Today was a day with several pleasant surprises. Our first stop was in the small (22,780 population ) village of Wertheim, where we had a walking tour. We walked the Main Street where our local guide pointed out places of interest. After the brief tour we were given some time to wander on our own.  That gave rise to our first surprise.

We are all fond of the German pretzel, a mainstay of most German bakeries and cafes. I walked into the local bakery (owned by a 10th generation baker) to buy one to share with Yvonne for a mid-morning snack. A charming young lady working there asked if I wanted the pretzel plain or with butter. I have never had that option offered to me. Of course I selected the option with butter, and the young lady immediately said “it is better with butter”. I bought one initially because I did not see Bruce and Jan. It was marvelous! By the time Yvonne and I had eaten ours Bruce and Jan came walking up and I went into the bakery to buy one for them. Other people in our group saw us eating them and also went into the bakery. I think we bought out his daily stock of pretzels!

The second activity of the day involved exploring “village life” in the nearby town of Homburg am Main. We had to choose one of four optional tours: a visit to a forging operation, a visit to a paper maker, a visit to see an antique piano collection or wine tasting at a local winery. Yvonne thought the pianos might be interesting so we chose to take that excursion. That is when surprise #2 came in.  Not only did we see antique pianos we were treated to a mini concert by the owner (Michael Günther) of the collection. He explained the history of each piano, how it was designed, and how pianos evolved into what we know as the pianos of today. He played several songs on each of the instruments, focusing on those written by composers of the time. Besides being a collector he is a concert pianist and teacher. It was a superb visit. Our tour guide had to adjourn our visit  as we needed to stay on schedule for a group luncheon. I think our host would have likely gone on and played more songs had we had the time

The luncheon was billed as a German BBQ with live music. Sure enough, when our bus arrived at the hotel  we were met by a husband/wife duo who played an accordion (her) and guitar (him) singing peppy German songs. The buffet included multiple, delicious salads, sausages, chicken, fish and beef burgers, sauerkraut, and potatoes, along with ample quantities of beer and wine. While people were eating the music continued and evolved into dancing and singing before the meal was done. A good time was had by all!

A short walk through the town, which seemed like a ghost town even at mid day, took us back to our boat where a short nap was in order before dinner.

Each evening there is a cocktail hour with music provided by the on board piano player, followed by a short presentation by the tour director, Alina, about the activities planned for the next day.

By the way, they have a very good method of breaking us up into manageable group size of about 20 people per group. When we leave for the tour we receive a color coded card (red, white, yellow, purple, etc) which designates what group we will be in for that tour. If you are traveling with fellow companions they make sure you are in the same group. You also have a special color coded card with all the colors on it, which you use to point your hearing device at so that the device automatically switches to the proper frequency for that specific color. Slick!

Dinner tonight was a special paired wine meal and the entertainment for the evening was a showing of the movie “ The 100 Foot Journey” which I had never heard of but is a true story about an Indian chef and the movie was produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey so we had to see it. The final selling point was that there would be popcorn!