Hassfurt to Kitzingen (by way of Timbuktu?)

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Our new ship sailed through the night to reach Hassfurt by breakfast.

We are gradually catching up with where we are supposed to be, but it still involves longer bus journeys for the excursions than we should have had.



Thought we might make it today onto the excursion to Wurzburg, but we both had slightly upset tummies, and didn't want to venture too far from the ship's "facilities".



Speaking of facilities, it has to be said that the Viking cabin toilets are truly heroic! They look perfectly normal, you might even say decorative, but they are hooked up to a massively powerful vacuum system, which results in a flush which is so strong and fast and loud that you wonder if you ever went in the first place! It's a real case of now you see it, now you don't. It makes a sound reminiscent of thunder, in fact we mistook it for such on several occasions! It's time to bring back the old expression "thunder box".



After breakfast the buses were dispatched on their tours, and the ship immediately sailed for Kitzingen, via many locks and many pretty towns and interesting sights. We watched it variously from our cabin, from the lounge, and from the Aqua Vit terrace, which the brochure told us serves soup and sandwiches, but which in fact serves quite a variety of hot food too. This is an open air alternative to the more formal restaurant.



Was able to track our progress for the first time on our Samsung tablet, but we had to be on one of the higher decks before the GPS could find the satellites. Had to keep reminding ourselves that we are now on the river Main, not the Danube! Quite surprised at just how very winding the course of the river is! It must triple the as-the-crow-flies distance to Kitzingen. That particular crow must be really fed up with all the distance demo-flights it is asked to do (its always THE crow, not just any old crow).



After dinner, an on board glass blowing demonstration by Karl Ittig from Wertheim, where we will be visiting tomorrow. It was perhaps one of the funniest presentations we have ever seen, whilst still conveying a lot of information about the industry and its techniques, and all in English.

Just to give you a flavour, he got a big American guy to come up and show how easy it was to shape a piece of glass if it was heated first by an expert in exactly the right place and then said that of all the presentations he had done on the Viking ships that was the best blow job he had ever had. Sounds even funnier in a German accent, especially when you're not expecting it. (you had to be there, and we were!)

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