Tag Archives: Travel

My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 2

13 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

My 2016 Mid-West Trip Part 2
By Bill Lites

Day 2 (Sunday)

I was expecting today to be a long day, but that huge storm that hit Houston the day before was getting ready to make today even longer. That storm must have been moving slowly west while I was enjoying a good night’s sleep. I hadn’t been on the road more than a half an hour this morning when I started running into the rain. And it was solid rain from then for the next six hours. It was coming down so hard at times that I couldn’t hear my audio book on the car speaker system over the pounding of the rain on the car.

traffic_in_the_rain

Of course no one expects to have an accident just because it’s raining, but as you might expect, someone did. Just look at the car in the left lane, in the picture above, and tell me that is adequate separation for driving on an Interstate in a driving rain! How can people expect to arrive at their destination in one piece when they drive like that? Over the course of the day there were two major accidents which caused I-10 westbound traffic to back up for miles each time.

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During one of those stop-and-go episodes I was lucky enough to be able to pull off the Interstate for gas and to use the restroom. I was thinking that while I was accomplishing those tasks the traffic might hopefully clear. Well, not only did the traffic not clear up, but there were so many people stopping for gas, that there were lines at all 10 pumps, and people were using the covers over the pumps to stay out of the rain. When I finally was able to snag a pump, my credit card didn’t work. I asked the attendant why my card didn’t work and he said with all this rain his satellite connections are not working. Good thing I had some cash or I would have really been stuck. The light at the end of this very dark tunnel was that the weather in Houston was reported to be clear and dry.

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I finally made it to Houston and got to the Space Center Houston Museum around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a large facility with a tram tour that included the NASA Human Spaceflight Training Center, the Manned Flight Control Center and the NASA Rocket Park. I ended up spending about 2-1/2 hours there, with the tram tour and walking through the museum.

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By then I was getting pretty hungry and it was starting to rain, AGAIN, so I decided to take my supper at Fuddruckers, which was just down the road. I had one of their 1/3 pound Southwest Specialty burgers. Supper was wonderful and relaxing. Then after a couple of wild goose chases around the northern part of Houston, by my friend Greta, she finally got me to my motel for the night.

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After I got settled in at the motel, I remembered I wanted to pick up a couple of items from Walmart. I asked the desk clerk for directions and found it with no problems. But, as I exited the store I realized I had forgotten to bring Greta with me so I could find my way back to the motel easily. Even with a lot of prayer, and several stops for directions, it still took me an hour to find my way back to the motel. Boy, am I ever glad this day is over. I told myself, “Never leave home-base again without Greta!”

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Crazy Hot Weather

7 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

The weather here in our area has been crazy hot.  Fortunately, here in the North Carolina mountains, one can escape the worst of the heat by heading to the higher elevations. Our daughter, Rebekah, has been visiting the last week and we have revisited some of our favorite cool spots. Our first escape was to Wayah Bald and the fire tower. It’s elevation is around a mile high and a nice breeze was stirring the air. I didn’t take a picture from the fire tower as we have a lot of those, but now I regret not snapping a fresh one. We did picnic at one of the concrete picnic tables tucked into the woods.

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We had planned a 4th of July picnic at another favorite, Standing Indian Campground, but we didn’t get motivated to get moving so I declared it a PJ day.  A good time was had by all. : )

The following day began with rain, but we decided to proceed with our planned visit to Standing Indian. In the mountains, it can be raining on one mountain and dry as a bone on the other. We did run into some scattered showers, but not enough to ruin our day. At 3,880 feet, Standing Indian doesn’t have the elevation of Wayah Bald, but the rain had left a cool breeze so we were quite comfortable. In fact, we had to don our lightweight jackets for a time. At Wayah, we took sandwiches but since we knew Standing Indian had a spacious pavilion, we decided to grill hot dogs. We have a battered Volcano Grill and love it. It folds up nicely and runs on your choice of three types of fuel.

On Wednesday we made a new discovery, Mud Creek Falls,  an easily accessible waterfall in Sky Valley, Georgia. We learned of it from friends but had not yet made the trip to see it. Since Rebekah was up here visiting and writing, it seemed like a good time to explore. We made a couple of wrong turns but once we found it, we realized it was very easy to get to. The falls are perfect for folks who can’t walk far,as you can view them from your car. There are also three picnic tables where you can enjoy a meal to the music of the water. Since we had breakfast out, we didn’t pack a lunch.

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On the way home, we stopped by Georgia’s Black Rock Mountain State Park. At a previous visit the ranger had told us to return at the end of June for a spectacular Rhododendron display. We must have been too late, but it was still fun to drive through the park and stop off at some overlooks.

One thing we saw at a couple of the parks was the awesome kindness of leaving a walking stick that was picked up along the way, next to a trail marker or collection box for someone else to use.

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The temps have cooled down and it’s not so crazy hot. Rebekah is working on her seventh novel while she is visiting. She has decided that five hours of “exploring” and five hours of writing is the perfect combination. I have read the first half of her new novel, which is a sequel to Jessie and I can’t wait for her to finish it.

While we were at Mud Creek Falls, my husband pointed out an incredible tree, whose roots were laced into a large boulder. Immediately these words flowed into my heart, what are you rooted into, are you rooted into me, the solid rock?  It looks like the dirt has been washed away from the roots but the tree is firmly planted on the solid rock.

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~ Part 1

6 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Small Red Plane

 

Day 1 (Saturday)

Because of a couple severe health issues, it’s been almost a year since my last “Museum Discovery Trip” (as I call them), and I was looking forward to this trip with great anticipation. However, after today, I’ve decided I will never fly on the weekend again. The lines were extra-long everywhere I needed to go. It took 1½ hours from the time DiVoran dropped me off at the Southwest curbside check-in, then through security, and finally to the departure gate. Now I know why the airlines suggest you arrived at the airport two hours before your flight; so you can hurry up and wait!

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Once we got in the air, it only took 20 minutes longer to fly from Orlando to New Orleans then it took me to get from curbside check-in to the departure gate. I have to admit it was a very nice flight, and the peanuts were fresh. I thought the over-water final approach to the New Orleans International Airport was going to end up with us having to swim the last mile or so. We kept getting lower and closer to the water! It reminded me of a similar feeling I have had; that of the long over-water final approach, over San Francisco Bay, to the San Francisco airport.

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Once I retrieved my suitcase, it was a very long walk from baggage claim to the rental car facility. At the Thrifty Rental Car counter I discovered my reservation had been made for a “Special Rate” (what was that?). When I got to the pickup area, the agent took one look at my reservation slip and pointed to three SUV’s and said, “Take your pick.” That was a new experience for me. I had my choice of a Jeep Renegade, a Jeep Compass or a Jeep Patriot. After a quick call to my son-in-law (a Jeep owner) for his recommendation, I chose the top-of-the-line Patriot.

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After checking out the New Orleans street map and getting Greta (my Garmin) set up and running, my first stop was to visit The National World War II Museum there in New Orleans. There was a huge amount of construction going on around the museum and it took me some time to find a parking place. I was surprised to see that the museum was made up of three large buildings (called pavilions), and the construction was for their new fourth pavilion).

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I discovered that each pavilion was filled with a variety of authentic memorabilia from each of the U.S. military services that took part in that conflict. I realized I was not going to be able to see everything in detail in the time I had left before they closed. I asked about their reduced price “Day After” ticket, but it was only good for one week, and I wouldn’t be back for two weeks. So, I hurried through each level of each pavilion. It would take hours, if not days, for a person to read all of the information displayed and viewed all of the many short movies on each level of each pavilion. I was familiar with much of the information presented in two of the three pavilions.

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The third pavilion was the one I was looking for; it had the museum’s aircraft displayed. There was a German Me-109 hanging from the ceiling of the foyer and six other nicely restored aircraft, all hanging from the ceiling of that third pavilion. There was a P-51 Mustang, a TBM Avenger, a SBD Dauntless dive bomber, a F4U Corsair, a B-25 Mitchell bomber and a B-17 Flying Fortress. I could hardly believe the strength that pavilion’s roof structure must have, to keep all six of those airplanes suspended from its ceiling.

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As it happened, just across the street from where I parked was Louisiana’s Civil War Museum. Since I’m not a Civil War Buff, and it was raining by the time I got back to my car, I elected not to take the time to go through this museum.

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My next stop was to visit the Cars of Yesteryears Museum in Metairie. I had to drive through several blocks of heavily flooded streets, and when I got to the museum it was closed for the weekend. Since it looked like it was going to continue to rain the rest of the afternoon, I decided to go on over to the motel in La Place, LA and try to dry out there.

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After I got checked in at the motel and dried out, I got dining recommendations from the desk clerk, and headed for supper at The Pier 51 Seafood Restaurant just down the road from the motel.  I had Cajun style crawfish, jumbo shrimp, and a house salad with ranch dressing. Boy was that an experience!  I had always wanted to try Cajun prepared crawfish. A local sitting next to me at the bar, with a huge tray of crayfish, graciously instructed me on how to properly peel and eat the crayfish. In my opinion, its more trouble than it’s worth. Also, the Cajun boil they use is a little too spicy for me.

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With a full tummy and a good night’s sleep tonight, I’ll be on my way to Houston, Texas first thing tomorrow morning.

—–To Be Continued—–

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Coming Home

29 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 Because our flight from Budapest was at 6:30 a.m., we had to get up about 2:15 a.m. to get ready, pack, and get on the shuttle bus by 3:30 a.m. We had showered the night before, so all we had to do was shave (Fred), put on makeup (Judy), finish packing, and off we went. There were 14 of us from the ship that were going to make that flight.

It was a 30-minute drive from the ship to the airport. And when we got there, it was a “hurry up and wait” situation. We waited 30 minutes for the counter personnel to arrive and begin taking customers. We were first in line, thank goodness. Even though we had our bags with us, she convinced us to check the larger bags, as the plane from Budapest to Amsterdam was “small.” The flight took off pretty much on time, and it was a two hour flight to Amsterdam. They did feed us breakfast, but it was nothing like we had before – a sandwich with either deli-thin slices of chicken, or cheese, with mayonnaise on it. Well, Fred doesn’t eat mayo in ANY form! But we were able to get him some slices of cheese and chicken that wasn’t too “polluted” from the mayo.

We had a fairly long layover in Amsterdam, which was good. Schiphol Airport is really big, and we had to go quite a ways to find our gate. Fred said it looked like the lady in Budapest had checked our bags all the way to Orlando, but he wasn’t sure. So when we had the attendant in Amsterdam check, sure enough, they were checked through. However, she said we had to pick them up in Atlanta and go through Customs there.

The flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta was nearly nine hours long. The fortunate thing about it was that we were on an Airbus, and were in the two-seat side, rather than the four-seat middle. I always enjoy flying with just Fred, rather than three of us across. They fed us lunch – we both had tortellini, salad, cheese and crackers. A few hours later they had wrap sandwiches for us – Fred had a “meatball” and I had a veggie wrap. Surprisingly tasty. And of course, there was always the pretzels and peanuts.

We finally arrived in Atlanta – really nice to realize we were back on US soil! We picked up our bags and headed through Customs and Immigration. Not a bad thing, and we got through fairly easily. We were glad to have that done in Atlanta, rather than having to do it in Orlando, when we were super tired.

The flight to Orlando was just barely over one hour. As we like to say, they hardly got up when they had to start down again! They did have time to hand out pretzels and soft drinks, but they were hurrying through it.

Richard Lynch picked us up and headed toward home. When we discovered they had not had dinner yet – and our tummys were growling – we agreed to meet at Panera for a light supper. Pam and Piper were waiting for us. We were able to tell them a little bit about our trip, but were so very ready to get home.

We unloaded our suitcases quickly, as I HAD to do a load of undies, since all we had needed to be washed before the next day. So with all that done, we were able to get to bed by about 10:00 p.m. We figured that we had been in the air about 13 hours, and had been awake about 25 hours – with only cat-naps on the airplane! We were truly and fully exhausted!   We didn’t even set the clock to wake us up on Saturday – just decided to sleep our fill.

It was wonderful to be home and sleeping in our own bed.

But we are grateful and thankful that we had the wonderful experience of the Viking River Cruise Grand Tour. A cruise of a lifetime!

 

~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~

Budapest, Hungary
Bratislava, Slovakia
Vienna, Austria
Wachau Valley, Austria
Passau, Germany
Regensburg, Germany
Nuremburg, Germany
Bamberg, Germany
Rothenburg, Germany
Rhein River, Germany
Gefjon, our long ship
Kinderdijk, Holland

 

 

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 14

22 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

Since we had sailed overnight to Budapest, and had an early shore excursion, we were up by 5:30 a.m. We had breakfast at 7:00 a.m. with Richard, Judy, Lucy, Roy and Jill, Joyce, Rick and Mary.

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By 8:30 a.m. we left on the shore excursion for Budapest. Some “Fast Facts about Hungary” from the ship’s info sheet:

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Home to over a million people, Budapest spans both sides of the Danube River – historic Buda on the east bank and cosmopolitan Pest (pronounced “Pesht”) on the west. Brimming with history, culture and attractions, Budapest is full of baroque, neoclassical and Art Nouveau architecture, and plenty to do. Museums, shopping and restaurants are the places to be.

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The bus took us around the town, then stopped at the square where we went on to the castle.

Funicular

 

Back to the ship by bus, we had lunch, then to our new room on the Lif, for a nap.

At 2:15 p.m., we had a “Budapest by Boat” tour, with our Program Director, Carl West giving the commentary.

Carl West – Program Director

We went by the Parliament Building, which is the most famous picture shown in the Viking advertisements – red-topped building. Really beautiful.

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We were back on the ship by 3:30 p.m., where we rested/napped and read some – quiet time for us.

We had our final/farewell dinner at 7:00 p.m. with Richard, Judy and Lucy. While it was a fun time, we had our last hugs and “wish we lived closer to you” from each of us. While I know it was a very concentrated two weeks with them, we all feel we forged a deep and lasting friendship, that will only continue when we all get to heaven.

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Since tomorrow would be a REALLY early day (we asked for a 2:15 a.m. wake-up call, with a 3:30 a.m. bus departure time into Budapest), we showered that night, and were in bed by 8:30 p.m.

The Whale

The Whale

According to Google search: That’s the “Bálna / Whale” (formerly called CET building) a modern shopping, cultural, and entertainment centre, as well as a tourist attraction on par with Paris’s Eiffel Tower, or the Covent Garden in London – at least that’s what the city leaders want it to be.

According to Google search: The Shoes on the Danube is a memorial to the Budapest Jews who were shot by Arrow Cross militiamen between 1944 and 1945. The victims were lined up and shot into the Danube River. They had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable belongings at the time.

The memorial was created by Gyula Pauer, Hungarian sculptor, and his friend Can Togay in 2005. It contains 60 pairs of iron shoes, forming a row along the Danube. Each pair of shoes was modeled after an original 1940’s pair.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 13

15 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

Since we had to change ships today, Fred and I were up at 5:30 a.m. to shower and dress and finished packing. At 7:00 a.m. we had breakfast with Richard, Judy and Lucy. At 7:45 we completed our packing and put our bags out in the hallway as instructed.

At 8:15 a.m. we reported to our assigned bus to leave the ship and go to Bratislava, Slovakia.

According to the ship’s info on Bratislava:   The emergence of Slovak national consciousness dates to about the 1700s. The written language appeared before the 18th century, and near the end of that century a national movement began to encourage a Slovak identity and the development of Slovak Romanticism with a focus on popular folk traditions. At the end of World War 1,Slovak identity was fully formed, and in 1919 Slovakia joined with Czechia to form a union of two western Slavic nations: Czecho-Slovakia. But its independence was greatly limited by its strong economic, military and political dependence on Germany.

It was then conquered by the Soviets, who wanted to create a pro-Soviet and Communist Czechoslovakia. This lasted until the fall of Communism during the Velvet Revolution of 1989. In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully in what is called the Velvet Divorce. The Czech Republic became a democratic state. Slovakia became an independent nation.

 

We arrived at the Bratislava Castle by 10:00.

 

It was quite windy day but not too cold. While we didn’t go inside the castle, the outside was interesting. Because I knew the history of SPQR, I found this interesting.

According to Google and Ancient Rome for Kids:

The letters SPQR stood for Senatus Populus Que Romanusa – the Senate and the People of Rome. After defeating Tarquin, the last Roman king, the people started a new type of government, a republic. A republic is a type of government whereby people elect officials to represent them in government.

As a publicity campaign, and as propaganda, the new senate had the letters SPQR chiseled, branded or stamped on everything that they controlled. Public buildings, new coins, and even park benches got the letters SPQR added to them.

 The people of Rome were proud of their new government, and were reminded every time that they saw SPQR that they were a part of the Roman Republic, and no longer ruled by a king.

At 10:30 we left for Old Town with a walking tour. We saw many fascinating sights. Here are some:

This little guy is called Cumil (pronounced as Chumil).   As the story goes, Cumil was a mischievous person who while working, used to emerge from under the manhole to look beneath the ladies’ skirts! (Tripadvisor)

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Statue of Bratislava Cavalier Schoner Naci

Napolean – one of the few places to sit

We were given two hours of free time, to look around Bratislava on our own, which is really too long. We found no place to sit – no public benches. We finally went into a bakery and had a hot chocolate and a chestnut pastry. We met and shared a table with Iris and April, sisters from Calgary, Canada (Richard called them “the sisters”), who were also on our cruise. We complained to Carl West (who is from Bratislava, as is Billie, our concierge), that there were no public benches where we could sit and rest our feet. He just laughed. We think it is the city’s plan so visitors have to go into a shop to eat or drink in order to sit and rest.

At 1:00 p.m. we had lunch in the Austrian Trend hotel – it was a very good meal and the entire upper level was set up as a restaurant for our entire ship’s compliment.

At 2:30 p.m. we were back on the bus for our trip Budapest, Hungary. All the buses stopped for a restroom break at 3:45. The bus trip to Budapest normally takes only three hours, but took us four hours instead. We were finally on board the Lif at 6:15 p.m.

At 7:00 p.m. we had dinner with Richard, Judy and Lucy. Richard told us their tour guide, while going through Transylvania, told a story about “wampires… and the bus erupted with laughter.

We were in bed by 10:00 p.m. It had been a long day.

 

 

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 12

8 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

After breakfast, we began a partial bus-and-walking tour of Vienna, Austria. There’s just so much to see. It seems strange to have an ultra-new building with the old buildings, but they seem to fit together rather well. For the entire six years we lived in Germany, I hounded Fred about taking me/us to Vienna. Never happened! So this trip finally put us in that beautiful city.

 

I’m not a terribly good historian, but I have heard of the Hapsburg Dynasty. Austria was the home for that dynasty. The ship’s info sheet stated: The rise and fall of the House of Hapsburg began along the Danube’s banks in 1276. With Austria firmly in their grasp, the family gained new territories by marriage until their serial nuptials put most of Europe under their power. As their wealth and territory grew, few royal families remained to help them acquire more kingdoms. Their solution to this problem may have also been their undoing. While the dynasty actually had its beginning in 1020, it wasn’t until 1273 when it moved to Austria.

The info sheet also said: The Hapsburgs sought to retain their massive power through intermarriage between cousins or uncle and niece. “The best spouse for a Hapsburg is another Hapsburg,” went the proverb. The last of the Spanish line, Charles 2, was disabled from birth, perhaps from a genetic disorder typical in children born from siblings, and died. It’s likely that the Austrian Hapsburg line ended for the same reasons.

While there are still living relatives of the Hapsburgs, for all intents and purposes, the dynasty died out in 1918, at the close of World War 1.

We walked through Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, which has a really dark interior. I was unable to get any good pictures there.

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But the outside is remarkable. There is even a bronze model of the cathedral outside, that is to scale.

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We then walked through some of their Christmas Market. It was still rather early in the season for the Christmas Market to be up and running, but there were a few booths set up already, and we enjoyed seeing them.

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At 12:45 we met under the clock on the square and headed back to the bus and into the ship for lunch, which we had with Richard, Judy and Lucy.

At 2:00 p.m. we took a tour of the Schönbrunn Palace. It’s very opulent, but beautiful.

On our way into the Palace, there was a man on the sidewalk, covered in gold. He was standing on a box, and was singing some Mozart – advertising a concert. I just thought it was cute. I gave him a short curtsy, and he replied with a small bow.

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We had an early dinner (6:00 p.m.) with Richard, Judy and Lucy. At 7:00 p.m. some of the group left for a Mozart and Strauss Concert, that was free to all who wanted to attend, since we had to change ships again. Fred and I decided to stay onboard and pack. Then we read some, and then were in bed and asleep by 9:30 p.m.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 11

1 May

 

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

November 16th, Monday- We were up at 6:00 a.m. to shower and dress. We had breakfast at 7:15 a.m., with Richard, Judy and Lucy joining us (they don’t get up as early as we do). By 8:00 a.m. we arrived at Emmersdorf, Austria.

 

At 9:30 a.m. we took a bus to the 900-year-old Melk Abbey. It is situated on an outcrop rising above the Danube, crowned by twin towers.

As you can see…we are fascinated by pipe organs
They were not without music
Here is a model of the Abbey

While the abbey was founded in 1089, and given to the Benedictine monks, the current abbey was renovated between 1702 and 1736. It was originally a royal palace with ceremonial courts, guest apartments, grand halls and a library – which contains around 80,000 medieval manuscripts.

Courtesy Wikipedia

Courtesy Wikipedia

The abbey has a blue room,

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a green room,

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a marble room, and the mirrored room.

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Many of the floors have beautiful wood-inlay.

 

This beautiful stairway is the beginning of the grounds. However, since I still couldn’t maneuver stairs very well, we walked down (and later up) the ramp.

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By 12:10 p.m. we were back on board the ship, and had lunch in the Lounge with Janice and John from Ontario. We were also joined by the couple from Los Angles (originally Denmark) but we still did not get their names.

At 2:00 p.m. we sailed through the Wachau Valley.

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The countryside is stunningly beautiful. Both banks are dotted with ruined castles and medieval towns and are lined with terraced vineyards.   The Wachau is described as “an outstanding example of a riverine landscape.” Noted for its cultural importance as well as its physical beauty, it is described: “The architecture, the human settlements, and the agricultural use of the land in the Wachau vividly illustrate a basically medieval landscape which has evolved organically and harmoniously over time.”

At 4:00 p.m. we docked in Krems.

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Fred and I decided to stay on board the ship because it would be getting dark soon and it was cool and windy. Before dinner Fred and I watched the Monuments Men movie in our stateroom. Really good movie, and gave us some insight into the Nazi greed and stupidity.

At 6:45 p.m. we went to the preview of tomorrow’s Vienna excursions. Carl West told us we have to change ships again. Following much groaning from the passengers – during which he remained silent – he said, “thank you.”

At 7:15 p.m. we had a traditional Austrian dinner. We had our first schnitzle with potatoes, a small piece of chicken, wurst, and dessert. Richard, Judy and Lucy ate with us.

We sailed to Vienna overnight.

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 10

24 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

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This is the day we would be transferring from the Gefjon to the Skadi.

Therefore, we were up at 5:30 a.m., dressed and finished packing. We had breakfast at 6:45 a.m. with Richard, Judy and Lucy, and Danny who is retired military. Richard liked to tease Danny, so we had a lively breakfast conversation.

We had to have our bags outside our door by 8:30 a.m. We were also to have our room keys turned in by 8:30 a.m. We boarded bus number 3 and left at 9:00 a.m. along with three other buses bound for Passau. We rode the bus for one-and-a-half hours to Passau.

We checked into the Skadi. It was essentially the same ship, just a bit older. We even had the same room number, 325. We unpacked our tote bags (they would bring our suitcases later), then at 11:30 a.m. we went on a one-and-a-half-hour walking tour of Passau.

Passau (pass-ow) is known as the “City of Three Rivers.” It lies at the confluence of the Inn, the Danube and the Ilz rivers. It was originally a settlement of the Boil Celtic tribe, and later the site of the Roman fort, Castra Batava. Passau was an important medieval center for the salt trade, the “white gold.” It was transported from the Alpine salt mines to Passau, where it was processed by entrepreneurs called Salzfertiger. The salt imports to Passau were forbidden in 1707, and that trade was lost.

During the Renaissance, Passau became famous for making high-quality knife and sword blades. Local smiths stamped their blades with the Passau wolf, and superstitious warriors believed that the wolf granted them invulnerability.

When fires ravaged the city in the 17th century, it was rebuilt to reflect the baroque character that survives today. Today, Passau is home to 50,000 people.

We were back on board the Skadi by 1:30 p.m. and had lunch in the lounge with Richard, Judy and Lucy. By the time we had finished lunch, our suitcases were in our room, so we unpacked them. We hoped this would be the only transfer we would have on this cruise. One nice thing about a cruise – you usually get to stay in the same room for the duration, which makes it quite nice. This was just a small disruption.

After we had unpacked, we went back into town. We saw St. Michael’s cathedral first,

and then Saint Stephen’s.

It is one of the town’s foremost baroque landmarks and boasts the largest pipe organ outside the United States. Beautiful. It has 17,974 organ pipes, 233 stops and four carillons. All five parts of the organ can be played from the main keyboard, one at a time, or all together.

The Skadi sailed at 5:00 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. we had dinner with John and Denise from California, and a couple from Los Angeles who were originally from Denmark (never got their names). He was a German teacher in a high school in Los Angeles.More interesting sights in Passau:

Remember, we were told that the incomplete “8” equals a “4” – therefore, the date shown is 1499.
A plaque on the wall in the Glass Museum

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 6

13 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

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Wednesday, we arrived in Wűrzburg, Germany.

We were up early, showered and dressed. At 7:30 a.m. we went to breakfast in the restaurant. Richard, Judy, and Lucy joined us just about the time we had finished our meal. We stayed and talked with them for a while. Judy and I compared piano stories, such as when I was playing for Margaret Nikol (concert violinist; see my post on October 7, 2012) and my sheet music began to fall. I had to stop playing and place both hands on the music to make it stay up. Margaret was on a long note, and just continued to play. When she was ready to move on, I was ready, as well. When I apologized later, she told me that no one noticed. And she was right! Even Fred, who had heard me practice so many times, didn’t notice. Judy said that happened to her, except that the piece of music fell to the floor and she just looked down at it and kept playing!

We had some time before our first excursion, so I transferred the pictures of Miltenberg from our camera to the flash drive I had brought with us. And it’s a good thing I did – we took a LOT more pictures!

At 9:45 a.m. we boarded a tour bus for the 75 minute ride to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

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While on the bus, the guide told us about part of Rothenburg’s history. Rothenburg has always been one of our favorite German cities. It is a medieval walled town, and there is a 1.5 mile walkway at the top of the wall that encircles the town, that is still walkable. According to the info sheet: “The wall connects five medieval gates, complete with guard towers that date from the 13th to 16th centuries.” Fascinating!

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When we arrived in the town center, there was an impromptu brass concert going on, with the players all dressed in German outfits. They were quite good, and we enjoyed their music.

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At 12:00 all of those on the Viking tour that had taken the Rothenburg excursion, met for lunch at the Gasthof Glocke.

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It was a neat old eatery, and they were open just for us.

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Unfortunately, they only had one menu: bratwurst, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. I know it was easier for them to only serve one menu for that many people, but we were really looking forward to schnitzel. Fortunately, since Fred doesn’t touch sauerkraut, he was able to get his without the sauerkraut. It was still a good meal. We sat at a table for four, kind of in a booth. We didn’t get the names of our table mates.

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After lunch, we were on our own to explore Rothenburg. We found a shop we had seen on the tour, and purchased a Christmas table runner. We found Käthe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas shop – a favorite place to shop for Christmas ornaments. We purchased three Christmas brass ornaments for Christmas gifts.

We walked around and found “the door” that we had been looking for (please see my post on December 13, 2015 titled “The Door”)

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~~~~~~~~~~Part 6 – To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

 

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