Blogs from Passau, Bavaria, Germany, Europe - page 3

After a very comfortable night in our mini room at Munich we met Neil and Karilyn at the Hauptbahnhof at 10.30. After a nice cool drink and some catching up on their stories from Shanghai and Munich we caught a train to take us to Passau. Unfortunately there is some line work being done and we had to swap to a bus at Landau to take us through to Prattling to another train and onto Passau. It has been one incredibly hot day with the day temperature at 38 degrees and not much cooler at night. The bus wasn't air conditioned or with any air circulation and we cooked! It was very, very uncomfortable until the driver got up some speed and the roof vents did their job. Add to this swollen ankles from the air ... read more

Passau is situated where the Danube, Ilze, and Inn Rivers join together. It is called the Dreifluessestadt (City on Three Rivers) and pronounced "dafjkdfjenfniudndiekj"!(Just Kidding). It's actually quite easy: Drei=three, flues=river, stadt=city. It's a very charming city and one of my favorite although I think they all are! We spent the first part of the day looking around the city. We then went to one of the churches (can't remember the name, it's the one in the pictures with the black decorated altar) to listen to a woman speak about her family history with WWII and post war activity. Her family was forced to move several times even after the war and they lost their farm and home. They had to attend work camps and were shipped on trains all over to different countries. The story ... read more

Saturday --on return, we had a nice supper at a "beer fest" at a local eating establishment--it was a buffet, but was the best food yet! Sunday, March 1, we drove with the entire Krause family to Salzburg, Austria (second time crossing into Austria), and have a wonderful, though rainy day. The kids held up magnificently, given the long trip and all the walking. Great thanks to Matthias for all the driving! Highlights of Salzburg were Mozart's birthplace (no photos allowed); the spectacular Dom zu Salzburg; and the fortress on the hill: Festung Hohensalzburg. On the way back stopped at a very quaint little German restaurant for another delicious meal. This may be my last entry as we get up very early to fly home. It has been a wonderful trip. Many nice sights. But the ... read more

We had hoped to have done a day trip to Cesky Krumlov in Czech Rep but these are not being run at the moment so we chose to go to Passau instead. We intend to do a cycling trip from here next year along the Danube and it seemed a good opportunity to check it out since it was so close. It was a one and a half hour trip by train to Plattling then down to Passau which sits on the confluence of three rivers - the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz. Passau sits on a peninsula at the confluence of the rivers. The old town with many buildings dating back to the 1200s is at the end of the peninsula with a castle across the Danube to monitor river traffic in the old ... read more

Geo: 48.5735, 13.4639Another night and a new town to wake up to in the morning. Passau is known as the City of 3 rivers as it lies at the confluence of the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz rivers. This unfortunately makes it prone to flooding as a lot of water comes down from the Alps.The town is a nice medieval place to walk around with a lovely old Pharmacy which is still in operation and several breweries making the renowned Bavarian beer. Our walk around the old town ended at St.Stephans Cathedral where we were treated to an organ recital. Fortunately it only lasted half an hour and most people thought the music was pretty turgid! The church however is very beautiful. There are several places to visit such as the old Fortress on the ... read more