Our RV Adventures

As with other towns/excursions along our river cruise, when we woke up we were docked out in the middle of nowhere. Just a dock, some mooring capstans, and a gangplank to the shore.

What happens is that they would dock a ways out from town, let off the people who were going to take the excursion, and then the ship would proceed on into the dock in town where it would be waiting for us at the end of the day.

So today we had a 40 minute bus ride into Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany. Founded in the mid-1200’s, it’s known for having a higher concentration of bars than any other German city.

Coming into town we passed field after field of what turned out to be mustard plants

Which turn out to figure in our lunch.

We met our local guide at the bus park and started our walking tour into town, taking in the many sights.

Though the town itself was established in 1245, it had been a Roman settlement since around 100 A.D. It fact this stone arch was part of a wall that was commissioned in 179 A.D.

Everything over here is just OLD.

Coming into the main part of town we crossed the Old Stone Bridge.

Built around 1135, it was the only bridge across the river until the 1930’s. Originally a toll bridge, two different Crusades to the Holy Land passed over it along the way.

Next up was St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Built in 1280 to replace on that was built in 700 A.D. and burned down in 1273 A.D.

Did I mentioned that everything over here is just OLD.

After we finished touring the town museum, we came outside to find that the temp had dropped into the low 40’s and it was sprinkling.

But we had planned to have lunch at the historic Regensburg Sausage Kitchen.

And by historic, I mean the 900 year old Regensburg Sausage Kitchen

Did I mentioned that everything over here is just OLD.

It is said the Sausage Kitchen fed the workers who were building the Stone Bridge right next door.

When we came out, the umbrellas were up, holding off some of the rain, so we ordered “Sechs und Kraut”. Or Six and Kraut in English.

Which means six of their famous sausages, kraut, and rolls (Brötchen), the same thing that they have been serving all these years.

And it was delicious.Even though by the time our order came, it was 37 degrees and sleeting.

Where did this come from?

But the real standout of the meal was their Sweet Spicy Mustard, made from the same recipe all these years. So good that after the meal, I stood in line in the sleeting rain for 10 minutes to buy a bottle to take home.

Unfortunately as we were packing our suitcases in London before we came home, and swapping things back and forth trying to meet the weight limits, the bottle accidently ended up in one of our carry-on bags, and is now being enjoyed by a TSA  guy in London.

But I discovered that I could order some online from a US company, so two jars are now sitting in our kitchen.

By now it was time for us to meet our ship, and we were told it was waiting for us about a half mile down the river at dock 2. So a bunch of us headed out, only to find that  the Skirnir had not yet arrived. So there we all stood in the rain.

But the captain of the Viking ship Tor took pity on us and let us come onboard to wait until our ship arrived.

After getting back on board, dry and warmed up, and a nap, we met up with our usual crowd for another great meal.

Jan and I started with the Sweet Potato Soup,

the Veal Scaloppini.

along with Carrot Cake for me,

and Tiramisu for Jan for dessert.

Later, we were given a talk about the many locks and low bridges that we would be encountering in the coming days. And because of this we were told that the Sundeck would be closed for the next week or so.

Everything is folded down, including the railings, to allow the ship under the many low  bridges. And since it takes over 2 hours to complete the procedure, either way, they just leave them down until they’re through the worse of it.

Next up: Nuremburg

Thought for the Day: 

The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.– Alexis de Tocqueville

fghjfh

After our usual great breakfast, we were up the the gangplank and off the ship about 9:30 for our day visit to Passau, Germany, our first stop in a German city.

We had signed up for the Walking Tour of Passau, the included one for this stop. Unfortunately, so far we haven’t had many, if any, ‘driving’ tours, but I guess it helps work off all the delicious food they keep feeding us.

We started out along the Inn River, with our first stop the Schaibling or Salt Tower.

Built in the mid-1300’s, it was a fortified watch tower to protect and store, what else, Salt. Salt, necessary for preserving food, especially meat, has been a hot commodity since the Roman days. In fact, in many cases Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Hence the term, ‘Salary’.

The salt came from the mines near Salzburg, and was a favorite target of pirates and thieves, so it was protected all the way up the river and then safely stored in the tower.

Next, cutting up through an alley to get into town, we came across this sign on someone’s backyard.

He looks like he’s serious about all this.

Our next stop was the old town hall which was pretty non-descript on the outside, but another story on the inside. And besides the carved marble staircase

and the marvelous frescoed ceiling,

its other claim to fame was that Mozart played here for the local prince at the age of 6. Mozart, not the prince. But Mozart felt insulted when they kept him waiting for six days before hearing him play, so he refused to ever play for the prince or his family again, since they wouldn’t pay him for waiting.

A little way down the cobble-stoned street, we passed through an archway and into the square in front of the beautiful St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

There have been churches on this site since 730 A.D., with this one being built between 1668 to 1693 to replace the previous one that burned down in 1662. Designed in the Baroque style, it’s over 100 meters long, and even more beautiful on the inside than the outside.

Even the floor tiles are over 1000 years old, taken from Roman ruins and reused.

But the crowning glory is the massive pipe organ, the largest in Europe, and in the top five in the world.

It currently has 17,794 pipes and 233 registers, and is played from six consoles, and even better we got to hear a concert after lunch.

Or maybe I should say after ‘dessert’, since that’s what we had. Jan had the Cherry Cheese Strudel with Vanilla Ice Cream

and I had the Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce.

Delicious!

There are very few free toilets in Budapest or Germany, but less so in Germany. You either pay .50 € or 1 €, or you buy something in a restaurant. But this little old lady had a real scam going by setting up right in front of the ‘WC’ next to the cathedral.

Many of these have an attendant to give change, or a change machine, but this one didn’t. So if you had to go really bad, you bought a postcard or a trinket to get some change.

Nice racket!

When we got back into the church for the concert, we were warned that there was no recording allowed. But obviously someone did record it, and you can listen to the opening piece here on YouTube.

And it was all I could do to not laugh out loud on the first few notes. It was Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, probably one of the most recognizable openings in classical music, except maybe for Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

But that wasn’t the funny part. Here we are in definitive ‘Dracula’ country, and this the definitive Dracula theme song. So much so that if you Google ‘Dracula music, this piece comes up.

The organ has one pipe that’s about 2 feet across and puts out a note at 16Hz. It seems to make the air in your lungs vibrate, and you feel it as much as hear it.

They also have a pipe that’s about 1/4 inch across that puts out 16kHz, so pretty much only young kids and probably young dogs can actually hear it. I certainly can’t, but it does make my ears itch.

Dinner back on the ship was as delicious as usual, with my Angus Ribeye with double veggies, and no fries.

Gotta try to cut back somehow.

Jan got one of her favorites, the Roasted Chicken.

Next up: Regensburg

Since it took over 9 hours of start and stop to get the last blog up, I decided to wait until Paris to start catching up again.