Catch up - 30 September - 3 October

Look out this is long catch up blog: We are cruising this morning. We left Passau, just inside the German Border, last night at 9pm and will reach Regensburg, Bavaria, by 2pm. Everyone is enjoying the slow relaxed start today. This holidaying is very exhausting! At present we are waiting to go into a lock; Seems to be a bit of river traffic this morning. We are still on the main Danube river and this could be the Straubing (33.6 ft) or Geisling (24ft) Lock. It takes about 30 minutes for the Lock to fill before we can move on. I am looking out the window of the cabin and I can reach and touch the wall of the lock. Today is the 3 October, The Day of German Unity, a national day and public holiday. It is a celebration of German reunification in 1990. The wall didn’t come down on this day but on the 9th of November 1989. Lots of history, I am very history challenged so will be doing lots of reading so I can demystify the terms, baroque, neo gothic, modern, post modern ……………..etc etc. This morning they are celebrating The Day of German Unity with beer and sausages for morning tea! I think I will give it a miss. We may eat and drink ourselves to death on the boat. The food is divine. No photos yet but hopefully today I will find a WiFi that will allow we to upload some. Not sure how interested you will be; to quote Bruce’s Dad favourite description, “Another hill and another hysterical church!” The villages are gorgeous but each has a catholic church and/or castle or abbey. I will start off where I left the other day: VIENNA: After a busy afternoon we returned to the boat to eat, yet again, and then go out for a private concert at the Albertina (Albertina Museum). We listened to Vienna Palace Orchestra, two soloists and three boys from the Mozart Boys Choir Vienna, 12 items in total. A great experience, even for those of us you are not so interested in classical music. Oops the Lock was the Kachlet (2330, 32.2ft) BRATISAVA (Slovakia) 30 September: Today we choose a bus trip to Slovakia, a country that has only been under democratic rule for 20 years. We saw lots of wind farms on the way into Bratislava, Austria does not have any nuclear power stations, only using solar and wind power and power generated by the locks. They sell electricity to Germany and buy some electricity but the residents have to the choice to only using companies that provide solar and wind power. The Nazi influence on some of the architecture is evident in the sterile buildings with no decoration. The old town square is quaint with cobble stones and ornate old buildings, statues and fountains. We had lunch in a tradition Slovakian restaurant under the street. (Potato gnocchi with sheep’s cheese and a beer.) During the war many house were bombed and so the residents of bombed houses were given a reprieve from taxes; some clever residents collected up cannon balls and attached them to their unbombed houses so they could avoid tax. I have a picture of a house with a cannon ball imbedded in the front. We got to walk within the grounds of The Bratislava Castle, inhabited since the Stone Age, 907 AD. It has had many makeovers over the years. Let me describe using my new hysterical words. The tower that still stands today was built in the 13th Century. It had a gothic makeover during the 14th century and a Baroque make over in the mid 18th Century. It was burnt down in 1811 and rebuilding only started in 1953. As it was built of bricks there are still some original parts. We had a bit of time when we returned to the ship, so Bruce and I took a bike ride up the bikeway on the side of the river. We saw lots of white swans. Bike riders are well accommodated in Austria. The bikeways run along the river and are relatively flat. Shame we didn’t get bike fit as there are a number of bike rides offered. Some passengers plan to ride from Dunstein to Melk, 34 kms, tomorrow afternoon. DURNSTEIN/WACHAU/MELK 1st October We are docked at a small town, Durnstein. This village wasn’t bombed in the war so has many original buildings. High on the mountain behind the town is the remains of the Castle where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned for 18 months. This town is at the start of Wachau Valley, a very beautiful valley where they have vineyards and make good white wines. Mind you the vineyards are on the steep mountain sides and can only be harvested by hand. After a tour of the village we went to a wine tasting. We got to taste a Gruner Beltline Federspeil (white wine), 2012 Reisling and Zweilgelt (Red). We cleared our pallet with Laberl (local bread rolls). This area is also known for growing apricots. We couldn’t leave without purchasing some Apricot Schnapps and Apricot Jam. After lunch we cruised to Melk. Great life, drinking coffee, Kaiserspritzer and tasting Onion Tart. It was cool on the sundeck but the views were great; Lots of small villages each with their own church as the centre piece. When we arrived in Melk we were bused to view the Melk Abby. Still run by 30 Benedictine Monks. I certainly learned what Baroque means. The Abby is enormous and houses the Monks, staff and 900 students who attend the private school run at the Abby. This Abby is classic Austrian Baroque. Baroque is a style that means to mirror heaven and eternity. Lots of gold leaf, high ceilings with paintings that create optical illusions of even higher ceilings and the spiral stair cases have mirrors to give the illusion that they go on forever. The gardens are ornate and aim to look unnatural. Will post some photos. LINZ/ CESKY KRUMLOV/PASSAU 2 October I am so glad I am taking the time to record our trip as the days are starting to merge. Yesterday we left from Linz, an industrial city, after a bus tour and a chance to view the city from high up on the hill near another Church. We travelled through the beautiful Austrian countryside to the Czech Republic and then to Cesky Krumlov. At the border we stopped and went to the duty free shop. Everything was very inexpensive. The bus driver bought cartons of cigarettes for a friend, $3 a packet. You could even buy chocolate with cannabis seeds!! Tullimore Dew was approximately $20. Unfortunately no internet in Cesky Krumlov, not surprising as this country town is very old world. It did not suffer from any bombing so many of the buildings are original. We got to walk through the castle courtyards and take lots of photos of the quaint walkways and river. At lunch we went to a restaurant recommended by our local guide and ate a tradition lunch. I had roast por, cabbage and dumplings. Bruce had trout. They do lots of fly fishing in the river. Pork is the most popular meat Austria and Czech Republic and Slovakia. After lunch we went to the Museum of Torture Implements! I’m surprised I didn’t have nightmares. This torture took place well before the Nazis!!! We drove back to Passau, Bavaria, where our boat was docked. Passau looked very quaint but we had no time to sightsee as it was nearly 6.30pm when we returned. Our boat left the dock at 9pm.