May 27 Passau Germany

 Passau Germany

May 27 2024

This morning the boat docked in Passau. Unfortunately there was no room at the main downtown docks and we were docked quite a distance from down town in an industrial port.  This meant that you had to take a shuttle bus to get into Passau.   

Upon arrival in downtown Passau the walking tour took us to the main downtown center where there is a statue of King Maximilian I the first king of Bavaria.  On the square it the Passau cathedral.  It is a huge baroque cathedral.  In fact all Passau is baroque as there was a huge fire in 1662 which destroyed most of the city.  The Passau cathedral has over 17,000 pipes in the pipe organ (which is currently under renovation) and is the largest in all of Germany.  Being a barque cathedral it is very light and colourful inside. The fresco on the ceiling of main cupola has an image of god in the center.  God is depicted as an old gray haired man who is waving to you.  

Also in Passau is a Lutheran cathedral.  It is very stark in comparison.  It is all done in black and white with no ceil frescos.

After lunch I had the option of heading back to the city on the shuttle or staying on the ship.  The ship was moving up stream to pick up some of the other tours.  This meant I would have to spend 3 hours in the city for the next shuttle. It was just a little more than I wanted so I stayed on board and enjoyed a very leisurely afternoon watching the scenery and the ship going through one of the oldest locks on the Danube (built in 1925). 

Terry   

May 26 2024 Melk Benedictine Abby

 Melk Benedictine Abby

May 26 2024

After lunch we had an off the ship tour of the Melk Benedictine Abbey.  The abbey was originally established in 1050 and has been added to, modified, updated and restored ever since.  Each Abbot who is in charge has put his stamp on the the abbot.  

In the 1700's through the 1800's is was "the" place to stay for royalty and high rank dignitaries to stay.  There is one whole wing which was built to house the visiting royalty.   Right now the abbey is functioning abbey which is home to only 22 monks from the Benedictine order. It is also a functioning church which conducts regular services, and a private school for over 800 students in grades 1 through 12.  

The abbey has been restored to reflect how it looked in Baroque times 17th century through half way through the 18th century. In comparing it to other cathedrals we have seen it is much brighter and has much more colour than the classic gothic cathedrals.  

The tour guide lead us through each of the rooms and explained a lot of stuff I had never known about these cathedrals.  For example all of the golden statues are really craved wooden statues which are really hollow with gold leaf applied on top.  I thought all of the statues were stone.  Second thing I found out is that what looks like marble is not really marble but pained plaster work.  The rough plaster has a layer of very hard fine plaster applied which is then coloured to make it look like marble.  

It was a really excellent and informative tour. 

Terry 

May 26 2024 Cruising the Wachau Valley

 Cruising the Wachau Valley

May 26 2024

The cruise ship had left Vienna late at night as there were tours which had gone out to see the Vienna opera.  The ship passed through a few locks during the night as I heard some bumping but didn't get up to watch.  

In the morning we entered the Wachau valley which is a major wine area in Austria and one of the most beautiful sections of the Danube river. The ship was passing one castle after another.  It was a very quaint area and is a major tourist destination.  

One of the most famous castles is where Richard the Lion Hearted was held on his way back from one of the crusades.  The village of Durnstein where the castle is also has this beautiful blue church which is right on the river.  

The last picture is of a a castle which was owned by a robber baron.  He had this impregnable castle on top of this high peak which had no easy access.  He then plundered the surrounding area at will. He was finally captured and killed on one of his raids.  

The second half of the day was a tour of the Benedictine Abby in Melk, details and pictures are in a separate post.  

Terry  

May 25 2024 Vienna

 Vienna Austria

May 25 2024

It was very disappointing to wake up this morning and find ourselves still in Bratislava and not in Vienna.  This meant the ship was still not repaired.  The tours were suppose to get underway at 8:45 so everyone was kind of geared to be ready for that time then suddenly at about 7:40 the passengers are told we need to be on the buses by 8:00 am.  Now it is a mad scramble to get ready and Agnes and I are some of the more organized people.  Unbelievably the buses were loaded and under way 8:10.  There had been no discussion of the possibility that the ship would still be in Bratislava in the morning and we would be taking a bus to Vienna.  

It was about a 45 minute drive into Vienna and was a good time to catch a few winks.   Once in Vienna and the bus was in the heart of the city we had a ride around the ring road and looked at a lot of buildings. On your left is the (fill in the blank) and now on your right is the (fill in the blank).  The walking portion of the tour took us through the most important buildings in downtown Vienna.  We walked though to see the Winter Palace which was started in 1695, and completed in 1724.  On to see the statue to Francis I who was the last of the Holy Roman Emperors.  Then on to the Cathedral of St. Stephens, which opened in 1595. There have been lots of additions and modifications to it over the years. It survived WWII but wound up being burned down by looters in the closing days of the war.  It was totally rebuilt in only 7 years.  What a magnificent cathedral.  

As we now had free time Agnes and wandered down and had lunch in an Indian restaurant and took the subway back the ship. 

Except the ship wasn't in Vienna.  We had been told we could use the facilities on one of the other Viking ships called the Modi but were directed to the to the Kvasir were we directed to the Ingvi.   Yes your ship will be along at 3:00 pm.  You can sit in the lounge.  Yes your ship will be along at 4:00 pm.  Yes your ship will be along at 4:30.  Look here it is.  Please wait a few minutes and we will come and get you.  Finally at 5:00 I got up and we went over to our ship.  Sorry we were going to come to tell you come come aboard.  Right.  So much for our two days in Vienna.

Terry 

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May 24 2024 Bratislava Slovakia

Bratislava Slovakia

May 24, 2024

Today the ship was cruising up the Danube from Budapest to Venice.  Last night we left late because of a mechanical problem with the ship. Everyone thought that the problem had been fixed.  However this morning we were not traveling very fast and by 11:00 it was pretty apparent to everyone that we were not going to make Vienna by 7:00 PM.  Then there was an announcement that there was to be a meeting in the lounge and everyone was suppose to attend.  At the meeting we were told that the ship was going to put in at Bratislava which is only about half way to Vienna.  Viking repair experts were going to met the ship there and would have the necessary parts to repair the ship.  Well hopefully (not exact words).

Today we cruised through the second largest lock on the Danube. It was construction originally started back in 1977 but was not finished by the fall of the Communist governments in 1989.  So construction was further delayed and was not finished until the early 2000's.  It is a really interesting lock as it is really huge and must have close to a 75 foot lift.  The down stream lock gates are the standard barn door gates which swing closed. However the upstream lock gate is a round gate which swings down under water when the lock is flooded. The overall time in the lock was no more than 30 minutes so it was really quite speedy.

As we cruised the lake on the upstream side of the lock there were the dykes which contain the lake.  These are the dykes which Jim and I cycled when we did the Paris to Istanbul ride back in 2008.  Further along the lake was a large area of water which was out side of the shipping channel.  There were literally thousands of white swans on the lake.  The long lens of the camera was able to catch a few pictures of these beautiful birds.  

An update on the ship.  We limped into Bratislava and docked on the opposite side of the river so no walking tour of the city.  The Viking specialists met us on the dock and have been working on the ship for the last 2.5 hours.  There is a ton of speculation amongst the passengers as to what is going to happen. I really hope that they are able to get the ship repaired and under way.  I am going to be really disappointed if this turns into a bus tour.  

Terry