Thursday, 17 August, 2017 – weather: Sunny and warm, near perfect
We wake up just as the boat is arriving at Melk. After a breakfast, with smoked salmon of course, there is a tour of the Melk Abbey which requires a bus ride. I decide to pass on it while Julie takes of on her own into Melk.
Fruit Sandwich?
Julie returning with me up on the sundeckLarry and Ruth on the sun deck for the boat BBQNot many folks here yetThe BBQ areaThe Hotel and Food Manager with Budi the chefRaw materials for the BBQMy plateLots of folk at the BBQ
There is now a bicycle tour for up to 50 people, they borrowed bikes from other boats. So the troops are lining to go out.
The bikes taking off
The boat was just pulling away from the shore when one of the bikies showed up with a flat tyre. Wernie chased down the trailer carrying the unused bikes and replaced the busted one. All this added another 20 minutes to our trip down the Danube. Some photos from the boat as we travelled.
Leaving Melk
From our Cabin’s balconyOne of the few times we used the balcony or the minibar
We are travelling to Duernstein where we will meet the bikers. Julie prances out as soon as we arrive.
Richard the Lion Heart’s Castle
I already have one of those t-shirts but another one has been purchased
Julie walked all over the mountain and occasionally got lostWar toys in a back yard
Houses built into castle remains
Richard’s Castle Ruins Close upLooking down at the DanubeMore castle ruins
From 5:00 we are scheduled for a Sundowner with local snacks and drinks at “Alter Klosterkeller” in Durnstein Old Town. It is a bit of a walk there but I make it with a couple of others. I meet Julie inside. She has a fair bit of sun on her face.
Wernie pointing the wayWe are in the upstairs areaThe “Band”The snacks were quite goodespecially the HorseradishVarious dances of varying quality
What else can I say about this experience? The accordion player is a champion yodeler. They did some comic versions of Australian, US, Canadian etc. songs e.g. Waltzing Matilda. And, amazingly, perhaps the worst red wine I have ever experienced.
Then it is back to the boat and dinner time.
Goats cheese dumpling,in the middle, with bloody mary jelly
The Restaurant RivaVeal with mushroom sauce, quite niceSea Bass
Impressive dessert
A pretty full day and only a small amount of dancing tonight.
Wednesday, 16 August, 2017 – weather: Rainy and grey but does improve
When we get up we see that the Danube is quite grey. This is caused by the heavy storms of last night washing clay into the river. As well it is raining, not hard, but raining and grey.
The majority of the group is going to Salzburg today to participate in a Sound of Music show. It is an early start, because of the two hour bus ride there, so the breakfast area is quite crowded. That does not stop Julie from getting her smoked salmon and once the crowd drifts off it is easy to get an omelet. The boat has recently arrived in Passau and Julie prances out for a look around, some photos.
SnagsA & M returning from townThe Red Van is from farmers exxchanging their empty buckets for buckets of leftover food from the kitchen to feed their pigs
Julie returns and it is time for lunch in the Pearl Dining Room. Buffet as usual.
Salad for Julie, of coursePasta and calimari for me
In the afternoon we are sailing to Linz. We are due to arrive at 5:30 but make it an hour early. So we decide to go into town. I had a slight errand to run and when I got back, Julie was 10 meters in front of me. As we walked it became 15, then 20, then 50 meters and finally she disappeared up a side street – left me in her dust realistically. A few photos from me:
Town tour trains – I had forgotten my wallet otherwise I might have taken the tourA big stage in the town squareOther cruise boatsAli waving from his cabinOur floating chariot
By this time, the weather had turned really good, quite different from the start of the day. Julie arrives back and after the usual summary of tomorrow by Werney, it is dinner time.
Duck TerrineTuna with BeefSoup with a Horses HeadMixed Seafood for JulieFancy dessertIce CreamFruit for Julie
Tuesday, 15 August, 2017 – weather: Great until late
Today’s headline is not about a presumption or supposition or any of the other such synonyms from Roget. Instead, it is about the Catholic Holy Day for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Why does this matter? Because in Catholic parts of Europe, The Assumption, today, is a public holiday and, hence, (almost) all of the shops are closed when people take a tour around Regensburg.
Some time in the morning we left the Canal and entered the mighty Danube. It is certainly wider.
After breakfast, smoked salmon as usual, there is a cooking demo by head chef Budi.
Setting up the cooking demoHead Chef Budi with “volunteer” Sharon, who did all the workServing the potato soup which contains lots of ingredients including chicken, bacon, herbs etcMy soupServing the Bread and Butter pudding, the other part of the demo
Today the boat is putting on a Bavarian Lunch.
The Hotel and Restaurant Managers in fine Bavarian Hats. Most of the waiters had their own unique hats
There is a 100% queue around the serving area for people tryin to get some of their Bavarian meal. There was quite some discussion about the merits and rudeness of pushing into the lines, I am quite opposed. I sat on the sidelines for over 40 minutes, waiting for it to thin out a bit. When I finally got there I was not that impressed with what was available.
My Bavarian lunchI got some roast pork too
There are two choices of tours in the afternoon:
(1) A walking tour of Regensburg where we are berthed.
(2) A visit to Weltenburg Abbey. I had signed up for this but did not go.
Julie went on the first tour but mostly did it on her own. Some photos.
David and GoliathWhy wasn’t that place called David’s?A.B.C.Ducks
The Boys enjoying the weather. Apparently a number of them would jump into the river from the bridge
Viewing that last photo, one can see that it is a beautiful day. So I decided to visit the top deck where I had not previously gone.
Selfie on the deck – poor subjectJoe returning from carrousing in townImpressive Building in the middle of nowhere
Julie returns and it is nearly time for dinner. The sky is getting more and more cloudy and off in the distance we see rain coming down.
Impressive presentationCaeser SaladBlack Forest Ham with Pickled VegiesBrothOld fashioned Cream of Potato soupSea bass with white asparagus
No fancy for me. Old fashioned burger and friesStrawberry ice cream a very popular dessertCheeseImpressive dessert
As the meal proceeded the weather deteriorated rapidly. Eventually an impressive lightning show started in the clouds and went on for a couple of hours. Only the occasional bolt went to the ground. There was not a lot of thunder heard, but there was some. Then it started raining heavily. Our burst of great summer weather had come to an abrupt end.
It is a beautiful day so that means there are no excuses not to do one of the tours. Those scheduled are:
1) Nuremberg WW2 tour
2) Tastes of Nuremberg
3) Gingerbread Cooking Class
We select the second tour and board the bus into town. Our local guide
is an absolute comedian. For example, when we disembarked from the bus, he pointed out a red area of the path where we should not stand as it is a bike path. The reason it is red, blood from all the tourists knocked over by bikes!
Any way, we arrive in town and seem to drive around in circles around the old wall that houses the old town. Lots of road construction everywhere does not help. We finally reach our landing spot.
Part of the Nuremburg Castle
We are broken up into two groups – those who want to go into the castle and those that want a “gentle walk”. It was an easy choice for me, since Glen Campbell has died all I can think of is “Gentle on my Mind”. Julie goes for the “into the palace” tour, not that there is any evidence of being in the palace in her photos. We have a young guy as the guide of the gentle group. He is very knowledgeable but his microphone does not work on our travel pods so we have to get up close to hear him.
Maps of the Old City are everywhereEntering the curved tunnel into the old cityIn the old town with our tour leaderThe Rabbit – I never did hear the relevance of this statue
Tastings from a Gingerbread Shop – I passedThe Gingerbread Shop
Our guide indicated that there is no ginger in those gingerbread.
Nuremberg’s most famous heroA church in the main squareIt used to be Catholic before Martin Luther and the Reformation. Now ProtestantThe few remaining original bricks after the Allied bombing during WW2.Ornate fountain in the Central Square
We go into a Bratwurst restaurant where we are to have Bratwurst and beer. In there, we discover that the other group, including Julie, are already there and have been for a while having worked on their beer and bratwurst. So what did they get up to while we were gentling along? Some of Julie’s photos.
Overlooking the cityIn the square in the old townAn ex-wishing well I guessThe poor rabbit from another viewGingerbread I guessBeer and bratwurst, long before we arriveWe arrive in the Bratwurst HausOthers in our groupBratwurst and beer for me, with Joe’s to my left and Brenda’s across the way
Julie leaves pretty much straightaway leaving one of her Bratwurst snags behind. Brenda’s is divided between Joe and I. We all head outside to the market in the square. Some photos from me.
Our restaurant
Overlooking the market
Nice looking fruitCranberriesJoe and Brenda leaving the market – we decided to have a drink while waiting for the busJoe waiting for service, which was shockingOur dark beer
In the same time frame, Julie was wandering around the market and town. Some of her photos:
Ruth and Larry
I have to say that there were not many tastes of Nuremberg. Some gingerbread, a bratwurst, a beer and nothing else. I find my way back to the bus for the 11:30 return to the boat. The prodigal daughter, Julie, returns and finds me there. Our local guide has a few more funnyisms on the way back and then we get on the boat. Although we had a late morning snag, we decide to go to lunch.
Julie’s small salad
I had a nice soup and did not really need any more. However, the beef looked good.
My beef roll with horseradishJulie’s smoked salmon with horseradish – I had pointed out the horseradish to her located with the beef
Then it is time for a nap after all that gentle walking etc. As a result, we miss the afternoon entertainment which was a tap dancing exhibition. Later in the afternoon we participate in organised tours of the galley.
The galley is quite small for the size of the operation. It is also quite warm.
Head Chef Budi holding forth
Then it is time for dinner, as if we have not had enough to eat today.
We enter the first of the big Locks
There is some yahoo dancing with the usual favourites until rap crap started again, driving me away. Therefore, it was off to bed after a long day.
Yes, following on from the end of yesterday, the sky is sunny and it is to be 27c today. What a welcome change after over 7 weeks of dross. It is a sleep in day, not that we are very good at it but it did mean when we went for breakfast there was not a major crush which we had seen on other mornings. After the usual, smoked salmon for Julie, omelet for me, we bumble around for a while until there is a presentation by the cruise director on planning for the next week.
There are tours in the afternoon, so we have lunch as soon as the presentation has finished. Mine was pre-planned yesterday with the Head Chef:
Two duck legs I missed out on last night
A lady who was at Portobello last night also was interested in Duck so she and her husband both had a duck leg. I was able to organise another duck leg for dinner for our friend Joe.
We arrive in Bamberg and there are a couple of tours available. Julie chooses the walking tour, I stay on the boat. Some of Julie’s pictures.
Ducks
Rose garden
Julie returns and after a relaxing drink it is time for dinner. It is a special ala carte menu tonight. For first course I order:
Smoked Salmon starter. Guess where most of that plate ended up?That is “Restaurant Riva” an upmarket stretch at one table in the back of the roomHorseradish and Mushroom Soup – could have had more horseradishPorkJulie’s fishCheese as dessert
