Passau and the Glass Museum

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Passau, which was the only day Phil passed on the walking tour. Our boat had fallen behind schedule due to the needed repairs done in Nuremburg, so again we were bussed to keep up with the planned trip itinerary. But being away from the boat the whole day was just too much for Phil. That was a bit unfortunate, because that was the day of the amazing glass museum. But I took lots of photos, some of which are in this blog.

Passau is on a peninsula which stretches between the Danube and the Inn Rivers and it also receives the the flow from the Ilz River, so it's actually at the confluence of 3 rivers. Due to the geography of their different origins, the water of the Ilz looks blackish, so it's known as the "Black Pearl". The Inn River has a more turquoise color and the Danube, while not a bright blue, is definitely bluish, so at times one can see the waters of the three rivers merging just downstream of the city.

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Photos

What is the main threat to Passau? FLOODS
On the wall of the town hall, the heights of various floods have been recorded. The worst was August 15, 1501, and the second worst was June 3, 2013. For amazing visuals, google "Hochwasser in Passau".
15,000 German soldiers tried to help the 50,000 residents without drinking water or electricity and severely damaged buildings.

The town hall faces the Danube and the Feste Oberhaus on the hill across the river.
There's a large open air eatery in the plaza, very pleasant on a sunny afternoon.

The Feste Oberhaus was built as a fortress in 1219.
For most of the years this was the stronghold of the Bishop of Passau. Then it became a state and military prison known as the "Bastille of Bavaria". Now it houses a museum, a youth hostel, a restaurant and an openair theatre.

Looking across the river at Austria
The pointy end of the peninsula is a parkland. Maybe wise not to build where the floods might be worst.

Pilgrimage church and Pauline Fathers Monastey
Because some people pray on each of the 360 covered steps (with occasional windows) to the monastery, the flight is known as "The Stairway to Heaven".

A tower seen as you look up the Inn River.
Passau became very rich as a trading centre because the salt from Salzburg was sent on the Inn River by boat and warehoused in Passau before onshipping to northern cities. Allegedly, not all the salt was accounted for by the good citizens of Passau.

Top floor of the glass museum (Glasmuseum Passau)
The museum is on 4 floors and showcases 15,000 pieces of glass, of their 30,000 piece collection. It covers the history of European glass from 1650 to 1950.

A more complex shape with figurative etching.
Can you make out the deer?

Comments

[michelleandkev]

The Glass Museum
Sorry to read that Phil decided against joining you on the walking tour and missed out on seeing all the beautiful glassware. But I'm sure he enjoyed seeing all your photos plus having a day of rest by himself. Is the boat fixed yet? Love to you both. M xx

[Martha Van Mollison]

Fixed boat
The boat got fixed within a day--they actually flew in a diver from Amsterdam to check the propellers, but the problem tirned out to be an electrical fault. The difficulty was in catching up with the travel plan for ports because the boat can only go so fast and there were so many locks to wait to go through. But by Vienna we ere completely back on schedule.