The Cruise boat stopped at Mannheim late morning, and the group elected to go to Heidelberg. Mannheim is a city of approximately 300,000 and Heidelberg is a city of approximately 150,000. Heidelberg is a University City with a student population of around 50,000 and it is the oldest University in Germany.
The highlights for this trip was a walking tour called the “Heidelberg Philosophers Hike” and the less stressful tour of the extensive castle. Randy & Kathy elected to take the Hike and reported that it was really fantastic and that their guide was great.
The rest of the group went to the Castle and found it also to be very facinating with a lot of history dating back many centuries. Heidlelberg University dates back to 1386 and was the 4th university established in the Holy Roman Empire. Heidlebery also has one of the longest shopping streets in Germany, which obviously was attractive to the females in our group.
After the evening meal we met several fellow travelers with connections to Anthony and Manchester as well as Edmond, Oklahoma. Not only were they connected to the towns, but they were distant relatives of Kathy Lanie—Pretty cool!
The SmugMug website has been updated through today, so check it out at:
http://ljl-photos.llanie.com/2015-Europe-RiverCruise
Tomorrow we will sail “The Rhine Gorge” & “Rhine Castles & Ruins”, so look for a lot of photos on the SmugMug website tomorrow evening.