Tuesday, Nov 6th.  Vienna is a disappointment for me.  The city failed to separate the new from the old sufficiently.  The main cathedral, undergoing renovations, has scaffolding partially hidden by a printed representation of what it’s covering. I’ve seen this before and it’s really effective.  But some sections are large billboards advertising Breitling.  Just doesn’t look appropriate, given the cathedral’s history.  Other beautiful statues and monuments are surrounded by modern shops and advertisement.  It’s also a noisy city with narrow streets which should be closed off from traffic but aren’t.  Delivery trucks are allowed on pedestrian-only streets until 11.  I prefer Amsterdam which had canals creating a more opened view.  This is only my view.  Others enjoyed it.

Subways are fast, frequent and efficient.  Mozart House Museum essentially covered Mozart’s life in Vienna, which gave a person ignorant of Mozart’s life a limited and confusing experience.  The Opera House faces traffic.  

The evening concert was fun, but the theater itself was disappointing.  More people than I expected dressed up for the event.  I would say overdressed, considering the venue.  Performers were excellent.  Several comic segments, I suppose to entertain us hicks from across the ocean.  But it was certainly the highlight of the day for me.

We were informed of cruise changes for tomorrow.  Could be worse.  Might be better.

Monday, Nov 5th.  Poor connectivity today.  Short entry.

Melk Abbey ornate.  Massive library.  Attached village small.

Wachau Valley viewing was in intense cold wind and thin fog.  Good scenery, but not great.  Awful for photos.  Vineyards go across the hills on terraces, 90 degress different than German vineyards (top to bottom).  “Traditional.”

Winery tour was outstanding.  Included a 3D movie with aromatics!  Best presentation I’ve ever seen.  Good wine tasting.

Wednesday, Nov 4th.  Today we decided to skip the walking tour and relax.  We were docked in downtown Passau, with an excellent view of both shores.  I was given the time to examine the houses along the river in detail.  They’re all pretty but also structurally different in various ways.  Clearly built by wealthy people.  A lot of personal attention went into their design.  I’ve learned that house colors designate the professions of the occupants.

We spent an hour on our own walking around.  The cathedral in Passau sports the most pipes than any in the world.  Pamphlet sites “17,239, so far”.  I suppose donations will get more pipes.  The building itself is nothing special compared to the others I’ve seen.  We didn’t see much of the town, but others who took the tour enjoyed it.

In the afternoon we visited the real countryside.  Guess what.  More churches, or as I now am fond of saying, “OMG, Another Church” (OAC).  A bus took us to a small riverboat on the Inn River.  The river has very restrictive rules regarding engined watercraft, making our riverboat one of only two allowed.  Quiet cruise past country scenery and a few beautiful mansions.  Beer and pretzels served.  We disembarked and walked across a modern foot suspension bridge (into Austria!) which the guide derided for being expensive and unnecessary except for naturalists and tourists.  A little hypocritical for a tour guide.

We then bused a short distance to for a brief tour of the town of Sharding.  The guide (who, as with two other German guides, loved to laugh at her own jokes) talked to us so much we had no free time.  This was just as well because it was Sunday and nothing was open.  She shared a lot of interesting specific knowledge and general Austrian information.  Very good.  On the return to Passau we stopped at a monastery for an overview of the city.  We weren’t required to climb the famous 321 steps, popular among pilgrims and students who are about to take final exams and need good fortune.

A pleasing, semi-relaxing day.

Thursday, Nov 3rd.  After a quick bus drive to Regensburg, we received a tour of Regensburg from a local resident whose native country was Nigeria.  Very knowledgable.  Our tour was focused primarily on the local Jewish history, of which there is a lot.  A purge in the 16th century caused the removal of the Jewish cemetery.  The headstones were thereafter used for building material, which are today highlighted.  (The reason for the purge was due to the cities bankruptcy, which they blamed on the Jewish money leaders.  Earlier in the trip a city blamed the Jewish community for the plague.)

Continuing the saga, amends for the Holocaust are being attempted by building a synagogue, mostly from Christian donations.  The exhibit set up to tell the story of the construction is in a Protestant church.  It’ll be opened next year.  We were fortunate to see the building, as they just recently took down the construction tent.  There are also numerous brass plates in the cobblestones with names of Jews (and friends of Jews) who died.  The guide called them stumbling blocks.

The cathedral was, as usual, big and busily adorned.  Extremely intricate windows. Across from it was a hat shop with a duplicate of the hat worn by Johnny Depp in Alice.  Perhaps the best hat shop I’ve ever visited.

Drank hot tea with rum.  Excellent potato wedges. Chocolate shops, cuckoo clock shops.  Lots of shops.  Being a Saturday, crowded but relaxed.  Cars drive around with no apparent lanes.  It’s all cobblestones.  Bikes, previously required to be walked, are few.

Least I forget, the key historic artifact of Regensburg is the bridge across the Danube.  For centuries the primary trade route from Europe to the orient.  The aforesaid bankruptcy was in fact due to the discovery of alternative trade routes.  The bridge, for good or bad, was recently renovated, so it looks new on the surface.

Back on the ship, we were treated to a wonderful performance of classical opera singing, with some modern songs thrown in.  Lots of humor too.  Captivating.

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.

Tuesday, Oct 30th.  Miltenberg in the rain.  Cold rain.  But first came the Emergency drill, complete with life preservers.  Ridiculous.  I could wade ashore.

Then a thorough glass shaping demonstration on board.  Flames.  The salesman explained that he personally knew the person who provided the flame detection devices on board.  “They don’t work.”  Ha ha.  The demo was long and he strayed often from the point.  But it sure worked.  Lots of sales.

Tour of Miltenberg.  The guide enjoyed his own laughter a little too much though some of his jokes were indeed funny.  Beautiful little town, even in the rain.  The guide provided lots of little details that you’d miss without him.  We saw the oldest hotel in Germany, perhaps the world.  It’s main claim to fame?  Elvis slept there while he was in the Army.  We had beers at the pub in the hotel.  Big mugs, very German.  Then I bought a hat (a fairly required action for me.)  And Apple Strudel to go which I plan to have tomorrow for breakfast.  Others bought cuckoo clocks.  Even in the rain it was a great day in a small genuine German town.

We bused to where the ship would be, only to learn that the ship was delayed in a lock.  So we waited 45 minutes in the bus.  I’m tired of buses.  

Monday, Oct 29th.  Heavy overcast, so photos aren’t great.  Quite cold.   

Bus to riverboat, whose crew never tired of pouring drinks.  Lunch included perhaps the driest chicken I’ve ever had.  But they had drinks.  The deserts were excellent.  Especially with the drinks.

A two hour cruise down the Rhine, castles everywhere.  What was perhaps more surprising were the vineyards, on impossibly steep slopes.  Colorful too.  I never thought I’d say I had my fill of castles, but today it happened.  The small towns were really pretty too.

Passed the famous Lorelei Mountain, owner of various legends.  Had a statue, near the water’s edge, of Lorelei.

After debarkation, we bused to Marksburg Castle, the only one never captured or damaged.  Very interesting tour.  Store sold Schnapps. Yum.

Returned to the ship, and it departed!!  The tour began in Amsterdam, but the cruise begins now!  Tomorrow Miltenberg.

Early breakfast was beyond  fine.  The toaster was a challenge but I figured it out.  Announcement of the tour to Mainz was at 8:30, for an 8:45 departure.  At 8:50 Gabor said the buses were on the way.  At 9:05 we were all called to the bar for an Announcement.  Traffic accident was going to delay departure until after lunch.  The elite eight, accompanied by a few other brave souls, went on a walkabout along the river and also viewed a “Pleasure Palace” and an old castle, built in the 1300s but bought and rebuilt in 1805. Built to impress, not to defend.  Really very interesting.

After lunch we finally departed to downtown Mainz.  Besides a great tour in very cold weather, we had a history-tinkling demostration of the Gutenberg press.  Worth all the delays and disruptions as far as I’m concerned.  We also tasted some unfermented wine-based grape juice.  A first for us.

Dinner was far too much fun. The food was secondary to the conversation.  We compared some Fess Parker wine I’d brought with the offered Rhone blend.  Parker won, hands down.  (Was there any doubt?)  Also met some wonderfully interesting people from various USA locations.  As I’ve lectured throughout the world, “We’re all just people”. Placing people into specific niches is an error in judgement.

Yes, the cruise has not followed routine.  But we’re having fun, so who cares?