We’d moored in the German city of Speyer just before lunch, after which some folks took the coach excursion to nearby Heidelberg. I felt more like taking a wander round town and stretching my legs; sitting on a coach for an hour or so just didn’t appeal that day. And besides which, Speyer had a lot to offer.
From our mooring point, and armed with the free street map from the ship’s Reception, I walked for a few minutes beside the Rhine until I came to the Domgarten, a large park. It was a delightful mixture of grassy areas, planting, bushes, lines of trees, and it was simply pleasant and relaxing just to wander, if not meander, gently through it. I followed its paths towards the city centre and the cathedral (always a useful navigation point!). As I did so, I could hear music
Coming out through the trees I saw a musician playing a vibraphone, with his back to the cathedral as its gothic walls amplified his music by reflecting it across the square. He was playing Bach and it was superb. His name, I found from the CD I bought from him, was Viktor Bajlukov. I sat on a bench and for the next twenty minutes just listened to his recital, and Bach and cathedrals are such a wonderful combination. Looking round, I saw a few others from the ship sitting on neighbouring benches, also spellbound.
I always think that there’s no point in a city having a cathedral if you don’t go in it, so I did, and it was expectedly impressive. And there was more music! A choral concert was scheduled for that evening so this afternoon they were having a full practice – free for anyone who happened to be there. They may have been wearing jeans and T-shirts rather than their evening finery, but their music was a delight.
I walked up the main street to the tower of the Old Gate, enjoying that feeling that comes with being in the centre of an old European city, with its architecture of old buildings and its history, so far from so many of our modern concrete shopping centres. The shops and the street-side cafés and bars looked interesting, beckoning even, but I resisted all but the gelato shop (I have my weaknesses).
Following the free street map, I circled through side streets back towards the ship, and it made for an interesting walk. By design I found myself at the Technik Museum Speyer, an absolute treasure trove of technical things: aeroplanes, motor cars, ships, trains, fairground organs, and so much more. I could have easily spent a whole day (or more) there so, having only half an afternoon by now, I crammed in as much as I could (yet missed so much, such as the Russian space shuttle, an experimental model which flew but never made it into space). Some of the aircraft were raised on giant steel display stands, reminiscent of the little plastic stands used for Airfix kits, but obviously much stronger!
My two favourites were a Boeing 747 and an Antonov AN-22. The Boeing was raised higher than the buildings and at a slight angle, as if banking as it came in to land. It was a strange feeling exploring the inside with it being at an angle, especially as we had to walk along a gangway as much of the floor had been removed to show its inner workings. The AN-22 is the world’s largest propeller-driven plane and has a vast cargo deck, capable of holding many troops or several large tanks. The journey from the cargo deck to the cockpit was an adventure in itself: pass through the pressure door, along a corridor, up a set of stairs, through a sort of crew room, then along another corridor, and through a final door into the cockpit.
The museum was only ten minutes walk from the ship so I could extend my rushed visit to almost the last minute, still returning in time. I look forward to another visit – and next time I’ll allow longer!
Peter Tyers
