I had to take a break this morning from my morning coffee and blogging to go up to the Sun Deck to get a photo of the amazing sunrise over the Rhine river. Viking Eistla is sailing toward Mannheim, Germany this morning.

Viking has two included excursions on offer for today. This morning, a Mannheim and Christmas Markets, and this afternoon, a Speyer Christmas Markets.

Our Mannheim Christmas Markets excursion is scheduled to depart at 10:30, which means we need to be shoreside to meet our guide at 10:20am. This morning there are three river boats/ships docked next to each other and at least two of the ships are disembarking guests at the same time. Needless to say, it was crowded and took a little longer to get to our meeting spot on shore.

After meeting Christian, our local guide for the day, we are escorted to one of three Viking motor coaches for the drive into Mannheim. The Christmas Market here is not located within walking distance of the ship. The coach ride takes about 30 minutes and drops us off across the street from Frederick Square. Our guide was very good, albeit a bit too talkative for my tastes, but he had a good sense of humor and seemed very knowledgeable.

The bus dropped us off at the famous Mannheim Rosengarten concert hall with the faces of Mozart and Beethoven carved into its upper facade.

After hearing all about the history of this concert hall, we walked across the street and into Frederick Square to the location of the iconic Mannheim Water Tower. The water tower was built from 1886 to 1889 and stands 197 feet high and 62 feet in diameter. This was Mannheim's first urban water tower.

The Christmas Market in Mannheim is located next to the water tower and is a fraction of the size of the Christmas Market in Cologne. Our first objective was to find an ATM so that I can get more Euro. Our guide pointed out a Deutsche Bank across the street, so we headed to the bank to get cash. We walked into the lobby and found 10 ATMs, all very modern. However, they were all in German language. There was no option to choose English or any other language. I have never seen this before in all our travels. I inserted my debit card expecting to get a screen asking if I wanted to choose another language, but just got more screens in German. Fortunately, the physical buttons were colored and I knew red meant to cancel, so I pressed it and my card popped out.

Our first stall that caught our attention was a waffle vendor selling freshly made waffles. We could not resist. We paid 5€ for a huge waffle that we shared. By the way, I do have some Euro that I travel with, so I was not completely at the mercy of the ATMs.

Our waffle was delicious. We had chocolate sauce on one half and a Biscoff sauce on the other. This was the beginning of our Christmas Market culinary journey.

We walked by several stalls selling Bratwurst and I have to tell you, I was really tempted to try one of the sausages. They look and smell amazing.

We could not resist sharing an order of fresh French Fries from another vendor. Each order is prepared fresh and they were piping hot. We got a huge cone of fries for 6€ and it was more than we could eat.

There’s nothing better than hot, crisp French Fries and these were some of the best we have had.

After our healthy dining, Rickee went shopping for a new knit hat and found the perfect one she had been looking for. The merchant accepted credit cards, so we did not have to deplete our Euro cash.

We only had about an hour to enjoy the Christmas market in Mannheim before it was time to meet for the coach ride back to Viking Eistla. Guests were back on board in time for lunch.

The plan this afternoon is for guests to disembark at 4:15pm in Mannheim for a coach ride to Speyer. Then, Viking Eistla will set sail for Speyer where we will meet up with the ship after our excursion. Our departure from Mannheim for the 4:15 tour was delayed and the rest of the evening activities had to be pushed back by about 15 minutes.

The drive from Mannheim to Speyer should only take about 20 minutes, but we are departing Mannheim at the peak traffic period. The drive to Speyer took about 40 minutes, cutting into the time we were able to spend at the Christmas market. Our guide pointed out a huge chalice and the entrance to the cathedral as our meeting place for the “10-minute” walk back to Viking Eistla at the end of our tour. We were told to meet at 6:15 for the walk back.

The Christmas market in Speyer was one long line of vendor stalls on a single street. This appears to be a pedestrian shopping street that has been transformed into a Christmas market as there are shops on both sides of the street.

There are a lot of stalls here selling Glühwein, a mulled, spiced wine drink that is served hot. Glühwein is a traditional Christmas drink in many parts of Europe, and especially in Germany. The drink is served in decorative mugs that you get to keep as a souvenir.

*Glühwein vendors are everywhere in Speyer*

You can’t visit a Christmas market without trying at least one mug of Glühwein, so Rickee and I decided to share a mug. I am not a big fan of Glühwein. To me, it tastes like warm cough medicine. Our mug of Glühwein cost 8€ (about $9.60 US) which includes the mug. Here’s a little known tip; if you don’t want to keep the mug, you can return it and receive a couple of Euro back!

*Rickee adds to her Glühwein mug collection*

We found the Speyer market to be one of our favorites. Perhaps it is because we visited after dark and the weather was pleasant. It was a smaller market, but we enjoyed it.

We found a souvenir shop located on this street and even found a Speyer refrigerator magnet to add to our collection. We have magnets from many places we have visited all over the world. I think we are up to 270 magnets so far that Rickee has displayed on a wall in her office.

*Another refrigerator magnet for the collection*

After spending about an hour at the Speyer market, we met back at the cathedral for the walk back to Viking Eistla. And, this is where things get a little interesting. We heard that this was a 10-minute walk back to the ship. Uh, no. It ended up taking more than 30 minutes to get back. This was a LONG walk back, on very dark sidewalks. This just did not feel like a well-planned Viking excursion. As it turns out, we spent more time getting to and from the Christmas Market in Speyer than we had to enjoy the Christmas Market.

*Walking back to Viking Eistla in Speyer*

When we finally did arrive back at the river, we discovered Viking Eir docked but no Viking Eistla. In the distance, we could see Eistla maneuvering into position to dock next to Eir. We stood for another ten minutes waiting for Eistla to dock and tie up to Eir so we could re-board.

Between Mannheim and Speyer, we spent more time getting to and from the markets than we had to spend in the markets. We do not remember this experience on past Christmas Markets cruises. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our brief visit to Mannheim and Speyer but are pretty tired from a day of extensive walking.

Tomorrow, Viking Eistla will be docked in Kehl for excursions in Strasbourg, France.

Day 5 - Mannheim and Speyer, Germany

Day 6 - Strasbourg & Gengenbach

Day 4 - Koblenz/Rüdesheim, Germany