:15pm and by 8:45pm we were finishing up a wonderful meal.
At some point during dinner, our ship arrived in Rudesheim, Germany. We are docked here overnight so that tomorrow we can begin our sail through the Rhine Gorge. Our cruise director Siim mentioned that it was possible to walk into the town. So Karen, Marie and I grabbed our coats and took a stroll. Unfortunately nothing was open but it was still nice to get out. On our way back to the ship, we had to walk through a AmaWaterways ship. The staff were kind enough to let us check out their gift shop and I ended up buying a wooden Christmas train for Nana. The evening ended with a movie.
Be First to Comment