Chapter 4 - DAY 3 - Amsterdam to Heildelberg

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TRAVEL DAY – WITH EXTRAS

Today was mainly a travel day to get us from northern Europe closer to the main part of our tour, it wasn’t a day wasted though as our trip to Heidelberg included an hour and a half boat cruise down the Rhine River.

We left Amsterdam early and headed for the Dutch/German border; again we passed through some of the WW2 battlefields, including the area of the ‘Bridge to Far’. Before we knew it we were in Deutschland! We stopped for lunch at the pretty Rhine side village of Boppard. I think I’m going to like Germany – there two favourite food groups are Beer and Sausage –HEAVEN! We had a bratwurst (sausage) for lunch – Jeanette tried a bit of German –not too successful but the shop assistance was rather grumpy anyway.

RHINE CRUISE
We then boarded our ship for our Rhine Cruise. It was amazing, the weather was beautiful. The temperature was around 10 degrees more than we found in Holland. We were cruising down the Rhine sitting on the open deck supping beer, looking at castles and vineyards on the side of the river.

Sadly on the cruise I heard (from one of our group from Brisbane) that the Broncos had knocked the Warriors out of the NRL playoffs. It was my first day wearing my Warriors Bucket Hat to – GUTTED!

HEIDELBERG
The boat eventually docked and we jumped back on the bus for the final 2 hour haul down to Heidelberg. The bus dropped us in the city centre near the Karl Theodor Bridge from where we got a great view of Heidelberg Castle (excellent photo opportunity). Bizarrely the bridge had a Bronze Baboon statue as you walked onto the bridge, not sure of the relevance.

Heidelberg is a very pretty city with some fantastic historic buildings, it is fantastic that so much of Europe has preserved its history for later generations to enjoy and appreciate.

Dinner was at the hotel, we dined outside in the courtyard – magic atmosphere. It was a very nice and the group is really starting to come together now.

It’s all pretty amazing we are used to going from Upper Hutt to Lower Hutt and Wellington with trips to Masterton and Mt Maunganui. In the last few days we’ve been to France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. The cruise down the Rhine really brought home what a special time this is for us.

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