June 24 - Novi Sad, Serbia

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since my last post, but our ship has not gone under the bridge in Novi Sad, Serbia due to high water.  The cruise ended four days early but our vacation has not; we elected to stay on board while about 130 of the 150 passengers chose to take a bus to Bucharest where they will stay at the Hilton and take day trips.  We are enjoying the city of Novi Sad and are also taking side trips on the bus, provided by the cruise line.  This is much more relaxing than the big city; we go to Bucharest tomorrow and will have our stay there for two nights on the cruise line and then two nights on our own.

This post is a little out of order and I will post an update of what we did between June 16th and today when I have time later today.

June 18 - Danube Flora & Fauna

The Danube, meaning "deep water" or "two rivers", is alternately called the Donau by the Germans and Austrians,  Dunaj or Dunay by the Slovakians, Czechs and Russians, Duna by the Hungarians and Dun_rea in Romanian.  The ancient Romans called the Danube "Danubius" and worshiped a river god of the same name.  So far on our trip it has been mostly wide and fairly slow moving, but in some parts is only about 200 meters wide.  The color of the water is light brown, but that is likely due to the runoff from rains that have been pounding the region for weeks.  It is the second longest river in Europe at about 1,775 miles long, and is the only river to flow from west to east.  Only the Volga river is longer.  The Danube flows through more European countries than any other and since the political upheavals of the 1990s now passes through ten countries; Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldavia and Ukraine.

Most of the shoreline is lined with deciduous willow, alder, oak, chestnut and other smaller "shrubs" that fill in the understory.  Early in the trip when we were in Germany there were stands of evergreens such as fir and pine mixed in on the higher elevations.  Only where humans have chosen to live is the shoreline flora broken with either residential, commercial or industrial buildings.  Quaint villages are seen from time to time and many castles command the highest points along the way.  Church spires sprout from villages, sometimes two or more in each.

The only wildlife we've seen are birds; cormorants (they look like them, anyway), great blue herons, mallard ducks, small terns, gulls and in only one spot a couple dozen white swans.  However, there was this one meerkat we saw in Passau, Germany.  The tour guide was not pleased.

Linz and Melk Austria

All towns so far have a pedestrian only area in the center of town with shops, restaurants and cafes, and it's wonderful.  Many have fresh produce markets and the produce is very good.  People are milling all around on their way to or from errands, or eating ice cream or just sitting around.  We really like this and stop everywhere to soak up this experience since it's much harder to find in the USA.

Linz has at least three churches and we visited them all.  There were lots of high end shops, too, and we didn't visit any of them!  Here is one of the pictures I got in Linz; these are life size glass or plastic figures atop an arch in the town square.  The other picture is also of the top of a statue in the town square.

Ten minutes are up.  Time for cocktail hour on board the Viking Primadonna.

Passau - Monday, June 14, 2010

First day on board the Viking Primadonna...pretty fancy for us, but very nice and we can get used to it.  We met some interesting people again, at dinner and breakfast.  Dave and Dianne are a couple in their 60's who currently live in Toronto, Canada, but have traveled and lived all over the world.  He was in computer program design and management and by their count moved over thirty times to Singapore, France, Germany, Canada, America, Australia, South Africa, China, Japan and others.  He has great stories.  Bruce and Sharon are from Milwaukee and he had a long career with IBM and also lived and worked abroad; she was a teacher and stay at home mom for part of the time.  Hoyt and Jaquelin Leisure are from Los Angeles where he was in the family insurance business with offices throughout California; they insured the likes of John Wayne and Betty Davis for the movie studios.  He is a Stanford alumni from 1946.

Passau, Germany:  This morning was a tour of the small (50,000 population) town of Passau at the convergence of three rivers, the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz.  The Ilz is black due to the headwaters being in bogs and marshes, and is the smallest of the three.  The Inn river is the second largest and is blue to turquoise in color, but I can't remember why.  The Danube is referred to as the mother river and is greenish in color for other reasons.  These rivers tend to flood the town periodically and the town records the high water marks on various buildings with the date.

As you can see, the lower parts of many of the buildings nearer the water get flooded up to six to eight feet.


We had a wonderful tour guide from Paris, France sho now lives in Passau; she loves the town and is very knowledgeable about it's history, so it was great to listen to her.  She even got us into some of the town hall chambers so we could see the stained glass and art.

I took so many pictures that it will take a long time to sort them out, if I ever do.  I don't know how much I can upload to the blog, but they may be more entertaining than what I write, so I'll just keep adding them until I get tired.

Each of them, as explained by the guide, is full of symbolism related to the town history.  I can't begin to relay all of what she said, but what I do remember has to do with Wagner's Ring opera as Wagner spent time in Passau.  Many of the subjects were heroes, heroines and villains painted with intense expression and sometimes huge exaggeration.  Kathy and I both were oohhhing and aahhhing throughout the tour...and this was just the town hall. 




The painting below from the town hall is of King Arther and Queen Guenevere (on horseback) being offered gifts from the Passau Mayor.  There was more treachery here that the guide told us about regarding some murderous intents by the rulers.  The painting below on the right is a representation of the three rivers, Danube, Inn and Ilz.  The voluptuous woman on the left is holding a large container in her right hand; this is the Danube River.  The dark "wild" man on the right is the Ilz black river, and the cherubs in the middle are the Inn river.  Notice in the background the two onion towers of the Passau town hall.

Wait until the church, where we were treated to a half hour organ concert.  We both got goose flesh.  he church was almost totally destroyed during the second world war, but was lovingly rebuilt with funds from the US and Germany as well as donated artists and craftsmen from Italy.

 




As you can see, I'm having some difficulty getting the formatting down so the pictures and text flow together better.  Does anyone with experience have a suggestion?  I'm clueless!!

There is much more that I could add to this, but I've violated my own rule about how much time I would spend typing.  Don't expect this level of information except on random occasions.  I'm not trying to write a travel log, just have some fun.


Tomorrow we cruise in the morning from Linz, Austria to Melk and Vienna where we have a day tour to a Hapsburg residence (translated:  castle) and optional classical music concert in the evening.  We won't go to the concert but will go on the day tour.

Until the next post we are D&K2.

Saturday, June 12th

A full day during which we went shopping, had lunch at the Viktualienmarkt (a very large farmers' market in the center of Munich), visited St. Peter's church and went to the Hofbrauhaus, Munich's largest beer hall.  Turns out that Augustiner biergarten, where we had dinner, is larger and older and "nicer" (re:  more real...meaning that the Hofbrauhaus, while old and real, also...it was really touristy, while the Augustiner biergarten is really...I mean in reality...preferred by the locals, not the tourists...although how we got in may be in question).  The first bier brewed at the Augustiner brewery was in 1328.  Anyway, it was an amazing place.  Literally thousands of people were at large picnic tables and benches outdoors under a forest of elm trees eating, drinking and watching the soccer World Cup live.  That night the USA tied England 1 to 1.

St. Peter's church was spectacular; the sculptures, frescos and paintings were awesome - overpowering.  The pipe organ below is spectacular.

They had full size sculptures of all twelve apostles lining the nave.  Here are a couple of the most striking:    The lunch we had in the market was "real" too...just basic sausages, potatoes and vegetables.  We met a young couple there, where we shared a table again, this time with Florentine and  Eva who were originally from Austria and had moved to Munich for better job opportunities.

I think I can sleep tonight.

 

Comments Please

Please, if you have the time, add your comments about what you like or dislike about what i write in the blog.  I will use your feedback to make it more interesting for you...and thanks.

OK, I'm still learning!!

I will limit myself to ten minutes of typing, plus downloading pictures. In the beginning this will probably take more like 30 minutes until I get organized. Do you really care?

Here we are in Munich, safe and sound after a non-eventful flight with very little sleep. Found the first biergarten at the airport and had a bier while watching people. Took the train to downtown and found the hotel...it's warm and we collapsed in the room and slept for about three hours. Then took a walk to the city center (named Marienplatz for a statue of the Virgin Mary which was moved to Munich in 1638 from Frauenkirche in thanks that the Swedes didn't sack the town during their occupation). Found another biergarten.

Met a delightful couple from Munich, Heidi and Peter, who sat down at our table in the Ratskeller restaurant and (another) biergarten (picture of us all with this post). He is a doctor, now retired, she a retired school teacher and cancer survivor, both 70 years old and married for 40 years. Neither their English or our German was very good, but we managed to converse for over two hours. It was fun. These two Germans had a very thoughtful and level headed view of the current state of the world, re: terrorism, immigration, European Union, America, Greece, budgets etc. Ate great little Nurnberger sausages and kraut (Dan) and schnitzel (Kathy). Back in our room with the fan on. Did I say the bier was great?


Tonight we sleep (I hope). Tomorrow we explore.

The Night Before

All packed, bills prepaid or on hold, arrangements for George, etc. all done. We eliminated Varna and Burgas on the Black Sea for this trip so we could have more time with family in Athens. We will have enough adventure on the river cruise and trains from Bucharest to Sofia to Thessaloniki and Athens. No more chit chat until there is something interesting to share...I promise!

Almost Gone

I know this is not really part of the trip, but it's certainly part of my mental state at the moment. Just a short while and we will be on our way and I can stop prattling on about the getting ready process. Be assured: WE ARE READY!