Cruise Reporting - Speyer and Rüdesheim

The Wellness Instructor had joined the boat, so I started my day with two classes (and for most of the mornings, I was his only student although others were in the lounge, mostly lounging) and then the Bistro Breakfast.  I tended to eat the same thing: A yoghurt-and-museli cup, one each of mixed berries and fruit salad, and a hard-boiled egg.  Usually I had juice or tea or both to drink.  I figured this was a good fortification for the morning.

When subscribing for tours I debated spending the morning in the Speyer Technical Museum, but decided to do the "Secrets of Speyer" walking tour instead.  I was glad I did because the guide took us to the old Jewish area!  So often they focus on the cathedrals, and we were introduced to the one here:

This is a series of statues on the way to the cathedral,
representing kings and a queen who founded Speyer.

  

 

We could not go inside the cathedral due to a special service commemorating the end of school, although a few people did peek inside.  We also saw one of the remaining bits of the old town wall:

The old Jewish area doesn't have much remaining except the history, some crumbling walls from the synagogue, and the mikveh:

Our guide mentioned that she hoped she was giving the information correctly, and while the others went down to the mikveh I told her, quietly, that I am Jewish and she is telling it admirably.  Then, of course, I went down too.  I tried to get close enough to touch the holy water, but there were barriers, probably to keep people from falling in since the stairs are very worn and look slippery:

After the tour, some of us opted to follow the guide into a small church which looked like not-much on the outside, but is a complete baroque confection on the inside:

We also saw one of the oldest houses in town, this wall has stood for about 800 years:

There is a bit to the left that is still habitable.

After free time it was back to the ship and sailing to Rüdesheim, where we began our visit with a train trip (those on-street trains seem to be everywhere in Germany, at least for the tourist trade) to a local winery's tasting floor and shop, where we were given several wines to try.  I just sipped but it was a fun evening and of course we get to know the other travelers.  One of them and I walked back to the boat, as it wasn't far and the weather was lovely.

The next morning we had some other tours of Rüdesheim while the boat sailed to the next location.  So you were either on or off, and I was definitely off!  I did the (very early) Wellness classes and ate my bistro breakfast, then went with a group to Siegfried's Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum:

A life-sized model of the workshop where the music rolls were constructed.

Part of the exhibit of Siegfried himself.

 

Parts of the building are very old, around 12th Century we were told, and the painting are retained:

 

Not shown, when they asked for a volunteer to crank a hurdy-gurdy, and nobody raised their hand, I of course volunteered!  It's harder work than it looks.  The tour was quick, efficient, very German.  No, we could not stay to wander on our own, there was another tour coming after.  So too quickly we were on our own in town.  I remembered hearing that the gondola-riding group had a short wait as the gondolas did not open until 9:30am, and wondered could I catch them?  No, and I could not talk myself into a ticket (lack of decent German didn't help, I am sure) and I had not thought to bring a credit card or much money with me.

     I went out to the street and looked for some others from the ship.  Seeing some whom I recognized and who recognized me, I was able to borrow 10€ for a ticket.  It turned out the round-trip was 10€ and one-way is only 7,50€ so I decided to be daring and walk down.  After all, a third group was doing the vinyards hiking, so it was possible, correct?

This is the famous statue that overlooks the vinyards;
I decided not to look at her up close, because time
was tight if I could walk down in time to meet our bus.

Luckily, there were some trail signs.  I still
managed to make a few wrong turns.

I did make it back to the meeting point in time to walk to the buses and return to the boat.  Almost immediately we sailed off to the next port, so it was a relaxing afternoon aboard.  We could look at the scenery and watch as we were through locks.  There were Wellness classes, but I'd done mine for the day - plus given the time difference, I was able to tune into my usual Saturday yoga class.  Then I joined our regular Torah Study.

Then I napped.

We had a special supper that night, inspired by the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, and it was quite yummy.  I skipped the late night entertainment in favour of going to bed in time to get up for the next morning's Wellness classes.  There is a double tour in the morning, while the boat sails to the next port.