Monday, June 15, 2015 Passau

I am a little bit disappointed so far in that most of our travel has been overnight. Certainly, just floating down the river all day could be a bit boring, but one of my main goals in choosing this cruise, was to experience the Danube, as my ancestors did 250 years ago, traveling from western to eastern Europe. This was not an issue when we were on the Main-Danube Canal, but is more of a factor since we joined the river before Regensburg. Maybe we will see a bit more of the river in the days ahead while still being able to take in things of interest onshore.

The upstairs sun deck has been closed due to all the low bridges we had to pass. They removed all the tables, chairs, and umbrellas and even lowered the wheelhouse which is on a scissor lift so they can raise and lower it as necessary. They started assembling everything zone by zone while we were docked yesterday and should have it fully functional by the time we leave Passau. Unfortunately, the weather is expected to be cooler for the rest of the trip.

While traveling on the canal, the terrain was mostly rolling hills with a few bigger hills. When I awoke at 6 this morning, it was quite flat, but later, it became similar to the terrain along the canal.

We had breakfast with our usual buddies and an older couple about 8 and then went up on the sun deck for the view as we passed Passau. A couple of bridges were pretty low and we watched the captain lower the wheelhouse to pass under, while I almost had to duck myself. The wheel house is on a scissor lift to raise and lower as needed.

Here are some pictures approaching Passau. The strangers are our new friends, Don and Sherry.

There was not enough parking for us at Passau, so we had to go a couple of miles further downstream and bus back to the city for our tour, which included an organ concert. I had to admire the engineering of the 17,974 pipes of the organ and the talent and skill of the organist, but I can’t say that I enjoyed the music.

The increasing cruise traffic on the river was the reason that I was anxious to take this trip soon. Already parking spaces are in short supply and Passau was full of tourists tripping over each other. There were five Viking ships alone with up to 190 people on each, plus several boats from other lines.

This graphic on the town hall marks the high points of the many floods it has experienced.

We returned to the ship for lunch with our usual partners and an Aussie couple. We took the 3:30 shuttle back to the city for some touring and souvenir shopping; were back on the ship at 5:30; and soon were on our way. As we progressed down the river the thickly wooded hills became larger and steeper and often reached right down to the shore. Where there was suitable land along the bank, there were occasional houses. Although some seemed to be permanently inhabited, it seemed that some might be summer residences for family use or rental.

Dinner tonight was a buffet of Austrian favourites accompanied by an accordion and bass duo singing drinking songs and polkas. It was a lot of fun. We sat with our usual pals again along with the couple from El Salvador. After dinner we went up to the sun deck in time to watch the captain manoeuvre us over to the bank and drop off the musicians. This was followed in the lounge by a video tour of the ship and a Q&A with the captain.

Weather was overcast this morning, progressing to a steady rain for most of the afternoon. Temperature about 68F 20C.

The current on the river is pretty fast. In the Q&A the captain said that it is sometimes as slow as 5 kmh, but it is faster here and even faster tomorrow at about 12 kmh.