wanderingbishops.com

---

At our daily orientation meeting last night we were alerted to the possibility of a problem traversing the next portion of the Danube River from Regensburg to Passau, our next destination. In fact when we were out and about yesterday Bruce and Jan ran into a lady who was on the Viking ship and was upset because those passengers had to pack up their luggage, leave the boat and be bussed downriver to another boat!  I had heard this was a common problem with Viking ships because of their boat designs. Would this be our fate? As it turned out, no, but we did have to empty much of our water tanks to lighten up the boat to have enough clearance to pass through some low water conditions on this stretch of the Danube. During our night passage Yvonne was awakened (I slept through it) by the boat shuddering and later felt that is where we managed to pass over the sand bars in the shallow water. Needless to say we happily arrived in Passau this morning to another bright, sunny day but with a breeze that made it feel cooler than it was.

As usual Vantage arranged for a walking tour covering city highlights, including a noon organ concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral on one of the world ’s largest church organs. We walked along the waterfront and saw the records of floods that devastated the area over the last 500 years. Several buildings had markings on the wall showing the levels to which water rose during those floods. We walked through the artist alley where there are numerous galleries, ending up on the central square where the church and Bishop’s house are located.

After the tour we were given tickets to a 30 minute organ concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral so we could hear the famous organ that the church contains. The baroque church is over the top when it comes to decor. It takes your breath away when you see all the stark white interior with paintings everywhere. The current church was completed in 1693. The organ has 17,794 pipes and 233 registers. The concert was interesting but I did not think this organ sounded any different than other church organs I have heard.

We went back to the ship for lunch because it it was a Bavarian buffet, featuring popular German dishes. As we walked into the dining room we were handed a pretzel to start the meal. There were dozens of various dishes, highlighted by a whole roasted pig! We all consumed way too much food that meal because we were eager to try the various dishes.

Both Jan and Yvonne wanted to rest in the afternoon and Bruce and I wanted to visit the castle on the hill to see the views and go through the museum that focused on what life was like living in that medieval castle. They offered a shuttle to take you there and back so we did not have to hike up that steep hill. The views were spectacular and one could see why they built the castle there. And the museum was well done with plenty of English descriptions of life in the castle. We had way too little time to fully explore all that the museum offered as we had to return to the ship which was scheduled to leave that evening for Vienna, Austria.

At the daily orientation meeting we learned that we would NOT be leaving that night as one of the ship’s engines blew up its supercharger during the transit last night/this morning. We could not sail with only one functioning engine. Parts had been ordered and extra technical personnel were on the way to work 24/7 in an attempt to rectify the problem. So the immediate question of everyone in the room was:  what are we going to do tomorrow?  To their credit Vantage had already made arrangements for us to take an all day trip to Salzburg, Austria.  Now that is a neat alternative, and although it involves a 2 hour bus ride each way I did not hear anyone complaining. We all simply hoped that the repairs on the engine could be made in the next 24 hours so we could continue our journey.

Tonight’s entertainment was a showing of the “Sound of Music” movie, which was quite appropriate since we will be going to where it takes place. Since we have seen it multiple times we passed and simply relaxed in our room after eating a very light dinner as we were hardly hungry after the big Bavarian lunch.

Nuremberg is the 2nd largest (after Munich) city in Bavaria, with a population of 511,628. The city was first mentioned in 1050 and was sometimes referred to as the “unofficial capital of the Roman Empire” because the Imperial Diet and courts met at Nuremberg Castle. It gained notoriety in the 1930s/1940s when the Nazi Party chose Nuremberg as the site for its conventions and Nazi rallies. Most people know Nuremberg because the “Nuremberg Trials” held here following WWII.

In Nuremberg we had the choice of two different local walking  tours: Nuremberg and WWII or Highlights of Nuremberg. I did not think Yvonne would enjoy the WWII tour so we selected the highlights tour. We were first taken to the Nuremberg castle within the walled city. The first construction at the castle occurred around 1000, with subsequent additions made in the 12th and 13th centuries. We were not able to enter any of the buildings but did walk around the area. An interesting 15th century building houses the deep (164 feet) water well which was the only source of water for the castle.

From there we walked downhill into the old town proper where we toured the large market square and surrounding buildings.

There was a choice of returning to the ship for lunch and returning later in the afternoon for sightseeing on our own or staying in town until mid-afternoon when shuttle buses would be available to take us back to the ship. There had been considerable discussion about the Nuremberg famous bratwursts and we decided we would rather eat lunch here than on the ship so we stayed behind. The main market square was filled with vendors selling food and/or products so we simply stopped at a booth to buy a bratwurst sandwich. The bratwurst here are different than what we get in the USA. They are smaller, more like a breakfast link sausage. A sandwich consists of three of the sausages served on a round crunchy bun with or without sauerkraut. We chose the sauerkraut. It was excellent; the sausages had a milder taste than US versions, which I liked.  Once that was consumed we spotted a booth selling raclette, something we fondly remember from trips to Switzerland. Raclette is a semi-hard cow’s cheese that is melted, then slathered onto a baguette- basically a sort of cheese sandwich. We shared one and enjoyed every last bite!

 

We wandered the market square area looking at the products we did not need and slowly worked our way to the other end of the old town where we were able to catch a bus back to the ship.

At 5:30 there was another lecture, this time on the Main-Danube Canal built in the 1960s to connect the Main and Danube Rivers. In 792 Charlemagne recognized the need and tried to build a canal. It did not go far and failed. In 1836 King Ludwig I did build a canal but it proved uneconomical over time and was abandoned in the 1950s because of war damage. Finally in 1962 a new effort was undertaken and by 1992 the current canal was completed. Surprisingly today it is mostly used by river boat tourism, rather than for commercial shipping.

After dinner our Tour Director, Alina, led us in a version of “Family Feud” where our teams tried to guess what 100 people had given as answers to a series of questions. You earned the number of points equal to that number that those people gave as an answer. Let me illustrate. The question is “what item must you bring when you travel abroad”? The most likely answers given are shown in slide below. If your team gave the same answer you got that number of points. After 10 questions the team with the most points won. Again, we came in second, missing out by 4 points (the winner had 351 points, we had 347)!  We picked Celine Dion rather than Justin Bieber as a famous Canadian!  Needless to say it was a fun evening.

It was another lazy morning “at sea” as we worked our way through the last portion of the Main-Danube Canal and entering the Danube River near Regensburg. People slept in, quietly read in the Cabaret Lounge or stayed in their rooms. We did all of the above! It was bright and sunny today with a promise of great weather (70 degrees) this afternoon in Regensburg. We had not expected to reach Regensburg until 1 PM with a walking tour scheduled for 2 PM, but lock traffic was lighter than expected and we arrived around 11AM, thus offering us some additional sightseeing time in old town which was only a 5 minute walk from our dockage.

Regensburg today has a population of about 150,000 with some 30,000 students. In the year 800 there were 23,000 people living here, so it has always been an important city. Probably it’s most famous landmark are the remains of the Porta Praetoria, the gate and tower of the Roman encampment that dates(179AD) back to the reign of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. There is also the Old Stone Bridge, spanning the Danube River that dates to the early 12th century.

But in some people’s minds the most important sight in Regensburg is the famous Sausage Kitchen (Wurstkuchl), located next to the Old Stone Bridge. This tiny restaurant is perhaps the oldest continuously open public restaurant in the world. Built in 1135 as a construction shack for the workers on the bridge it became a restaurant in 1146 and has been one since then. Their menu is simple: bratwurst plate (with 6 to 12 small sausages) with or without sauerkraut/potato salad and bread. Of course, beer is a necessary addition to any meal. Open from 8AM-7PM over 6,000 sausages a day are served either inside the tiny 35 seat restaurant or more likely on outdoor benches or take away.  There is always a long line for take-away sandwiches.

Given the new found extra time our goal became one of walking to the city and having lunch at the Sausage Kitchen, rather than eating on the ship. We tried the bratwursts yesterday in Nuremberg so we need to do a taste test here to see if their claim of having superior sausages is valid!

It was simply a glorious autumn day here. Leaves are starting to turn, the skies are blue and the sun is brilliant enough to warrant sunglasses. It was indeed only a 5 minute walk along the Danube River to reach town. Before grabbing lunch we went with Bruce & Jan to see St. Peter’s Cathedral where we happened to catch the end of the 10AM high mass being celebrated by a visiting Bishop. There was a massive choir and an organ that resounded throughout the church. Incense was in the air. The exit song was one I recognized even though it was being sung in German. It is a beautiful church with stained glass windows all around. Yvonne thinks it might be the best we have seen so far.

Knowing that people would be headed for lunch we hurried back to the waterfront to beat the crowd, only to find it was already teeming with people. Luckily I spotted a picnic bench that still had room for two people and we were allowed to join the communal tables. A gentlemen across from me was finishing his plate and kindly explained how the process worked. Sure enough, a waiter soon appeared and we placed our orders. By the time our orders arrived the table had cleared and two German couples joined us. They spoke English and we had a pleasant conversation about sausages, the restaurant, Seattle and a variety of other topics while we all consumed every last bit of our sausage plates. Who has better sausages- Nuremberg or Regensburg? In my opinion it is a tie; both serve marvelous bratwursts.

We returned to the ship to join the planned city walking tour at 2PM. Although we would be returning to the old town I was sure we would be learning a lot of history about the area and explanation of things we saw earlier this morning. As an example the stone bridge has been restored within the last few decades and now only allows foot and bicycle traffic. I also learned that the knights of the 2nd and 3rd Crusades crosses the Danube on this bridge.

Our guide took us to the site of the Roman fortress and the Porta Praetoria which we had not seen on our morning walk. She also walked us through several side streets and showed us where/how middle class and upper class lived back then. The best information she gave me was where to get the best ice cream in Regensburg.

Entertainment tonight was provided by a 5 piece Bavarian Brass Band who came on board for a short concert of typical Bavarian drinking and marching songs.

Our ship left at 10:30PM for our next port of call-Passau, Germany, the last German city we will be visiting before going to Austria.