Linz

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Photographs of yesterday's beautiful journey along the Wachau Valley have now been posted.

As explained yesterday, the worrying prospect for me for today of having two compulsory 90 minute bus journeys on top of 2 bus tours in Passau was thankfully averted.

Viking arranged for us to have the use of a hotel room in Linz for the day! The Dom Hotel (Cathedral Hotel) was only a 10 minute taxi ride away from the ship, and the room was stylish and ultra modern and big and comfortable (see photos). Though you could if you wanted to, we chose NOT to shower in full view of the street! By pulling an opaque sliding door across the glass shower wall you could preserve your privacy.

We got a city map from reception and nearby attractions included some museums and a Botanische Garten. They all looked about the same distance, so rather than trudge round a museum we thought we would go to the botanic gardens. Unfortunately the map doesn't show that it's a steep, steep hill! We decided to stop for coffee in a Turkish cafe, and the charming waitress/owner (who as far as I could tell spoke neither English nor German) persuaded us through many hand gestures and much pointing to eat lunch there, and try some Turkish Mevlana, which turned out to be minced beef, sheep's cheese, tomato and pepperoni wrapped in a crisp pancake. Delicious!

Fortified, we headed up the hill. There was not a sign to the gardens anywhere to be seen, so we just kept puffing up the hill, asking anyone we encountered where the gardens were, and being reassured that it wasn't much further.

At this point Carole said breathlessly that she didn't feel quite so fine at that moment.

We got to the top of the hill and took one short wrong turn, ending up at a big lifeless stadium. Retracing our steps we accidentally found a signpost to the gardens, and a short walk on the level found us at the entrance. The ticket man smiled benignly at my German accent, and I at his - it sounds very different to the German I learned at school!

Of necessity we admired the first batch of flowers from a seated perspective! Then we walked around a bit and took a few photos.

We managed to find a slightly shorter route back to the hotel and thankfully it was of course all downhill.

After a rest, we got the taxi back to the ship, and decided to give the "Evening of music and dancing" a miss - several people know we are musicians, and there would be a strong risk of somebody trying to get us to perform!

Instead we relaxed and watched the film "Quartet" on our cabin's 40 inch TV.

The ship will be cruising through the night again, arriving at Regensburg for breakfast.
Photo Gallery

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