On Sunday 31/7/16 our ship (not a boat yes a ship)  arrived in the River Port Mannheim.    The Freedom of Choice excursions were a guided walking tour of Speyer one of Germany’s oldest towns or a visit to the Speyer Technical Museum.

We 3 Sisters chose the guided town walk.  This included a visit to the Cathedral which is the burial-place of many German Kings.

Our guide was a local and could certainly talk!  Ever heard the saying he has the gift of the gab?  Well that was our guide.  We had all been broken up into several groups, fast, medium and slow-paced. The 3 of us were in the fast group.

When the slow group go past you while your standing listening to your guide,  is when you realise we picked the wrong group.

The slow group managed to have some free time to shop, we didn’t.

We did however get to explore the Cathedral, without the guide!  Pictures just wouldn’t do it justice. If your ever in Germany please do visit Speyer.  The Cathedral is in the city square.

A tractor display, not part of the tour but was a highlight as the tour guide had to be quiet while they were zooming around the square.

The most funny thing to see was our Tour Director standing behind our tour guide and mouthing and using his hands that made us 3 laugh so much our sides hurt!

We were to have had lunch in Town, however overnight there were some delays in getting through the locks.  The Rhine is a very busy river with not only cruise ships but it is also used for transporting goods.

This is when the Tour Director goes into overdrive.  He made sure that our visit to Speyer was not interrupted because of the delay.

Thanks so much for our wonderful Cruise Director – job well done and thanks for the laugh