Danude River cruise

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August 8,2016- We started our cruise in Regensburg, Germany. The city was first settled by the celts in 500 BC. Then it was under roman rule in 179 AD. By the middle ages it became the capital of bavaria. It is one of the best preserved historic cities in Germany. During WW2, It was home to both an aircraft factory and an oil refinery, which were bombed by the Allies. Although both targets were badly damaged, Regensburg itself suffered little damage, and the nearly intact medieval city centre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can see a lot of medieval houses, towers and churches, as well as a 12 century stone bridge. It also has a 800 year old sausage kitchen just beside the old bridge. It is presumably the oldest fast food restaurant in the world. So we stopped there to sample the sausage, and beer of course. The sausage was good, however, it was not what we expected. It was small sausage ( skinnier that our breakfast sausage) instead of the big sausage. We don't see any remains of the roman period, however, the guide was telling us that when there is construction, often they have to stop because they have uncovered some archeological site. It is a University town and has over 700 bars. It has a population of 140,000, however I don't know if that is during school year.

The scenery along the Danube is beautiful although we haven't seen any castles yet. We did however see a greek style temple called Walhalla, just east of Regensburg. It is a Parthenon replica. The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished people in German history – "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists.

August 9, 2016 -PassauToday we visited the small town of Passau, Germany, while others took an optional tour to Salzburg. The old town is charming with its large squares, promenades, winding lanes and old bridge. The St Stephen's Cathedral has a 17,000-pipe organ, it is a massive thing. It is the second largest in the world. Some of us attended an organ concert. After Passau we stopped in a small town called Aschach. We were there for about an hour or so, waiting for the group that went to Salzburg to return to the ship. It is a quint little town. We walked around and saw houses that dated back to the 13th and 14th century, very well preserved. We also discovered a lot of ice cream shops along the promenade.

August 10, 2016 We are now in Austria. Today we cruised along the Wachau Vallee, one of the loveliest stretches of land along the Danube. We saw a lot of vineyards in the mountains along the way. On our way to Vienna, we stopped in Melk. The main attraction is the Benedictine Abbey. It was originally a Palace but in the 11th century Leopold III handed it over to the Benedictine monks. It is most notable for its library with some 80,000 priceless volumes. It is constantly being renovated. The library is the only room that has not been renovated, everything in that room is original. Today the Abbey houses a school attended by 900 + students. We landed close to Vienna just before super. (The Danube does not run through Vienna - so we are docked in the suburbs. Tomorrow we visit Vienna).

Sorry the photos would not download properly. I'll try again at another time.

The WIFI is not always reliable on the ship, that is why I've posted 3 days at once. I have realized that only when the ship is docked that the WIFI works even though it always shows I am connected and have a strong signal..

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Comments

[Lylaenvoyage]

Very cool
Another few places to add to my to-do list! I'd love to see that library.