Melk Abbey

This is Monday morning and we have beautiful weather as we enter the Wachau Valley.  The first appearance of the monumental Benedictine Abbey Church takes your breath away.  High above the Danube, it stands as a sentry much as the first Roman fortress did in 1st century AD.

What a contradiction this appears as it was designed as a retreat for Benedictine monks sworn to poverty and a simple life.  Instead, it epitomizes the ebullient confidence and extravagance of the Baroque  style.  After many earlier versions are reduced to rubble by fires, the current buildings were completed in 1746--actually rather recent considering some of the really ancient buildings we have seen throughout Germany.

The Abby Church is impressive with a full complement of Baroque elements including frescoes, marbeling, gilding, sculptures, stucco work and a stunning high altar crowned by a 210 foot high cupola.  ( doesn't look like poverty to us).

The Abbey is a working monestery with 30 monks.  About

half of them actually live in the Abbey. The others are local parish

Priests.  There is a secondary school which is a private Catholic 

school with 900 students.

We didn't see the Abbey at night, but what a beautiful sight.

Anniversary celebration

Fred and Mary-- 56 years.     Mike and Shelley- 25 years

Nighttime in Linz, Austria

Happy Anniversary

Cathedral with no scaffolding

This is Sunday and we can enter the church, but no photos.  Thanks to Bing and the Internet. We have lovely photos.

Third largest church pipe organ in the world after #1 Cadet Chapel,  US Military Academy , West Point, New York and #2 First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, CA.

Itinerary options

Today we have had numerous excursion options. About 30 of our passengers took the Passau city walking tour as Bob and I did. For lunch and the entire afternoon, we 30 passengers had the entire ship to ourselves-- almost like a private yacht with a crew of 50!!!!!

Janice took off to the Czech Republic and the fabled town of Cesky Krumlov. She will have to share her experiences. That tour will meet us in Linz later this afternoon.

Two other groups took off for scenic Austria, one going to the romantic countryside and the other to Salzburg for the Sound of Music tour. We have been to Salzburg and these three tours were 8-9 hours long, so we opted to stay on the ship for a leisurely afternoon.

Chuck took off on his own ( why are we not surprised) toured Passau, then caught the train to Linz and will meet us there- at least that was his plan. With Chuck, you never know where he will end up.

Sent from my iPad

Sunday in Germany, Austria and Czech Republic

       Peaceful Austrian countryside

    Sunning on the top deck of the ship

This is one of our crew who hopped off the ship 

to assist as we traveled one of the locks on the Danube.

This is the first day for nearly a week we have sailed a distance in the daytime and the weather was warm. We enjoyed being on top of the ship in the sun.

St. Stephens Cathedral In Passau, Germany

It is Sunday and we are visiting Passau. The cathedral is notable for several reasons. This photo is illustrative of numerous historic sites we have visited......under restoration. Guess this is necessary when you are hundreds of years old. The original style was very Gothic. After a fire destroyed the nave in 1662, the newer building was built in Baroque style and is the largest Baroque interior of any sacred building north of the Alps. The organ is the largest in Europe with no less than 17,388 pipes and 231 stops.  Look for another posting with inside photos of the pipe organ.

One last photo of Regensburg

Janice shared this at dinner and I thought it was an awesome photo. Taken from the old stone bridge which dates from medieval time-- 1135-1146. Oldest stone bridge of,it's kind in Germany. These houses are actually on an island in the middle of the Danube River.

Regensburg Finale

Wouldn't be a German tour without a sausage, kraut and beer. No one is really that hungry, but we have a voucher from our ship, so why not try it. Sausage was very good and the beer not bad either.

Roman Ruins. Regensburg, Germany

This was the Porta Praetoria, a Roman ruin dating to 179 AD

Above and below are part of the Roman Fortress, 

dating to 179 AD.

One of the fanciest Patrician Houses in Regensburg

This lovely salmon colored house was built for a wealthy family in 1200s. Lovingly restored....at least on the outside.

Regensburg.....Part II

Others of us take the ubiquitous walking tour of this 2,000 year old city.  Unique to German cities, this one was not touched in WWII, thus giving us truly old, old buildings to see.  There are 1300 historic buildings and the entire Old Town is a UNESCO World heritage Site.

The Romans first established Castrum Regina in the 2nd Century and abandoned it about 400.  In 739, English missionary, St. Boniface established a bishopric.  By 1663-1806, the city became the center of German parliament.

No surprise, there is a cathedral-- St. Peter's. Construction

spanned six centuries from 1250-1869.

We didn't see this at night, but thanks to Google,

we can imagine a nighttime view.

The old stone bridge ( 1135-46 ), Bridge tower, Cathedral.

Today, the bridge is under reconstruction, so no decent photo

except from Internet.

The Old Chapel is one of the oldest churches 

In Bavaria.  Legend says it was originally a 

Roman temple.  In 1747, it was transformed

into the Bavarian rococo style with splendid frescoes.

Arriving in Regensburg-- Danube Gorge

Overnight we have navigated into the Danube and are docked at Regensburg.  A day of splendid choices has sent us off in many directions.  Fred, Mary, Bob, Shelley and Mike are headed to the wild, romantic stretch of the Danube with sheer cliffs, rising 100 meters out of the water.  They also visit the Weltenburg Abby, located directly beneath the cliffs of the Danube Gorge. The Abbey is one of the oldest in Bavaria, founded in 620.  Also, the Abbey houses the oldest brewery in the world as the monks have been brewing beer since 1050.  They are treated to a taste of the beer, along with a German pretzel.

         Weltenberg Abbey organ above

Mein-Danube Canal

After Nurnburg this morning, we enjoyed an onboard lecture this afternoon about this amazing canal system and actually had our guide/lecturerer with us as we experienced the highest lock  at elevation

1332 ft. above sea level.  This is the highest elevation on earth that transports  commercial water traffic.

A canal connecting these waterways is not a new idea as Charlemagne tried it in the 8th Century, Napoleon also tried, but not until nearly two centuries later was the Main-Danube Canal between Bamberg and Kelheim completed. This 106 mile stretch was needed to complete a nearly 2200 mile long waterway transversing 13 countries between Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Constanta in Romania and the Black Sea.  You really need to study your geography map to truly appreciate the impact of this waterway for commercial purposes and now for the tourism industry.  About 5,000 commercial vessels use this waterway each year and this accounts for only 10 % of the waterway capacity.  As we have often waited to transverse the 68 locks, we can't imagine 100% capacity.  The rivers would be wall- to- wall ships and barges.

To appreciate the lock system, you need to envision our ship rising the 1332 feet from Amsterdam via a series of " water steps". Each step ( lock ) lifting our ship a distance of 25-94 feet each time. The lifting continues until we reach the European Contintental Divide at 1332 feet altitude.  We traverse a few miles at this altitude until we start down toward the Danube River and now each step ( lock) lowers us 25-55 feet each step.  

This illustration shows our ship entering at the lower level.

The lock filling with water......

 

And we exit 25-94 feet higher and continue our journey.

 Look closely as Chuck

 is in the photo at the bottom, giving you some perspective 

as to the size and scope of the locks. This one is probably 94 feet lift.

The entire system is an engineering marvel and if you want more technical information how this actually works, how much water it takes, where the water comes from and how long it takes for each lock, google Main-Danube Canal.  Each lock is 620 feet long and 39 feet wide, which as you can easily see, dictates the width of our ship.  There is about 6" clearance on each side.  If you are in your cabin while the ship is in the lock, it becomes eerily dark and the lock walls look like some kind of medieval  prison.

Nuremburg/Nurnburg

Today is Friday and we have been sailing for a week.  Most days we don't know the day, much less the date. Nuremburg is probably most notable as the location for the trials of Nazi war criminals after WWII.

However, the town has a extensive 1,000 year history, dating back to when Charlemagne, King of the Franks was considering a canal to connect the Main and Danube Rivers.  ( actually 1200 years ago).

We actually docked outside of the city at Roth and bused into the city.  All along the way, out tour guide shared historical facts.  We saw one long, skinny lake, surrounded by trees which archaeologists have determined are the only remains of the Charlemagne canal of 793.  

Nuremberg is very industrial with a population of over 500,000. For this reason, much of the city was a bomb target during the war and  much of what we saw were reconstructed buildings. The Kaiserburg ( former Imperial Palace) offered great city views from a 12 th century Sinewall Tower.  The Fortifications with some of the original 80 towers left standing, were gigantic in size with a dry moat as it was built on a hill and water wouldn't work in the moat.

We enjoyed the City Market and eventually stopped for morning tea time at a fabulous pastry shop. Also on the City Market is the beautiful Church of our Lady.  We were fortunate to arrive just in time for a brief organ concert on a most magnificent pipe organ.

Strawberries, blueberries and red raspberries looked quite delicious.

Several of us considered buying a box and eating the entire thing on the way back to the ship.

Bamberg on the Mein

We promised not to blog unless unusual......well, every little town is unusual and this one is no different.   Bamberg is larger than the last little towns.  Home to Bosch ( 7500 employees ).  They also are the beer capital of upper Franconia. They are known for a specialty beer called smokey beer.  Understand it is an acquired taste.  Mike let me taste his.  Since I am definitely no beer drinker, this smokey taste was actually nice as it covered up the beer taste!!

They export malt to over 132  countries, including the Guiness backup malt. Levi Strauss came from Bamberg....going to San Francisco to sell to the miners in middle 1800s.  Levi denim was designed to be rugged for the miners.  Well, the mining is definitely over, but not Levis!!!!

The town itself is over 1,000 years old, with a history to match.  Situated on the Mein River, this was a medieval trade route. Doubt that these houses are 1,000 years old, but take a look at the roof on the one in the middle house. Houses were like this all over town.

We took a nice guided walking tour as we do in most towns.  This tour finished with nearly 2 hours until the buses arrived to take us to the ship.  We enjoyed a very robust cup of coffee and wonderful German pastry.  Lois even managed to shop a bit.

We managd to tour the " mandatory " cathedral in town as we usually do.  ( ABC )

  

Upon returning to the ship, we enjoyed a talk by a local professor on the European Union.  When she finished, the ship pulled over to the side, she hopped on her bicycle and rode to the train station to return to Nuremburg.

After lunch, we are sailing the remainder of the afternoon and evening and we can enjoy a leisure time on the upper deck.....always watching out for the low bridges and ducking as the captain yells at us.  He can raise and lower the wheelhouse for all the bridges.

This was also a delightful time to check out the cabin balconies as Pat and Joy are doing.

Special 50th Celebration

Last evening before dinner Chuck and Janice arranged a private cocktail party for all of us in a lovely aft lounge.  We were toasted as well as roasted a bit and enjoyed a wonderful time with our friends. 

Lois, Marilyn ( Lois's friend), Pat, Mary, Joy, Fred, Janice, Chuck, Shelley, Mike 

                       Joyce and Bob

One of five roses Mike and Shelley gave us....one for each decade of marriage.

Behind the scenes kitchen tour

We were treated this afternoon to a tour of the kitchen, where every single day, 190 meals are prepared three times a day!!  Eleven staff under the direction of Executive Chef, Michael, all work in a tiny space maybe 20 x 40 feet.  There are 140 passengers and 50 crew on board for this 15 day cruise.  Most pastries, breads, and desserts are prepared on a daily basis.  Meats, fish, chicken and vegetarian dishes are prepared to order for dinner.

Cold foods are prepared on the left and pastries on the right.

This area might be 12 x 15 feet if you feel generous.

Breakfast and lunch are buffet service, but there are also standard items you may order from the menu. For dinner, we have appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes and desserts.....all to order from a menu each day.  Menus are established from corporate offices, but once onboard, the chef makes the final decisions relative to presentation. Suppliers are also contracted by corporate in order to maintain a certain level of consistent quality for all Avalon cruise ships. Local wines, breads and sometimes vegetables are used.

This is one of the meat preparation areas.  There are two.

All of us will agree that the food is excellent and the service superb.  We are eating way too much and exercising too little, and we still have 8 days to go!! We have tried foods we never thought possible as well as many wines and cheeses, too.  

Meet Executive Chef, Michael from the Czech Republic. 

This lovely setting greets us every single meal.  We have no assigned seating, and often mix it up and meet other passengers not in our special group.  There is one other more informal eating area that passengers may choose, but most of us love to be pampered by the staff in the dining room.