Jewels of Europe River Cruise Day 16 to Prague

DAY 16

Friday 9th May

This morning we got the chance to relax a little thank heaven, Zoltan didn't bring our tea till 8.00am yeah!   After breakfast, and we harebell assured there are no calories on this ship, our cruise director, Kurt, gave his usual blurb for the day in which Robyn foolishly volunteered to be part of the Liar's Club for the following night's entertainment. Later in the morning we had a glass blowing demonstration with Hans Ittig, a 7th generation glass blower.  The demo was very interesting but Hans waffled on and on so people were getting a little restless . Wertheim, the town Hans is from is a big glass blowing area and world renowned.  He had some beautiful pieces including jewelry, decorations, a fascinating thermometer and many more items which of course were for sale but quite expensive although we did manage to purchase a couple of items.  After lunch we went for a tour of Miltenberg in Bavaria, a very old and quaint town with buildings hundreds of years old.  It's just so amazing to see these places still in use today.  One building was a beautiful hotel called Zum Riesen which dates back to the 12th century, where many royals have stayed over the centuries.  Today it operates as a tavern but we didn't get a chance to try the beer.  This area is well known for its beers and especially it's Franconian wines.  Most of the houses here are built from local sandstone and timber mainly oak from the local forests.  Many have a sandstone ground floor and timber upper floors.  This was to save the houses during periods of flood.  Many of the towns along the river have town walls which surround the town and now have gates that close to stop the town from being flooded.  After our tour of the town we again hopped on a coach for an hour long drive to Marktheidenfeld.   There we went on a chuck wagon ride.  There were no Indians encountered on the way but we did have some rain. Glad we didn't do the bike ride as they got a little wet.  After the chuck wagon ride we visited a local winery for a BBQ .  Of course the BBQ consisted of sausages some pork and chicken with sauerkraut and salad.  This was served with beer and wine from the winery.  Kay had her first Bavarian beer here yeah finally!  We were entertained by a very talented local family with music, singing and lots of fun and laughter.  A very good night. The owner of the winery, Johannas has a wooden bow tie collection of over two hundred bow ties. A very tired collection of people returned to the ship about 11pm.

MILTENBERG

this is a Catholic village denoted by the statue of the Virgin Mary, also dated 1581 when the house was built - note the timber upper stories.

 Street mime in Miltenberg

Maypole in Miltenberg

 this is the first butcher shop we have seen in our travels

The Gasthaus zum Riesen in Miltenberg claims to be the oldest hotel and restaurant in Germany.

Miltenberg- these steps lead up and out of town and at the top to the left is the Jewish cemetery which had to be outside the town.

Another butcher shop in Miltenberg

These are watermarks from floods

 Marktheidenfeld

Chuck wagon ride in Marktheidenfeld - with Barbara and Claire

As if this was going to be drunk.

  As if this was not going to be drunk.

 Johannas the owner of the winery with one of his 200 wooden bow ties on.

DAY 17                                                  

Saturday 10th May

We sailed into Wurzburg this morning. 90% of this city was destroyed in the war and has since been rebuilt. Our coach departed at 8.30am driving us down the Romantic road to Rothenburg which just means that we went via country roads instead of the autobahn. This route drives through some beautiful countryside with very small villages and very narrow roads in places. The villagers come out to wave to the people on the buses.  The trip took 90 minutes and we then began our walking tour which ended at the marketplace. Along the way we were given samples of the many varieties of sausages here to taste as well as a Schneeballen (snowball) which is made of pastry then iced. After the tour we were given free time or to be more precise shopping time.  First stop was Kathe Wohlfahrt and the famous Christmas shop. There are six of them in Rothenburg alone. What an amazing store with the most beautiful Christmas decorations, beer steins, cuckoo clocks, souvenirs, etc. after spending up big once again we went to a cafe to have some famous apple strudel which is served with cream and ice cream here (no calories).  We then walked down to the beautiful castle gardens. The castle itself was destroyed by the townsfolk, in the guise of an earthquake, to avoid the high taxes. We also visited the teddy bear shop which had a huge teddy bear in a cage which snored.  We definitely did not have enough time in this beautiful town.  The coach took us back to the ship via the autobahn.  The autobahn has no speed restrictions but in some places there are signs which state 130. Some trivia we learnt along the way:
German families have an average of 0.9 children
BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Way
The maypole celebrates May and has the newly married couples dancing around it passing a bunch of flowers. When the music stops whoever has the flowers has to shout all the other couples for that day.
Back on board we had to get ready for our six course dinner at Portobellos Restaurant. We may not eat for a month when we get home.
After dinner we had the Liar's Club then bed.

 Schneeballen (snowballs) pastry

                                                   Some of the sausages we sampled

 Just foolin' around

Outside Kathe Wohlfahrt's Christmas Shop








Castle Gardens





View from the castle gardens

This sign was a source of great discussion amongst those on tour. They are all along the autobahn. Someone thought it was a sign to warn people that Australians had been there. In actual fact it means EXIT.

Snoring bear in teddy bear shop

Teddy bear shop in Rothenburg

The Liar's Club

DAY 18

Sunday 11th May

Well Thelma and Louise hit the wall today.  We sailed into Bamberg but were too exhausted to leave the ship so decided to stay on board and recharge the batteries. We have been through an incredible amount of lochs in the last 24 hours but are looking forward to tomorrow night when we rise 25 metres in one of the lochs before we sail into the Danube.  After an afternoon rest we headed upstairs for a Bavarian Beer Experience.  We tasted the following (Kay a glass and Robyn a sip):
1.  'Ammerndorfer Hell' - Helles = bright lager.
2.  'Rossdorfer Pils' = pilsner
3.  'Hirschen-Trunk' Dunkles Rauchbier = smoky dark lager.
4. 'Gutman Weisse' Hereweizen = wheat beer.

Here are some beer trouble shooting tips:

SYMPTOM:  Your feet are getting cold and wet
FAULT:  Glass tilting towards floor.
ACTION:  Put open end of glass towards ceiling.

SYMPTOM:  Beer unusually pale and tasteless.
FAULT:  Glass is empty.
ACTION:  Get someone to buy you another beer.

SYMPTOM:  Opposite wall covered with fluorescent lights.
FAULT:   You have fallen backwards.
ACTION:  Have someone lash you to the bar.

SYMPTOM:   Room seems unusually dark.
FAULT:   The bar has closed.
ACTION:  Confirm home address with barkeeper.

No doubt about these Germans. 

After a late (four course dinner) we headed to bed to get ready for tomorrow's adventure.

Robyn pretending to drink a beer

DAY 19

Monday 12 May

The ship docked in Nuremburg this morning and we decided to see the infamous WW11 sites followed by a visit to the Documentation Centre.  The weather was cold and rainy.  Nuremburg is the only city in Germany surrounded by a city wall and moat, about 5kms long.  It is the second safest city in Germany behind Munich.  40,000 people are employed by Siemens. 90% of Nuremburg was in ruins after the war.

Our first stop was the courthouse where the Nuremburg trials took place.  We then went to the Zeppelin field which was the Nazi party rally grounds and covered about 11 square kilometres. It accommodated up to 200,000 people who would listen to Hitler's speeches.  They say that Hitler's reign was dominated by 'Fascination and Terror'. There was a large swastika on top of this field which was blown up by the American troops.

We then went to the Documentation Centre. We actually crossed the equator on our way there.  The Documentation Centre documents Hitler's reign in Germany. It is in the Kongresshalle which the Germans refer to as the 'Colosseum'.  We expected more from this.

We came back to the ship for lunch then caught the shuttle bus back into Nuremburg.  Unfortunately without a guide we didn't know where to go or what to see.  We walked through the Hauptmarkt which had lots of fresh produce and was surrounded by many shops.  Once again it started raining heavily so we headed back to the ship.

After dinner we came into a loch that was 25 metres high.  Once in, the ship begins to rise. Perhaps that is why they call the ships 'spaceships'.  Ships have to take their turn to go through the lochs, first in, first served. They can sometimes wait up to 1 1/2 hours before they can go through.

The landscape has changed here. We are now going through lots of wooded areas which have pathways along the waters edge where people can walk or sit and many walk their dogs.

Nuremburg

Courthouse where the Nuremburg trials took place

 

Crossing The Equator

Opera House

Hotel where Hitler stayed, opposite the Opera house

                                                                    

                                                                   Old pictures from Zeppelin field

 Zeppelin field where Nazi gatherings took place

Huge train station in Nuremburg

Inside the Documentation Centre

Building in Nuremburg

City of Nuremburg

 

Hauptmarkt in Nuremburg centre

This is the 25 metre loch just outside Nuremburg

 

 

Going through the 25 metre loch

DAY 20

Tuesday 13th May

We got to sleep in again this morning as we don't dock in Regensburg until 2pm.  This morning there was a lecture on Viennese Coffee Culture which we missed and then a cooking demonstration which we wished we had missed. After lunch, which was a special Bavarian lunch that consisted of sausage, sourkraut and other Bavarian delights, including a white sausage that you are supposed to suck out of its skin.  Being ladies we gave that a miss.  We started our walking tour of Regensburg, just a short stroll from the ship. The guide was not as good as some we have had. We walked across the stone bridge, which was built 1135-1146, into the city. Once again the buildings are very different in this city.  We saw a house that Schindler was supposed to have lived in for a couple of years. We walked to the Cathedral which was a very interesting example of pure German Gothic and counts as the main work of Gothic architecture in Bavaria. Then on to the Lower Minster Church where we listened to an organ recital of Mendelssohn and Bach music. Strangely this church had no stained glass windows. Stopped and looked at the shops which is becoming an expensive habit.  We have so many postcards and magnets.

After dinner there were Bavarian music entertainers, which was Oompa Loompa style of music but very entertaining with dancing, singing and yodelling.  All in good fun! 

 Buildings in Regensburg

 

Stone bridge as it used to be and now they are renovating it

View from the bridge

                                                          Only water mill left of three

                       This is where Schindler was supposed to have lived for a short time

                  

Gothic Cathederal

 

                                  Lower Minster Church where the organ recital was held

                                        Another church another candle

 The altar in the Cathedera

This ship was made with Swarovski Crystal elements

DAY 21

Wednesday 14th May

Today we arrived in Passau which is situated on the borders of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.  Passau is known as the city of three rivers with the Danube, Inn and Liz joining here.  This is our last day in Bavaria as we are now heading to Austria . Passau had its second biggest flood in history last year along with a lot if the cities we are visiting.
From 1892 to 1894 Hitler lived here. We also passed through the town where he was born.  We boarded our coach  at 8.00am and headed to Salzburg. The landscape was so different with once again beautiful countryside but the houses were so much bigger and beautifully maintained, it is the fourth largest city in Austria .  Austria is the third richest country in Europe  (think we might stay here for a year, you never know?)   Romans and Celtics date back to the 5th century BC.  Once in Salzburg we headed to the gazebo and castle (Schloss Hellsbrunn) which were used in the Sound Of Music (yeah) . At the gazebo we sang a horrible rendition of "Sixteen going on Seventeen" . We were disappointed we couldn't walk up to the castle for a photo but we got a postcard.  We then drove into Salzburg for a walking tour of the city where Mozart was born.  It was so cold 9 degrees with several showers.  There was still snow on the peak of the alps, so beautiful.  We visited Mirabell gardens, a very baroque park (very symmetrical) which  was also in Sound of Music recognised by its fountain and statue.  We continued our walking tour down some lovely cobblestone streets seeing more recognisable sights such as the clock tower, town hall and yes some shops!  All businesses are by law to have wrought iron signages over their doorways, even McDonalds. Very quaint!  We also passed by the Mozart university which is a musical university and only the most talented are accepted. Then to the Salzburg cathedral, which we didn't enter and through St. Peter's cemetery which has a lot of famous Austrians buried there.  It is also the place where the Von Trapp family hid from the nazis in the film although it was redesigned in Hollywood as there is no filming allowed there. On to lunch in a beautiful restaurant, the building dated back to 803.  Warm soup and roast chicken was very welcome as we were all so cold.  After this we had some free time to wander around then met back at Mozart Square to return to the bus and on to Linz where the ship was docked. Salzburg has a huge fortress overlooking it on top of the mountain .  You can reach the fortress by a vehicular.  On our way to Linz our driver drove us to where we could get a good view of the snow capped alps as they were covered in fog (not mist as mist in German means "bulls**t") on our incoming trip to the city. SO BEAUTIFUL. We love it !!!!   It might have been miserable weather but the beauty made up for it. Most of us napped on our 2hour drive to Linz for which we were very grateful.  On board ship and off to Melk. 

Mirabell Gardens

  Hotel where Julie Andrews stayed

Hotel where Christopher Plummer stayed and partied
 during filming

Another bridge where lover's locks are

Mozart's house

Mozart's museum

Famous Mozart chocolate shop and patisserie

Mozart's' statue

Mozart square

 

St Peter's cemetery

snow covered alps

DAY 22

Thursday 15th May

Arrived in the city of Melk this morning at 6.30am but our tour didn't start until 9.30am. We visited the Benedictine Abbey of Melk today. What a truly amazing place.  The weather was 9 degrees, cold and windy. This has been the coldest day so far.  

The current monastery held a Babenberger castle until the site was given to the Benedictine monks in 1089 by Margrave Leopold II.  Today's impressive Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736. Part of the abbey has been turned into a museum. There are three floors and five rooms alone for the library which contains about 100,000 medieval volumes. The library is still in use today.

There is also a school within the abbey which caters for nearly 900 students of both sexes.  The abbey used to provide a living from the farmland but that is now leased out.  The main revenue for the abbey nowadays is from tourism as the maintenance is enormous.  There are only thirty monks attached to the abbey with fifteen of them living there and fifteen out looking after 23 parishes.

We arrived back at the ship just as the rain came down.  We then left Melk and headed to Durnstein. We didn't go ashore there as the weather was too bad so we had a restful afternoon.

Tonight we had a fantastic seafood buffet which was freshly delivered this morning.

After dinner there was a music quiz which didn't really have much to do with music but was fun. Our team didn't do well getting only 4 out of 10 questions correct.

 Benedictine Abbey

View from Benedictine Abbey

St. Peter on the left with the keys and St Paul on the right with the sword

The Melk cross

 The altar in the chapel

The Melk cross

The Melk cross

Inside the quadrangle

Before and after models of the Abbey

The altar

St Michael's Altar

St Michael's Altar

 St John the Baptist Altar

Roof of the chapel

Museum in the Melk Abbey

                           

Re-useable coffin

DAY 23

Friday 16th May

Today we started out by coach on a tour of the sights of Vienna.  The weather was lousy, rain cold and wind,  it was 9 degrees with the wind chill factor a lot colder. The rain was falling quite heavily so the guides decided to omit our 40 min walking tour and stay on the bus which meant we didn't get to see some of the sights that were planned but at least we were warmer and drier.
The guides here go into a great detail about the history of the places we visit which is good but we are in brain overload and switch off after a while. We crossed bridges over three parts of Danube which consists of the old Danube, canals and the new Danube. This has been done to protect Vienna from flooding.  By the way the Danube is NOT blue no different to the Hawksbury in colour but all along our river cruising we have seen no recreational boating or waterskiing except in  tiny part of the Danube.  We stayed on the bus for a couple of hours sightseeing after which they gave us the opportunity to stay in town on our own if we wanted.  Only four people elected to do this because of the weather, so the majority of us returned to the ship, the crew was not really organised for this but as always they did a great job.  The most exciting part of the trip was when the bus hit a car, no problems all ok.
A relaxing afternoon before our big night.  After our lovely Austrian dinner of Wiener schnitzel and other local delights, we set off for Palais Liechtenstein for a Viennese orchestral concert.  The palace is one of the few that are still privately owned in Austria and is beautiful which is owned by bankers of course. The city has so many former palaces, beautiful buildings which are now owned mainly by banks, hotels and offices.  Champagne  on arrival and the carriage in the foyer obviously waiting for us, we'll maybe not, (see photo.)
The concert was fantastic taking us back in time to another era In Europe .  Not only was it the orchestra playing Mozart , Strauss and Beethoven but there were two operatic soloists and a ballet doing the Viennese waltz to the blue Danube.  I know this isn't to everyone's liking but as it was such a small group of us it made us feel like we were honoured to be invited by the King to his palace.

Such a shame the weather was so miserable as it would have been nice to see some more of the city but that's life maybe next time? 

A wet Vienna

 Building designed by Harry Siedel, architect

 An environmental block of apartments in Vienna

Going to the concert

 Palais Liechtenstein where the concert was held

 

Coach at Palais LiechtensteiN

DAY 24

Saturday 17 May

Another early start for our tour of Bratislava, Slovakia. Zoltan forgot our tea this morning so we may have to sack him. The weather was cold and drizzly but fined up. As we drove into Bratislava.  Driving along the autobahn there were three overhead bridges that have grass and shrubs planted on them and are exclusively used by animals to cross from one side of the road to the other. The only animals that don't use them are pheasants as we were told they are too stupid!!  We went to the old section of the city (the old town) which is badly in need of restoration.  There are many Baroque buildings including the Grassalkovich Palace built around 1760, which is now the residence of the Slovak president.  When we arrived there was a fun run being held which went through the city streets.  After our walking tour we were left to wander the streets and once again check out the shops, meeting back at the town square at midday.  We went into a cafe to get a hot chocolate and that is exactly what we got - a cup of pure hot 'chocolate'.  Needless to say we didn't finish it.  More souvenir shopping, we are thinking of having a market stall when we get home to sell all our postcards and magnets.  Arrived back at the ship in time for lunch.  We are on a non- stop eating, drinking, souvenir holiday.

Once again a quiet afternoon.

Tonight we had our disembarkation instructions, port talk for tomorrow, captain's farewell cocktails and dinner, crew presentation with our butler, Zoltan, winning the employee of the month.  Lobster tails and bombe Alaska for dinner. The crew then put on a show for us which was very entertaining

                                                     Statue of Hans Christian Anderson

 

  Building where Mozart gave his first performance at the age of five



Cute little cafe in Bratislava

Various buildings in Bratislava

 

Wishful thinking that we could get on these let alone ride them.

 St George and the three headed dragon.

             This is a statue of the 'smiling workman' because he can look up women's dresses.

Kay about to start the fun run!!!!!

Some joker we picked up along the way.

Hot chocolate (pure)

Robyn and her new friends

Dessert on our farewell dinner.

Captain's farewell with the Captain and Hotel Manage

Vienna

United Nations building Vienna

DAY 25

Sunday 18/5/14.

This morning we arrived in Budapest and docked opposite Parliament House.  What a sight.  We started our tour at 8.00 am (can't wait for a sleep in).  We were lucky to get through the river today as there is flooding further upstream.  We seem to be staying just ahead of the really bad weather.  The rubbish flowing down the river is incredible, including trees.  Buda and Pest are on both sides of the Danube river. They are united by nine bridges.  First was Buda  which is very hilly with a castle/fortress built on top of the hill.  This castle was first built in the 13th century then destroyed and finally rebuilt and finished in 1749.  Next was Matthias Catholic Church , which served as a royal chapel in medieval times. The roof of this church was destroyed In the war and has since been renovated with a beautiful ceramic mosaic roof. Next to this is the well known Fishermen's Bastion which has a fantastic view over Buda and Pest and of course the Danube.  This used to be a fish market, hence the name.  Another interesting building was the Defense Department, which had bullet holes in it,  they obviously did their job well. We have seen a lot of buildings like this some have been preserved as a memorial.  On the Pest side is the largest church St. Stephens. 

After doing a driving tour of the city we stopped at Hero's Square, which at the time was holding a running marathon (didn't enter this one).  The Millenium Monument is the focal point of the square, an almost 120 foot high Corinthian column topped by a statue of the Archangel Gabriel, who according to legend handed St Stephen the crown of Hungary.  Guess what it bucketed down, the only day we didn't take the umbrella.  Back to the bus AGAIN.  

From here we went to another music recital of a well know pianist who is a professor of piano and organ at the university. His name is Csaba Kiraly and he is known world wide.  He is fantastic and we enjoyed his playing but think we are cultured out.  We were disappointed that he didn't play the organ for us.  This recital was held in a hall in a school for the blind.


Can't believe this is our last night on board, going so fast but looking forward to home as well.
Tonight we had Hungarian dancers and music, very entertaining, also Hungarian dinner, what a surprise!  So full of food and drink, it's all we seem to do, luckily we are doing a lot of walking!

At 10pm the captain, who is Hungarian, took us for a trip around the river so that we could see the night lights of Budapest.  Quite spectacular.

 Some of the rubbish floating down the river

 Some of the rubbish floating down the river

 Parliament House Budapest

 Parliament House Budapest by night

Department of Defence with bullet holes

unique shop at the Fisherman's Bastion

The Matthias Church with its colourful majolica roof

 

 Hero's Square in Budapest

 Standing on the battlements of Fisherman's Bastion

piano recital by Csaba Kiraly

piano recital by Csaba Kiraly

Replica of a palace from Transylvania but never used as a palace

 Hungarian dancers