Passau

Wed., Nov. 11 (Day 10) - Today we packed up our bags so the Viking people can move them to our new ship, which we will embark at Passau, after our excursion there. We took a bus from Regensburg to Passau. It was a great opportunity to see some of the German countryside away from the river. We took the autobahn part of the way. There is no speed limit on the autobahn. As we headed out, our guide told us that the building and completion of the autobahn in Germany was made possible by Hitler. She went on to say that although Hitler did some very bad things, he also did some good things for the people of Germany. Wow. Oh, my. I can't even express what I feel about that statement. Moving on - as we rode along, we really enjoyed the German countryside, which consisted of Bavarian Forest, small villages, and farmlands. Along the way we crossed the Danube River and saw how the low water levels precluded us from getting through by ship. Many sand bars, which are usually submerged, were clearly visible. Before long, we arrived at Passau. We've seen many picturesque, medieval, Bavarian towns on this trip: Miltenberg, Rothenberg, Wurzburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, and now Passau. I think Passau is my favorite. Passau is very colorful; all the houses are painted different colors. We feel especially connected to Passau because Passau is the city of three rivers. It reminds us a lot of Pittsburgh. The three rivers here are the Danube, the Inn, and the Ilz. They come together at a point (sound familiar?). The rivers are different colors because of different temperatures and particulate matter. The Danube is brown because it runs along agricultural and farming areas. The Inn is green because its headwaters originate in the Swiss Alps and it therefore contains a lot of snow melt. The Ilz is black because it runs through forest and marshland. We took a walking tour when we arrived in Passau, led by a local guide. Passau is located on the German Austria border. The guide told us that because of this location, there is a refugee issue, but said nothing more about that, informing us that he is not allowed to talk about the refugees. In Passau, as in all these German towns, you can buy the traditional lederhosen and dirndls (but who would want to?). High schools here are called gymnasiums. The highlight of the tour, as in all these towns, was the beautiful cathedral. The cathedral in Passau is called St. Stephens. It was re-built in the 1600's after a fire destroyed the original cathedral. It was built on the highest ground in town, as were all cathedrals, because they wanted it to be as close to God as possible. Passau was the largest diocese in the Holy Roman empire, so they built a fortress up on the hillside to serve as the bishop's residence. This magnificent castle on the hill is beautiful and overlooks the town of Passau. Today the building is a museum, while the official bishop's residence is now located next to the church. The current bishop of Passau, Bishop Stephens, is the youngest bishop in Germany. And he chooses to live in a simple apartment rather than the elaborate bishop's residence. There is a church tax in Germany. The German equivalent of the IRS withholds the tax from paychecks, and then gives the money to the churches. Our tour ended at a local German restaurant where our group had lunch. The menu consisted of semolina soup (yes, it was just as it sounds: broth that contained a glob of cream of wheat), broccoli, some kind of meat - probably pork, and some other unidentifiable side dish. It was actually all pretty good. And the dessert was probably the best of any yet, vanilla ice cream sitting atop some kind of cherry concoction - absolutely delicious! After lunch, we had free time, so we walked around awhile among the shops, and then took a cab up to the fortress on the hillside where we saw fantastic panoramic views of the city of Passau. We then went to our new ship, the Viking Embla, where we unpacked and settled into our new room. The new ship is much like the old one. We have the same room number and in the same location. Our room has, as our prior one did, a floor-to-ceiling glass sliding door. There is a railing but no balcony. It provides beautiful views of the river from our stateroom. Our ship sets sail at 6:00 tonight, and tomorrow we'll be in Austria.