Speyer

After last night’s festivities, I was so wound up I couldn’t sleep. I was still up reading at 1:30. I didn’t go on the sightseeing tour so I could get some rest. Rudy decided to stay behind and go back to bed. After breakfast and all the tour people leaving I sat in the lounge and did some crossword puzzles. Then went to the room to rest for awhile. I must have dozed a little. I felt better and went to lunch. I ate half a salad and 1/3 order of pasta. Wasn’t too hungry. Rudy came in 10 minutes later and had some soup. We had an interesting conversation with table mates because Rudy likes to bring up controversial topics and see where they go. I finally said we had to leave to get the shuttle to get us out of there.
After lunch we caught a shuttle and rode into town to meet Betty and Verna. Verna decided to come back to ship and Betty, Rudy and I went to the Christmas market. After seeing 3 markets, they are all starting to look the same. I bought a nice wine mug-empty. Then I found a pair of fluffy socks with the stuff on the bottom so I don’t fall. I found a stand with bratwurst, photo to follow. Rudy and I shared it. The brats we had in the restaurant were small. This was a huge sausage with a big bun. It was very tasty. We walked around more and then they decided I needed to rest, so we found a cafe and went in. I had a lemonade. Rudy had coffee and strudel, Betty had a Coke..I think Rudy just wanted to stop for a coffee. By then it was 4:30 and time to head back to get shuttle back to ship. There were a couple of nice looking photos of the Catholic and Lutheran churches, but I had trouble downloading them and the video of YMCA from last night.

We came back to the ship, had a debarkation debriefing, then info about Strasbourg, our stop tomorrow..I’ve been waiting to see this city. We have a bit of a bus tour, then walking and ending up at Christmas market. I will spend an hour there, then come back to the ship.

Dinner tonight was the best yet; French onion soup, chateaubriand, (don’t know if that’s spelled right) and chocolate lava cake for dessert. All were yummy.

We played a couple games of Five Crowns and now it’s time to crash. I put in 5600 steps today, I’m tired.

Photos: I had trouble downloading the photos tonight. There is a photo with the ship under the moon, some of the market stalls and me with my brat.