Friday, Nov 2nd.  I decided at the last minute to take the World War II Tour in Nuremberg.  I’m pretty good with history so I didn’t think it would teach me much and it really didn’t.  But it certainly did make me feel something.  The tour was mostly centered on events leading up to and following the war.  Both timelines were emotionally stimulating.

Stood on the Tribune grounds, where the Nazi movement grew and grew.  Interestingly , it was deliberately not a target of bombings because the allies didn’t want to incite Nazi radicals.  Saw where Hitler rattled on about the injustices done to the master race.  Toured the museum, which ironically is within a building constructed by the Nazis.  The museum architect, appalled by the location, designed the floors and exhibits to not touch the building’s walls.  Ingenious.  For anyone without good knowledge of pre-war Germany, do the tour!

Next we went to Room 600 of the Nuremberg Justice Center, where the Nuremberg Trails happened.  Every room in the building is numbered, so 600 means nothing.  It’s still an active courtroom, so the tour guide was very excited to discover that no trial was in session and could sit us down in the room and give an excellent narrative.  We were very lucky to sit in history.  I’ve been in Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.  Same emotion.

Had lunch in the Old Town (90% destroyed in WWII.)  Their famous bratwurst tastes strangely just like Jimmy Dean sausages.  Beer was fine.  Market is excellent.  The town is so steeped in history it confuses the senses.  Ginger cookies are wonderful.  Bought Yoriko (a lover of handbags) a chocolate handbag.  Bought another apple strudel, this time with raisins, not nuts.  Got a free Saturday? Go there.

The long drive and ship swap to Passau (because of low water) was shorter than expected.  In growing darkness, the scenery was outstanding.  Every time I opened my eyes I was presented with another postcard-perfect village in the distance, complete with a church steeple.  It was frankly better than a riverboat experience.  The new ship (Embla) is a nearly identical ship to the Lif.  A little older.  So far the crew is, if possible, better than the Lif.  This is so much fun!!

Thursday, Nov 1st.  Lazy morning.  Locks are taller, which is exciting.  Your balcony is 10 inches from a stone wall.  Morning briefing about how to do a ship swap.  Nothing unexpected.  Most people are taking it in stride.  After lunch a bus ride to Bamberg.  Fun tour, though the city’s market was closed due to All Saint’s day.  Spied a cemetery with dozens of well dress people paying their respects.  Bamberg was spared any bombing, one clearly false reasoning being that the allies knew that the best breweries were in the city.  I tried their acclaimed Smoke Beer.  Smelled like bacon, tasted like burned IPA.  Pass.

Their history was not unlike Wurzberg.  Many churches, a palace modeled after the Louvre, but no fort.  The consistency helps my memory retention of both.  There were several very lovely legends about the rulers, which sound great be are historically dubious.  I enjoyed their enthusiasm for undocumented facts.  I saw a lot of casual leaning against buildings, drinking beer, conversing and enjoying the day.    Excellent river bridge to congregate around.  Pleasing to watch.  The tour guide laughed a lot at her own jokes.  I’m getting the feeling that either Germans are a lot more fun than expected, or that they’re told to laugh a lot to offset their reputation.  I hope it’s the former.

Tomorrow will be interesting, what with a tour of Nuremberg, lunch, and long bus ride to Passau.

Wednesday, Oct 31st.  Finally, a port the ship ties up to and stays in place!  We did two tours.  The first was mostly through the inside of the local palace, which thoroughly lives up to the name palace.  A lot of the building was destroyed by one bombing raid very shortly before the end of the war.  But the town rebuilt it!  Absolutely breathtaking rooms.  Marvelous artwork and workmanship.  Sadly, no photos allowed.  We finished the tour with a walk through town.  A fun little market, more churches, lots of activity.  This is a university town, with about 30,000 students.  It doesn’t feel old.

After lunch nine hearty souls did the second tour, billed as a “Walk Among the Vines”.  Actually, it’s a drive to a hillside chruch, walk down to the river, then a climb through vineyards up to the local fort.  And then back down.  About 4 miles.  We maintained a very slow lecturing pace so it wasn’t hard.  Extremely informative, somewhat exhilarating.  An excellent time.

Back on board, the ship had some Halloween feel to it, with many crewmen wearing face paint.  Pumpkins.  The bad news was that the Captain announced that we’ll do a ship swap from Nuremberg to Passau on Friday. But it looks hopeful that we’ll get all the way to Budapest from there. Passengers seem resigned to it, happily. No ugly scenes when the announcement was made. The crew has been all one can ask of Viking and we’ll be sorry to leave them. It’s been a great time to date though obviously more busing than expected or hoped for.