Cruising and Rothenburg...

Wednesday, September 21. Sunny.

The ship offered a complimentary trip to Rothenburg as a form of compensation for the inconveniences as a result of the delays. Normally it has a price tag attached to it for some reason. The day was beautiful as we whiled away the morning cruising through towns and hamlets along the Main river, which we are now on. They have rather overdone the locks in this area it seems, 34 locks in 386 kilometres so we bump into a lock about every 40 minutes or so.

The ship dropped the passengers off at some remote spot at 3:30 and coached them to Rothenburg while the ship slowly made its way down the river. The ship picked them at 7:45. 

Rothenburg is sometimes considered the most German of all German cities. Its roots go back prior to 1000 AD. The reason it is so well preserved is that the town was badly hit by the Plague and fell into disuse and disrepair. As a result it never really modernized and it was a sort of time capsule, capturing the moment in time.

It was idolized by the Nazi brass as capturing the ultimate German lifestyle and the Nazi party regularly held meetings and small rallies there. 

During WW II, near the end of the war it was bombed but not to rubble. One American General realized the historical importance of the town and the US army was advised not to use artillery when taking the town. Apparently a Truce party or something like that, approached the commander of the German garrison and said that they would spare to town if they surrendered it without a fight otherwise they would turn the town into rubble. They had three hours to make their decision.

Hitler had specifically ordered the garrison to fight to the death rather than surrender it. In spite of Hitler's orders, the garrison commander surrendered the town and as a result there is a beautiful old medieval town that has hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every year. 

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I had room service as I did not want to cough at the table. Fellette and Moe went down to eat at a group table arranged a few days ago. 

There goes Fellette, off the ship, leaving her sick husband all alone.

Taken by Fellette in Rothenburg...

The Christmas Store in town.

Some of Doug's shots that day... a lovely day on the river.

Drying their wings.

Nice to see and so tranquil.

Miles and miles of vineyards that day.

Dad and son, fishing.

Fall is on the way.

Low bridge coming up.

A very busy day ashore...

Tuesday, September 20. Started in mist and ended in full sun.

The days have become a bit of a blur, as happens on a fast moving trip like this. It has been more like a magical mystery cruise the last few days since we got unstuck. We are just about up to date with the original itinerary.

Early this morning we crossed the Continental Divide on a Canal connecting the Danube and Main river. At 7:30 this morning we reached the highest point on this journey and now start the descent to the Rhine River and Amsterdam. Previous to this we were sailing upstream in the Danube. After we get out of this 100 mile man-made canal, we will be sailing downstream to the North Sea, English Channel.

It was a long day today, Nuremberg and then to Bamburg before we caught up with the ship somewhere on the canal. Dinner was called 20 minutes after returning from a nine hour touring day. 

Moe had a great day as well. 

Our day in pictures, some without comment...

Crossing the Great Divide before breakfast. Not another person up there. All were attending their tummy's at the time.

Nuremberg, the castle. I believe I stayed in there in 1960, it is still a Youth Hostel.

This balcony was an expression of wealth in its day. I suppose there is evidence of that type of thing even to this day.

A Bavarian lunch. My gosh they eat a lot of food!

This photo was taken by a couple from Texas, Houston.

In Bamburg.

We bumped into Moe on a walking tour.

Overlooking the city of Nuremberg from the Castle area.

The British Army is coming to town!

Just interesting to see.

Walkabout day...

Today was a walking day for Fellette and I, Moe stayed on board. The ship dropped all but a very few passengers off at a remote shore side mooring spot and we loaded into three coaches and took us to the city of Regensburg, some 1/2 hour drive up the river.

We were soon dropped off on the outskirts of the old part of the city where there have been people living since 2800 BC. The Celts came down and some settled even though they were normally nomadic. They were kicked out by the Romans around 170 AD. When the Romans left around 600-800 the the Dark Ages prevailed for many, many years. [The Romans had a Legion here, a full 6000 men. Amazing.

During WW II, most German cities and towns were systematically bombed by the British and American air forces. It was part of a plan to break the morale of the German population. As a result many, many old cities and towns were destroyed even though they were not of military importance. Regensburg escaped the bombings and as a result less than 2% of the city suffered war damage. 

We certainly earned our salt today in regards to walking!

Off we go on a morning tramp to get on a coach along the dike.

A portion of the he old 900 year old stone bridge

The town of Regensburg, taken from the stone bridge..

This is a sausage house that reportedly serves or makes 6000 sausages per day. It is reported to have mad sausages for the men who built the bridge 900 years ago. True or false? Who knows, good story.

A photo opportunity every time you turn around.

Everywhere!

Now how is that for a coffee house?

This building used to hold salt, which was very valuable in those days. Some beams, imagine getting them in place 500 years ago.

Crazy building codes in those day, or did they have them?

Downtown.

Pride of ownership.

A hotel. Elevator, methinks not.

Flowers are a photo opportunity for us.

No Doug, no clock please.

Neat bike eh?

Pictures from our day ashore at Passau....

There are a Zillion towns in Europe that are spectacular to visit. We are on two week cruise, so please forgive us if we skipped a few that may be on your list of your favourite places.

I was here in 1960 and again with Fellette some 17? Years ago. Much has changed, or is it my memory?

A quick tour of Passau...

On the convergence of three rivers in Germany: Danube, Inn and Ilz. The Inn puts more water into the system than the Danube, so the resulting merged river should have been called the Inn. However, isn't the Danube a more pleasant name for a river than Inn? Let them be happy with the Inn in Innsbruck some miles up stream.

An artsy street, once the Jewish Quarter, where only Jews could and had to live. For countries with so may churches and supposedly Christian, they sure had their time in history getting rid of the Jews in so many ways. Sad.

A treasure in itself in the cathedral in the town.

Just a gem of a building with horrendous maintenance costs

An orphanage, founded 200 years ago.

What a treasure in itself.

Those are high water marks. The one second from the top was in 2013!!!

Just another old building that Doug loves.

New and old paving stones. Not much changes in some places.

Fellette and I are attracted to gardens like a fly to honey.

Of course, we are in Bavaria where cuckoo clocks abound. I did here a real cuckoo once in Bavaria in 1960. It sounds just like a clock!

Moe having her hair done, happy as a clam. The hairstylist was also her room steward.