Regensburg

Today was another long day and the first time we had any problems.  It started with and hour delay in our departure time.  Instead of 8:30, we didn't tie up until almost 9:30AM.   We could have slept an extra hour.  Then we boarded 2 completely packed buses.  Usually there are a few seats left over but not today.  The ride was about 2 hours and it was raining off and on.  We finally arrived at the dock to board a steam boat for a trip through the Danube Gorge to the Weltenburg Abbey.

Danube Gorge

We were among the last people to board the steam boat and discovered there were no more seats available except for the ones out in the rain. After standing for awhile one of the guides convinced a few people who were not part of our tour group to move over to give some of us room to sit on the upper deck, but we missed out on the coffee served downstairs.  Once the rain stopped we went out on the open deck and took a couple of photos.

St George and the Dragon

Once we arrived at the Abbey things were a little confusing because instead of 2 separate tour groups, we all merged into one and the guide who was assigned to our group disappeared.  We entered the church an one of the guides explained the significance of the various art.


The church is beautiful.  It's patron is St George and there is a statue of him slaying the dragon behind the altar.  The painting on the flat  oval ceiling is done so that the ceiling appears vaulted. There are wonderful paintings and gilded statues all around the room.  Everyone left exclaiming how magnificent it is.

Ceiling in Abbey Church

After seeing the church we had a lunch in the Abbey, consisting of salad, chicken & noodles, ice cream for dessert, and of course, beer.  The Abbey is famous for their dark beer and former Pope Benedict had this beer sent to the Vatican, since it is his favorite.  In case you don't know, he was I believe his brother lives at the Abbey.

Lunch in the Abbey

After a visit to the gift shop, we gathered for the half mile walk to where the buses were waiting to drive us to Regensburg.  Of course, it started to pour just a we began the walk.  We were totally drenched by the time we got to the buses.  We then had another hour ride into the city for our afternoon walking tour.


Regensburg is an old city, with structures dating from the Romans.  It was a very interesting tour and the rain mostly slowed to a drizzle.  Our city guide did his best to keep us out of the rain.

After walking around the city for about an hour and a half we ended at the ancient stone bridge shown below and the oldest continually operating sausage house in Germany, where we had a voucher for sausages, sauerkraut, and more beer. The food was good.  Even Ray liked the sausage.  We also got to go in a shop where they explained how coo-coo clocks are made and showed us that there are several kinds.  We enjoyed the demonstration, but refrained from purchasing one.

Old Stone Bridge

The ride back to the ship took another hour and a half.   We went to happy hour and the nightly brief on the next day's activities, but then skipped dinner.  We had enough food today.  Tomorrow is another long day, but our cruise director said we will be back on schedule with our itinerary by tomorrow night.

Historic Sausage House

Nuremburg

The ship made it as far as Schweinfurt lock this morning.  We got off at 9:30 to board buses to Nuremburg.  It was a 2 hour bus ride, but our guide, Pieter, kept it interesting.  He is an Irishman who moved to Germany when he was 18 and has stayed there since. When he answers his phone, he seems to go from English to German to Italian in one conversation. Talking to us, he has all kinds of stories, some history, some antidotes, and some pure humor.

Since the ship docked an hour later than the cruise director hoped, our plan for the day got shifted a bit.  She arranged for us to have lunch at a Bavarian restaurant as soon as we got into Nuremburg, then so on our tour in the afternoon.  They served us a lovely lunch, beginning with a clove seasoned broth with strips of pancake floating in it.  The main course was sauerbraten and potatoes with a gingerbread sauce.  Dessert was apple fritters and ice cream.  Off course it was all served with our choice of beer or soda with the meal and coffee or tea with dessert.  It was all very good.  The gingerbread sauce gave the main course a nice sweet and sour combined flavor.

There were 2 different tours offered today, Nuremberg's Trial Sites or Nürnberg Sightseeing.  The 2nd was billed as the "happy" tour and that's the one we signed up for.  We know enough about the Nazis and their atrocities so we were more interested in earlier history.

Imperial Castle

Gingerbread is supposed to be a specialty in Nuremburg, but we didn't try any. They are also know for the small sausages they make, but after that big lunch, we didn't have room for anything else.  We walked back to where the buses left us off and reboarded to start our city tour.  Our driver took us around the oldest part of the city while our local guide, Claudia, gave us some brief explanations of what we were seeing.  Then the bus left us at the Imperial Castle. We crossed the bridge over the dry moat and through several courtyards as Claudia talked about the castle.  From the highest courtyard we got a great view of the whole city. To exit, we had to walk down a very steep cobblestone road.

Exit from the castle

Just outside the castle, we saw the bunker where much of the furniture and art from the castle was hidden to protect it during the war. We then looked at several churches from the outside, a sculpture of rabbits by the artist Albrecht Durer, along with a statue of the artist, and his house.  Our last stop before the end of the tour was at an ornate fountain (Schoner Brunnen or Beautiful Fountain) in the market square, built around 1395.

After the end of the tour we had an hour on our own.  We visited a famous Christmas shop, then spent a few minutes in the Catholic Church of Our Lady on the Market Square before heading back to the bus.

Albrecht Durer's rabbit sculpture

The ride back to the ship took a little over an hour in heavy traffic.  The captain managed to get it as far as Bamberg, the city we toured yesterday.  As soon as we were all on board they pushed off again, still trying to make up for lost time.  Our cruise director, Sabine, told us it will probably take 2 more days to get back on schedule, so we will continue to take the long bus trips until then.

Beautiful Fountain

Church of Our Lady

The dinner on board tonight was also Bavarian.  We had a choice of roast suckling pig, Perch, or chicken. Most choose the pig.  The waiters wore Bavarian hats and aprons with a picture of lederhosen printed on them.  

There is someone on board giving a talk on the canal between the Main River and the Danube, which we are now on, but we are too tired for that.  We have to get up early again tomorrow for another tour.

Bamberg

Bamberg Old City Hall

We got through 2 locks early this morning but were stopped before the third one. Our cruise director then put plan B into effect.  The ship tied up near a stone stairway on the side of the river and the crew secured the gangway to the stairs so anyone who wanted could go for a walk along the shore.

Painted side of City Hall

We spent a leisurely morning on board. After breakfast we had a gentleman speak to us about the history of the European Union, it's current status, and where it might go in the future. It was an interesting and informative way to spend the morning.

Inside Imperial Cathedral

After lunch we boarded buses for the hour drive to Bamberg, which should have been our next port.  Ray wasn't feeling well so I went on this one on my own.  Once we got to town we met our walking tour guide and began a brisk walk around the center of town.  First stop was the town hall.  Since there were differing factions on either side of town, they couldn't agree on where to build the city hall.  They settled the issue by building an island in the middle of the river and building city hall on it. 

Christmas Altar

Imperial Cathedral Rose Garden

Statue of Empress Kunigunde

Next stop was at the Imperial Cathedral. This was probably very impressive when originally finished, but at one point the church was "cleansed: by removing all color from the statues and reliefs. There are 3 particular items of interest. One is the Tomb Chest of Emperor Heinrich II and his Empress Kunigunde. She is revered as a saint. Another is the Tomb of Pope Clemens II. The third is the Christmas Altar, by the famous Nuremberg wood carver Veit Stoss. 

After touring the inside of the church, we visited the courtyard and the rose gardens.  There is now a museum in one of the buildings off the courtyard.  From the wall around the garden you can get a great view of the whole city.


On the way back the guide showed us where to shop, where to get a bite to eat, where to sample the "smokey beer" that Bamberg is known for, and where to meet the buses for the return trip.  I stopped for a beer and a sample of the local food, then did a little shopping before heading back to the bus.  We got back to the ship a little after 7PM, just in time for dinner.

There was a local band playing in the lounge after dinner but it was late and we have to get up early tomorrow.  The locks are scheduled to open after midnight tonight but we have to make up time to get back on schedule.  As a result, we will once again get as far as we can between midnight and 8AM.  We will once again tie up werever the captain has managed to get us to.  At 8:30AM we will board the buses again to go to our next stop, Nuremberg, but the ship will then continue on up the river and we will meet it wherever it can get to by 7PM.  It sounds like we will have to do this for the next few days to catch up.  

I'm very impressed with the efforts this line has made to get us to each of the cities on our itinerary despite the fact that the ship hasn't been able to get up the river.  They've hired the extra buses to take us to the cities on our itinerary and brought in tour guide from Globus, the parent company, to accompany us on the buses and hand us off to the local guides.  It's all gone very smoothly.

Wurzburg

Old Main Bridge, Wurzburg

At our daily port briefing last night we received some potentially challenging news about our cruise.  The lock masters throughout Germany vowed to go on strike Monday morning at 6AM. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, there are about 60 locks from Amsterdam to Budapest and we had only gone through about a dozen as of yesterday afternoon.  Our cruise director explained that the captain was going to try to get through as many locks as he could during the night and that they were working on contingency plans.  As it turned out, we made it through to our scheduled stop in Wurzburg this morning.  We entered the lock at the Old Main Bridge (Alte Mainbrucke, built 1473-1543) just about 6:30AM.  They allowed a few other ships through as well, but finally closed the lock at 2PM. That means that our stay in Wurzberg has been extended.  Our captain said we should be allowed to leave at 4AM tomorrow morning.

Double-Docked next to Amadeus Ship

If for some reason we cannot continue up the Main River, plan B is for buses to come and take us to the next city on our itinerary for our tours and to return us to the ship at night.  The cruise director explained that although it takes hours to get to the next city by ship, it would only take a half hour in a bus.  We hope it does not come to that.  They are saying that the strike will only be for a few days.  It was originally threatened to last a week, and if that were the case plan C would have been to transfer us to hotels, which would be much worse.


When we docked in Wurzburg, there wasn't room for us to be next to the pier, so we are double-docked.  That means we are tied parallel to another ship, in this case, one of the Amadeus cruise line ships.  In order to get to shore we had to go up to the sun deck of our ship, cross a metal walkway to the other ship's sun deck, then go down to their main lobby and out their walkway to shore.   We are tied so close that we can see into someone else's room if both curtains are open.  If we open the windows we can actually have a conversation with people on the their ship, as we did this morning as we were tying up. It's an interesting experience.  From what we can see, this also looks like a very nice river cruise ship. 

The Residenz

We boarded the bus this morning to tour the Prince-Bishop's Residenz, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This was commissioned by Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schonborn starting in 1720. The architect, Balthasar Neumann, was only 32 years old and had never designed any building before, yet this building in considered a masterpiece.

Even more impressive, to me, were the frescos, by Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo,  and the integrated stucco art, by Antonio Bossi.  The most spectacular example of this is in the vaulted ceiling over the main staircase. Tiepolo created one single painting covering this 30 x 18 meter ceiling, the largest fresco ever produced. The two artists worked so well together, it is hard to tell where the fresco ends and the stucco begins in several cases. As an example, a stucco leg may appear extruding from a figure painted in the fresco. In another room, the Imperial Hall, curtains in the upper corners of a wall are partially painted and partially stucco, and a dog at the bottom on the fresco appears 3D with his shadow painted on the floor behind him. 

Wurzburg City Center

As you may be able to tell, I was stunned by the beauty of the art in this building.  We are fortunate that most of the frescos and tapestries survived WWII, some by the strength of the architecture and others (such as the tapestries and furniture), by being hidden away during the war.   One spectacular room was destroyed and had to be recreated.  This was the mirror room. This is not just mirrors, but art painted on the back of the glass, in reverse order so it showed through.  The glass was then coated with mercury afterwards to create the mirror.  The recreations were done from watercolor paintings and black and white photos of the room before it was destroyed.  In my mind, this room is more beautiful than the famed Amber Room in St Petersburg! 

Marienberg Fortress

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, but I did buy a book which anyone who visits us is welcome to browse through.






Outside, we had a few minutes to walk through the lovely gardens, and then our guide brought us down the street to the town center.  He talked a little about the several Catholic churches in the city, one of which is the cathedral for the bishop of the diocese.  After that we were given the option of a bus ride back or exploring the town and its churches on our own and walking back to the ship.  We decided to just take the leisurely walk along the river to our ship.   Across the river we were able to photograph the fortress of Marienberg, where the Prince-Bishop lived before the Residenz was built.  This was built around 1200 and converted to a Renaissance palace in 1600.   Although we could not go there, the pictures show this was also a spectacular castle.

After lunch and a nap we got to go on a galley tour this afternoon.  The kitchen is very compact but well organized and clean.  Our chef, Antonio, is from Romania.  He gave us a nice explanation of how the 8 chefs work together to prepare all our meals.  The tour was supposed to be 15 minutes but we asked so many questions, it went double that.  There were 3 groups scheduled, at 4, 4;15 and 4:30.  I'm glad we were in the first group, since we delayed the other two.

Miltenberg

Heubach Loch

Tommy Temerson

Zither

Traveling from Ruedesheim to Miltenberg last night and this morning we switched from the Rhine river to the Main river and traversed 11 locks.  They are long, narrow locks  that appear to be able to hold 2 ships of our size (we are 443 ft long) or one of the cargo ships we've seen towing a barge behind.

After breakfast we had a concert by one of only 5 professional zither players in the world, Tommy Temerson.  He boarded our ship at a lock near Frankfurt and left at the last lock before we got to Miltenberg this afternoon.  I don't know how many of you know what a zither is (Sarah excluded :-} ), so I have included a photo.  In explaining it, he said that it is like playing 3 guitars at once.  The instrument has42 strings - 5 for melody and 37 accompaniment strings. There are only about 2,000 people in the world who play this instrument.  The concert was excellent and I bought his cd of the concert to support his work.

On the "sun" deck

We docked in Miltenberg about 12:30. It is overcast, the town appears to be built on the side of a hill and it is also Sunday, so nothing is open except the beer halls. Ray & I decided to stay on the ship today.  The walking tour was only to admire the houses and sample the beer.  We can do both of those things at any of the villages we will visit along the way, and it's more fun to walk around town when the shops are open.  I'm glad we stayed on board because it also appears that the shoreline is under construction from where we docked all the way into town.  I think they may be creating a river walkway, which will probably be very nice when it's done.  There are lovely white swans swimming around in the river here.

One of the things the town is famous for is the soft cookies made here. Our Chef gave a demonstration of how to make these easy "Vanillekipferl" this afternoon when everyone was back onboard.  We also got to sample some.  The demo wasn't much compared to the cooking demos on ocean cruise ships, but it was a half hour diversion and good cookies.

A local chef is on board to cook dinner for us tonight.  Ray is a little concerned that it might be lots of sauerkraut and other thongs he won't eat.   Me, I'll try anything.

Rudesheim

Traveling Up the Rhine

This morning we traveled up what is considered the most romantic part of the Rhine River. from the time we woke up this morning there were lovely little towns along the tier, each with it's own distinctive castle on a high point above.  I never imagined there would be so many castles, so close together.  there was also at least one lovely old church in each village.   This is Riesling wine country, so all along we could see vineyards planted on the hillsides.  The slopes are very steep, so this must be a real adventure in farming.


When we first woke up it was raining and we watched from inside the lounge, but as soon as the rain slowed we went up on the deck so we could see both sides and up the mountains.  There were only a few people brave enough to go outside, so we got a great spot in the bow to take pictures from. All the while, our cruise director narrated so we would know what we were seeing and a few of the local legends.


We docked in Rudsheim this afternoon and a trolley shaped like a little train took us into town. First stop was a wonderful museum of mechanical instruments.  All the instruments were pre-electricity and many had been restored to playing condition.  There were several that actually played sounds imitating several instruments.  One beautiful cabinet contained a piano keyboard with 6 violins above. The museum also included a circus calliope, an organ grinders box, an Edison cylinder record player, a gramophone, and a player piano that played music recorded by a student of Franz Liszt.  I would have loved to spend more time examining each of the wonderful instruments.



After the museum we sent to a local restaurant to try their special Rudesheimer Kaffee (strong coffee with brandy, whipped cream and chocolate). This was very good.  We sat with 2 different couples from Ohio, so now we have met and had pleasant conversations with 12 of our fellow passengers.

Our Ship (Our room is the 5th window, deck 2, just above blue)

Instead of waiting for the train-trolley to take us back, we walked back to the ship.   It was a nice walk along the Rhine and we were among the first back at the ship.  Each time we come back from a port outing we are greeted with fruit juice and hot, damp towels.   Plus, there is coffee, tea and cookies available in the stern 24 hours a day.   The ship embarked on our journey again at about 4pm.  We have several hours until dinner to relax and watch the landscape go by.  Our room has the bed facing 3 panel sliding glass doors to a french balcony.  Since this is the width of our room it gives us a wonderful view.

Cologne

Cologne Cathedral from the Ship's dock

Installing a ramp to get us over the wall

We traveled up the Rhine all last night and most of today, docking in Cologne, Germany around 4PM.  This was a little later than planned, but not by much.  The water level is lower than usual and we are docked next to a large retaining wall, so the crew actually had to set up the ramp on the top sun deck for us to disembark. Our room is facing the wall, so no view from our room today.

Today's included tour was a walking city tour.  We began and ended at the High Cathedral of St. Peter, which was begun in 1248 and not finished until over 600 years later, in 1880.  Our guide commented that, since the limestone that it was built from is constantly eroding, it needs frequent repair and will never really be finished.

Cologne Cathedral (up close)

City Hall

From there we walked to the site of the original perfume manufacturer of Cologne, which was first called Farina's Eau de Cologne, or water from Cologne.  The inventor, Johann Maria Farina, was actually an Italian who moved to Cologne and created the perfume in 1708.
Across from the perfume house is an open excavation site of the former Jewish quarters. Our guide talked about the fact that, since this was and is a very Catholic city, Jews could not join the guilds or live in the same area as everyone else, so they were concentrated in one area, from as early as 300 AD.  She explained the various persecutions they suffered and the reasons behind each episode.

Next we visited the city hall where a lesbian wedding was taking place.  The photo shows the happy couple in the center, surrounded by loving family and friends.  We got a brief explanation of the symbols and images on the building.  One part shows the Germans do have a sense of humor.  Across the market square from the city hall, there is a sculpture of a boy mooning city hall high on one of the buildings.  In response, there is a stern face sculpted under the clock on city hall, poking back at the mooning boy.

Mooning Figure on 3rd floor wall

City Hall's response

Our last stop was at a pillar showing a mark where ice-triggered flooding came in 1784, distorting much of the town.  On the other side there is another example of the German sense of humor.  It notes the date that John Glen stepped on the moon and the distance he was from that site when he did. As our guide said, the people of Cologne consider themselves the center of the world.

We had dinner this evening with a different set of Aussies.  Believe it or not, the largest number of passengers on this ship, after Americans, are Australian.  Other countries represented are New Zealanders, Canadians,  and British.  The cruise seems to have been marketed solely to English speaking countries.  This makes sense because they don't have to worry about hiring translators or having multilingual tours.  The ship is much too small to make that practical.

On several of our tours I noticed a couple traveling with his elderly parents. They didn't seem to be interacting with too many others, so when I saw them at a table for 6 with 2 empty seats, I suggested we join them.  It was a very pleasant dinner.  All 4 of them work in education.  The younger man is a school principal, his wife is a teacher, his father is a retired principle and his mother worked in school administration.  The wife's parents were also teachers.  We had a lovely conversation with them, covering a wide range of topics.  So now we know 8 people on the ship, plus a few others just to say hello to.

The cruise director brought a string quartet on board to perform tonight, but we did not attend the show. We're both still tired.  The ship was a little noisy for me last night until I found and inserted my earplugs.  Ray just says he hasn't adjusted well yet.  It should get easier as we go.