Every  evening before dinner our Cruise Director would give all of us a Port Talk.  This would be on what we were all doing the next day and the events of the day. Any issues that may have arisen regarding locks or things we need to be on the look out for such as pick pockets.  His talks were always  lighthearted and he would joke and say for example ” Heidelberg has a state of the art hospital we can look at them as we pass but I repeat we do not want to see inside the hospital” This night he was more somber than usual.

While we were enjoying a cuppa in The Old Town of Heidelberg,  a horrible accident was taking place. I do remember hearing an Ambulance but you do not associate it with one of your own.

3 of our tour had been enjoying a wander around the town, one lady as she crossed the road looked right not left first.  She was hit by a truck.  Rushed to the hospital, she was placed in an induced coma, many broken bones.

The company we were on the cruise with put the other 2 in the Hilton Hotel. Our Hotel Manager had to pack up their rooms. No wonder she who is usually so bubbly was looking defeated in the afternoon.

I can say as this post is written after this day, that the lady who was hit by a truck did come out of her coma 2 days later.  The induced coma was to help her heal and not go into shock.  She suffered no brain damage and for that we all were very grateful. It would be a long recovery and I do hope by now they are back home in Australia.

So all I can say…Please Please…forget the Look Right Look Left that has been entrenched into our brains here in Australia.  When crossing the roads in Europe, its LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT… Keep looking out for cars, trucks, bikes, quiet trams etc  as you cross the road…  Traffic in Europe is so different from here in Australia. Often they will not stop because we have put a foot on the cross walk, they just keep going.