Wednesday, July 10, 2019

12 April 2017 Day 12 Trip - Day 10 cruise - Melk and Krem and cruising the Wachau Valley

It was good Friday, Melk is the town below Krem. Krem is where the Abbey Is. We took the bus across a very narrow little bridge and up to Krem Abbey which is now a school. It was raining.  We had our umbrellas with us and so did not get too wet walking in to the very large abbey. Lovely springtime flowers in bloom on our way down the stairs from the parking lot. 
An archway into a grand courtyard with a fountain in the middle. Neil and Julie Hill enjoyed the tour with us. It is a golden colour on the outside and since we were not allowed to take photos of the inside we only have pictures of the views on the outside. the abby is wonderful with lots of rooms made for the bishop of the time and he loved luxury obviously.



Melk is very picturesque. Back on the bus and down to Melk which is a cute little town with lots of narrow streets an shops to shop in we did go into a few churches like St Viet,  very pretty and lit some candles  and said some prayers for friends and family and tried to go into aN Irish Pub but it was closed.  the ship. 
 The Wachau valley is beautiful. we saw many castles, vineyards, the giant nose statue, the ruins and pretty towns and more things and buildings in the middle of the river.


 That night was games night after the Franks folk dancers and I was selected to try and hold a beer stein up for as long or longer than the other participants. But I did not succeed by only a little bit. Barry was chosen to throw pretzels into a bucket and he won a bottle of wine. There was also a Congo line which I led around the ship it was a fun night.

11 April 2017 Day 11 Trip - Day 9 Cruise - Lovely Passau

The rivers meet in Passau and you can see the difference in the water. The Main. And the Danube colours are vey distinct and it is very cool to see them meet and merge. 
Passau is a beautiful city.  We got off and walked up the lovely narrow streets with buildings which seem to be connected with arches across the streets. The side lanes were very cool too also connected arches between the buildings across the lanes.  
Lots of little flower boxes on white washed buildings and also with the flood measurements  on some of the buildings.  it seems that the rivers here flood on a pretty regular basis.  We continued up the narrow lanes into a large square with a very large church at the top of the square and a fountain with angel statues  at the bottom of the square. We walked around the large St Michael's church to get to the front and were surprised by the beauty within. It was gorgeous. All white marble and statues and a giant organ which unfortunately we did not hear.  they do give concerts on the organ but not the day we were there. needless to say it was a stunning church and I think my favourite so far on the trip. 
After the church we walked back down around the back of it to the first square and found a restaurant, the Altstadt Beisl. We had a bageriiche lowenbrauerei beer which was very good . We each ordered a Spinach and cheese dumpling dish which was fantastic! So good.  We told the owner she should come cook on the ship and she seemed quite pleased.
Then we walked back a different way and came out in a shopping area that was quite busy  there was a little laneway to the washroom and when we were finished there we followed it down another very narrow laneway to the main street and then followed that along the river back to the ship

 Loved Passau. It was beautiful and very clean. 

10 April 2017 - Day 10 Trip - Day 8 Cruise - Regensberg

 We walked along the sunny river to a train museum . There Lots of flowers  and we were with tour group 39G,  for the old and slow which suited us just fine.


We walked over to a wide street and then over a very wide bridge which was beside an island in the river, St Margarets island, with a park in the middle. 
Over to Regensberg. A lovely bridge with a wonderful gateway at the other end.  We followed our tour guide across the bridge and through the arch  and down some very narrow streets.  
We met Andrea and her mother Robin who were having some sausages from the famous sausage restaurant on the square.  Some pics of the ducks on the square  and then down those narrow streets again with tall buildings some of which had flood markings from all the different floods that had happened over the years. 
More streets and squares  and buildings with giants painted on them. made our way to the main square with the town hall which had a flood meter on the side of the building that showed where all the bad floods had risen to. We saw Barry and Leslie in another tour group headed back the way we had come.  
More little lanes with tall buildings and then a new church with a statue of st Peter in a boat on the front.  A lovely old church with great windows  we walked around it and found a lovely sun dial on the wall  of the building across the street from the church.
Then headed back down the little narrow streets to the other big church and then walked down the river to our ship
I sprinkled Mom and Dad in some lovely bushes next to a castle garden wall on the river.  
In the evening after a scrumptious




dinner we were entertained by the opera which was very good and entertaining.

Day 10 Trip - Day 8 Cruise Nuremburg

Today also started out with lovely sunshine and calm waters. After breakfast we headed off in buses to do our tour of Nuremberg. We saw all the big landmarks that Hitler made. 
The Coliseum that was never really finished and now is  a tourist attraction. We saw the giant field where the soldiers drilled in front of hitler and the sports field that is still used today adjacent to it.  the justice building where the Nuremberg trials were held and the jail next to it where the Nazis were held pending trial. 
We went past a prison which was right next door to a high school.  We saw where the Nuremberg trials were held.  the Germans in Nuremberg will not forget the atrocities of World War Two. Jewish graveyards and synagogues that were still intact were surprising to see in Hitlers capital. I would have thought that that he would want to destroy all of them but he did not. Odd.
We were then dropped off at a square and told to be back by a certain time. We headed off to see the most wonderful glockenspiel and see how it worked and a lovely fountain. There were lots of lovely streets down to a lovely old church.
 We went back to the square to see the glockenspiel go off at the top of the hour which it did and it was wonderful. Lots of little people like musicians, bell ringers and bishops and kings and drummers, all busy doing things while the chines rang out. 


We went to the Church behind the glockenspiel which was very Nice. Wikipedia says " The Church of Our Lady, built in the grand market, in place of the former Jewish synagogue, which was destroyed during the pogrom of 1349 (which followed an outbreak of Black Death). The architect was probably Peter Parker. Charles IV wanted to use the Frauenkirche for imperial ceremonies, which is reflected in the porch with the balcony, and in the fact that the church is relatively unadorned except for the coats of arms of the Holy Roman Empire, the seven Electors, the town of Nuremberg, and the city of Rome, where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. 
Charles IV's son Wenceslas ( I am assuming that he would become Good King Wenceslas?) was baptized in the church in 1361, on which occasion the Imperial Regalia, including the imperial reliquaries, were displayed to the people. Beginning in 1423, the Imperial Regalia was kept permanently in Nuremberg and displayed to the people once a year on a special wooden platform constructed for that purpose. We never saw the reliquaries but the church was lovley and full of many delightful things. We lit candles and said prayers and enjoyed the medevilness of it all.
We went to the Easter market and shopped around . Margie found some very nice curtains and I found food, a kind of donut, rolled onto wooden dowels and baked in an oven then pulled off in large donut like roll that was very tasty. 
We went back to our pickup points and got back on the bus but we did not go back to the boat right away.  the boat was delayed so they arranged for us all to have a drink at a lovely restaurant and after a short relaxing break, we got back on the bus and went back to the boat. So glad we had that little treat at the market.
Dinner and lounge and chatting with friends aboard ship about all the adventures of our day.

9 April 2017 - Day 9 trip - Day 7 Cruse - Surprising Bamburg

Nice breakfast,  It was a lovely sunny day and we were tour group 39G, took the bus into Bamberg, they dropped us off at a square with a lovely big cherry tree in full blossom. We walked down a few streets to another square with a statue of a man with a cat on his shoulder. E.T.A. Hoffmann, the author of the original story of the Nutcracker that the ballet was based on, lived  in a little house in that square.

Continued on through the windy little streets past a jewish memorial which was placed on a wall. It commemorated that  in this area 1664 - 1910 the Bamberg Synagogue stood. In the hub was the inn Wiebe Taube" or wiebe pigeon. 1941-1942 Jews from the city and surrounding areas of ghetto should serve before being transported to the extermination camps. a kind of sobering moment in our journey that day. 
The small streets had lots of lovely old buildings holding shops and restaurants. There were also lots of statues and fountains. 

We crossed a little river and saw the monument on the ground to the Witch trials. They burned more witches in Bamburg than any where else at the time and the bishop had to come and tell them to stop as they were losing most of the town. The first was a young boy who thought he was possessed as he had been listening to the over zealous priest who was talking about witches. 
 The town has some really lovely old buildings along it waterways with lots of little bridges back and forth along the little river which meets up with a bigger river. 
The town hall was built on a rock in the middle of the river in order to avoid paying taxes to the church back in the 16 or 17 century , there was a 3 D map of the town for the blind, at one end of the bridge to the town hall, so that they could find out where they were. The bridge going over to the town hall , was full of university students  and tourists sitting in the sunshine. the bridge continued over to the other side of the river with the town hall sitting in the middle of the bridge. It was lovely and so unique. I loved Bamberg.
On the other side of the river were lot of shops including the beer street where the beer wars of 1907 were waged. It seems that the beer makers in the town knew that they made the best beer and so started to increase the price of beer. The townspeople objected so much that they refused to buy it and drank the “Bad” beer instead until the town beer makers caved in and lowered their prices back to the normal ones. Three gentlemen were awarded merit in that they drank more of the “Bad Beer  than other towns people so that the towns brewers lost a lot of money. Too funny. 
 We ran into Patricia and her husband from the cruise and when I asked her what time it was she gave me all her watches and rings. She was quite Old and had dementia. Her poor husband, whose name I cannot recall right now,  was also old and had quite a time keeping track of her. I told him I would give everything back on the ship so that they would not loose them.


Margie and I  proceeded and came to a large square with a bakery and a lovely church which we went into. It had one of the loveliest confessionals we have seen in a long time. Back out in the square there was a statue or toy made up of three sections of three people that you could create.  I made my Bamberg boyfriend, but decided to leave him as he was three faced.  In the square there was a fountain with a Neptune statue and his trident was a fork. 
 We then went to  the Fulenspiegel restaurant and had a St Georgebrau Buttenheim beer which was pretty good. We ran into Chris and Jo from our cruise at the next table and chatted with them for a while.
 We all headed back to our pickup point through the narrow streets , past the interesting doors and buildings to the lovely blossoming tree.

Back to the ship and after depositing our newest treasures had a lovely dinner. The routine aboard was pretty much the same every day. After dinner we would go for the next days activities talks and then have some form of entertainment in the lounge if we decided to stay for it






Tuesday, July 9, 2019

8 April 2017 - Day 8 Trip - Day 6 Cruise - Wurzberg

The morning was so lovely and  the river was calm and like glass we saw swans in the sunlight on the river.  We divided into our groups, we were 39C, after breakfast and got on buses to go to the bishops residence for our tour of the day. 
We arrived at a large parking lot to an even larger building with beautiful gardens with paths past     flow


 
flowering trees and lots of statues and fountains.


 We were not allowed to take photos inside the residence but did really enjoy all the beautiful rooms. Inside the library is wonderful and the games room ;with all the mirrors was fun. We did buy some postcards  in the gift shops on our way out. We then went into the town of wurzberg  with lots of church and markets ad the statue of the man tied up sitting on the stairs looking up to heaven. Supposed to signify the everyday troubles of man.  We continued on past more lovely buildings into a market square with more churches, the easter market in town was lovely and they had al the side streets decorated too.

We went into several churches one we almost interrupted an ongoing easter concert  but we ducked out again and came in a different door so as not to disturb them. 
We had a glass of wine on the bridge going over the river to catch our bus. I sprinkled mom and dad in the park right beside  where we were waiting for our bus, over a wall into a park below beside the river. Hope they like it there.
back on the bus and to the boat in no time. We put our newest treasures away and went for dinner with Judy and Bob. There were usually 6 to 8 people at a table  and every night we ate with some new couples.  

After dinner to the lounge for our talk about Bamberg the next day and some entertainment. To sleep with markets and churches in our dreams.

7 April 2017 - Day 7 Trip - Day 5 Cruise - Miltenberg


In the morning there was a glass blowing demonstration  by a German fellow and when asked for a volunteer to taste jaegermiester, I volunteered. It was not that bad really. I thought that that was all I had to do but I was rewarded for my bravery by getting to blow  my own glass ornament. It was very fun and he even offered to give me a whole bottle of Jeagermeister which I promised to share with the entire ships passengers but when he gave me the tiny bottle I told the audience that I would not share. It was a lot of fun. I the showed everyone my glass ornament. 





We then had lunch and when the ship pulled into Miltonberg we loaded onto buses and went on ur walking tour .Milton berg is very cool in that it has lots of medieval buildings. Lots of shops with signs to show what they sold -  bread, chocolates, candies, pretzels, beer. We tried to get into the giant for a beer but did not succeed in our mission. We did however find some lovely souvenirs in the small sjhops around the town. Even though it was grey day it was a cheery town. The main square fountain was all decorated for easter. 

We wandered down a small street and fund a fountain of three men peeing in the water the washrooms were loaded right there. We sprinkled Mom and Dad in the pansies by that fountain. We then wandered back to  square with fountains in the middle of it. And of course I had rt try and walk through without getting wet. Back onto the bus and then back to the boat which had moved to the other side of town so that we were further down the river than when we had gotten off. 

A quick visit to our room to put away our treasures of the day and off to dinner with new folks at a new table.  We met Leslie and Barry who were from England and quite funny. 

6 April 2017 - Day 6 Trip - Day 4 Cruise - Koblenz and Marksberg castle







 In the morning it was grey and rainy. We were  moored in Koblenz at a lovely park but we did not go into it. We walked with our tour guide past a few nice gardens and buildings to our waiting buses. Marskburg castle is up the hill not far from Koblenz 

We got off the bus and walked up a little bit more of a hill and gathered in the courtyard for someone from the castle to open the door with a big key. We had a tour guide from the castle and it was very interesting. The initial entryway was very rough broken cobblestones with stones pointing very way and missing completely so you had to be very careful how you walked but after the initial 100 feet it was pretty safe walking . 
It was a very cool old castle with arrow slit windows and spectacular views of the river from the top of the hill where  it was situated. We walked around the outside of the castle and then the inside. I sprinkled mom and dan in the rosemary bush in the narrow herb garden. There were Tin mines down the valley. There were crests and cannons and a very large kitchen with a huge fireplace. Narrow little laneways in-between buildings, upstairs , downstairs, bedrooms with great tapestries and stoves in the corners that were lovely. This castle also boasted an indoor bathroom which was very posh in those days. 
The oldest door in the castle was at least 1000 years old. There was a whole room filled with suits of armour from over the centuries. Back outside into the narrow lanes and into the torture chamber with its tools an accruements 






Our tour done we headed back to the ship for lunch . The remainder of the day was spent on the river viewing old castles and small towns, one old castle up on the side of a  hill was now a boarding school. The siren in the river warned sailors of dangerous rocks and bends in the river. The train tunnels were all decorated to look like castles so that they would not be bombed during the war. The most dangerous part of this stretch of river was a blind bend  so it had a lighting system so that captains would know if someone was already in the turn of the river.  There were beautiful vineyards terraced up the sides of the hills and little towns nestled into the valleys between the high hills some very interesting buildings , some of them in the middle of the river.
There were ruins of castles and castles in need of repair. There were churches of all sizes and names we could not hope to pronounce.  Beautiful little villages with medieval looking buildings. The smaller villages of Germany were not targets during the war so they were spared the bombing s of the large cities and all that history was saved. It was a lovely river afternoon with lots of vineyards and castles perched in the rocks.

Dinner came and we sat at a table of new people. Getting to know some of the people on the ship was interesting. There were mostly folks from Canada, England, and the US but all walks of life. We met dairy farmers from England and Canada, there were lots of retires folks too. After dinner we went for the talk about the next days activities and then there was music by the Russian couple played and she sang or she played and he sang. We went to bed.