Sunday, July 19th - Aschach, Passau & Vilshofen

With three places listed this may sound like a busy day but in fact it was very relaxing.  Gillian joined many others on a trip to Salzburg and some went to Cesky Krumlov.  I decided to do neither of the tours but to stay on board so I didn't have to get up early and I didn't have to catch any tour.  I just had to relax on the ship as we sailed along.

We didn't spend any time in Aschach except to drop off the tour groups.  We were actually leaving the dock by the time I got up on deck so I just managed to get a picture of the colourful and decorated houses in the town.  We were in a bit of a rush because the ship we were docked against needed to get going.  Luckily everyone for the tours was on times so we were able to get away quickly.

After breakfast on the front deck we approached a lock so I stayed put just to experience a lock from the 3rd deck.  I assume it was Aschach and, if so, we had to rise 53.48 feet to get to the next level of the river.  Our ship went in first and we thought we were going to be alone but no, we stayed over to the far right and another cruise ship (the one we were docked against in town) came in beside us.  It is amazing that two ships fit in the locks but the captains certainly make it look easy.  They have only a couple of inches on the wall side and actually sometimes bump against it but then have about a yard between the two ships.  We all laughed at the captain because he normally looks so prim and dignified but when he is at the side controls of the ship and coming into the lock with only an inch or two to spare at the side, he actually has to turn his hat backwards so he can get closer to the wall and see down the tiny crack at the side of the ship.  At that point he looks a bit like Charlie Brown or a tyypical school boy.  The rise of over 50 feet is very smooth and takes only about 20 minutes in total so the whole process is pretty slick.  And when the gates open, the world unfolds with another beautiful scene.  I think we have 18 locks to go through in this section of the tour.  The dams across the river provide a lot of hydro electric power for the local countries and they also help to control the water levels on the various portions of the river to allow ship travel and to prevent flooding.  It is quite an amazing system but we did all comment that there were still floods recently in some of the places along the river so we wondered if the system was really working all that well.

The scenery really is breathtaking.  There are hills on both sides of the river and they are covered with trees with leaves of so many different shades of green.  And sometimes in between there are planted fields which offer even more colour but usually more green.  And every few minutes you get another village with large white or bright coloured homes that really liven up the scenery.  There are also a lot of small resorts or hotels along the bank and people always out walking and cycling along the river bank.  And occasionally you get a castle or the ruins of a castle up higher on the hillsides.  I want to take a picture every few minutes but there is just too much to take and my camera doesn't do it justices, especially since I'm too laz to get up and run to the side every time to get the picture.

We passed a number of other river cruise ships.  I haven't seen any that I like better than the Emerald Star so I think we really lucked out.  The pool is a real feature on this boat but today it is drained.  We hit some shallow sections in this part of the river so the pool is currently drained to raise us up a bit in the water.  The water in the pool weights 30 tons so getting rid of it definitely lightens the load, especially over the propellers that are below the boat at the back where the pool is located.  However, at the same time, we are going under a lot of low bridges so for a few days everything on the top deck has been removed.  Usually there are great umbrellas to provide shade but they have been taken down.  The captain's cabin (or whatever he controls things from) actually just lowers into the body of the ship so it can be set at whatever level is required.  At some point, they actually have to take the railings down so they will be closing the top floor totally.

Just before lunch we went through the Jochenstein lock.  That was also about the time they switched the flag from Austria to Germany.   As we entered the lock it was hard to believe that the water could be higher on the other side.  The hillside didn't change so it seemed to me that it should be the same level on the other side or it should be lower, but I know it is going to be over 30 feet higher.  Built by the two countries, this dam and lock system was built in 1956.  The dam is 370 yards long and produces 940 million kilowatt hours of power annually.

We arrive in Passau on the German/Austria border around 2 p.m.  At 2:30 we were off for a walking tour of the old city.  As soon as we all get off the ship, it immediately sails on to Vilshofen.  We get bussed from Passau to Vilshofen at the end of our tour and we wondered if that wasn't again because of the weight issues and the water levels.  At least they aren't asking us to take our luggage with us.  In fact we think the bussing is just because the water levels are so low that the boat has to go very slow, and the captain is just making use of the extra time to cover some distance so we stay on schedule.

Our walking tour of Passau is about an hour long and very slow.  It is a hot day and there are some ups and downs on the cobblestone streets so people are moving a bit slower than normal - and they never move too fast.  I'm not sure I've ever commented on the fact that we are some of the youngest (and there are only a few of us) on this cruise.  Most people are a lot older and they do very well getting around especially in this heat.  However, they are slow and the tours seem to take for ever.

Passau is where the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers meet so the city is divided into several sections.  Passau is Germany but it's right on the Austrian border and not far from the Czech Republic border.  It was at once time a Roman town and changed over the years until it became a Bavarian city in 1803.  Much of the city was destroyed in a fire in the 17th century and when rebuilt much of the city was in a baroque style.  We left the ship and walked down to the area where the three rivers join (or almost).  Then we wandered through some of the narrow cobblestone streets to see the sights.  The buildings are often pastel colours and our guide explained that the colours used to denote what business was in the building so when the people couldn't read they could still find the store they wanted.  

High n the hill across the Danube we could see the fortress, Veste Oberhaus,  From the 13th to 18th century this was the residence of the prince-bishop.  At one time apparently the bishops were not only in control of the church but also of the community.  This fortress was their safe place to hidd from the inhabitants of Passau.   It is now a City Museum but we didn't have time to go there.  There are several large buildings in the complex and some of them have fake windows.  You ahd to pay tax according to the number of windows in your house so if you just painted them on it was cheaper.  obviously it didn't provide a lot of light for you but that didn't seem to be as much of an issue.

On the hillside across the Inn river we saw the pilgrimage church of Mariahilf.  The church itself is quite impressive and it is on a hill.  The church is up on the side of the hil and there are 321 steps leading up to it.  During a pilgrimage a person has to kneel and pray on each of the steps on their way up.  I had to agree with the guide that I'd probably be praying for the strength to get to the top.  Also on that hillside you would find the 2000 year old ruins of a Roman fortification.

We walked past the old city hall with its Gothic clock tower and the Council Hall.  We also saw part of the defence wall around the city.  We went into the Glass Museum but did not stay and I'm not sure any one went back later.  Our guide pointed out a church with a church right beside it and explained that the person in charge at the time (I'm guessing not the bishop but I'm not sure) didn't like the one that was there so he gave the land to another congregation and got them to build a church right next door.  There seemed to be a lot churches in a very small space so the story could be true.  She also told us that the beer brewing started in an abbey or somewhere.  During fasting the monks wanted something to drink so they brewed some beer.  They sent it to the pope to get his approval but by the time it got to Rome it was spoiled.  The Pope decided it was so bad that if anyone wanted to drink it that would be fine - and thus began a brewing tradition with the monks.

The main church is the Cathedral of St. Stephen which is at the highest point of the city.  Built in the 17th century it is the largest Baroque building north of the Alps.  Aand its organ with over 17,000 pipes and 233 registers is the world's biggest church organ.  It alone was worth the tour as it's really impressive.  The cathedral itself is quite beautiful.  We didn't have a lot of time to tour some of the parts but what we saw was amazing.  The high arches are ornately carved and decorated.  The ceilings and some of the walls have beautiful paintings or frescoes.  The statues and columns are elaborate and the high arches and domes are impressive.  They have a new bishop now and attendance is climbing.  They refer to him as Gorge Clooney and apparently he is bringing the young people back to the church in droves.  I guess if it works it's good no matter how you do it.

It was Sunday so there wasn't much open as far as shopping is concerned.  Randy wanted cigarettes and that took a lot of searching but eventually one of the pubs had some.  We had a quick drink and a treat at a local bakery as we waited for our bus.  Then we got on the bus for a 15 minute drive back to meet the ship in Vilshofen.  The other buses were already back so by the time we got on board they were ready to depart for our next stop of Regensburg.  

We knew it was going to take a long time to get to our next destination but we had no idea just how slow the trip would be.  The pool is drained so we are as high in the water as we can be.  During our port talk and while we had dinner we thought we were hitting bottom a few times but we were just guessing.  After dinner we went up on the deck.  I think almost everyone else on board did the same because we were all so curious about what was happening.  The river was very narrow and there were people out swimming in spots.  And the amazing part was that they could almost walk right across the river it was so shallow.  So there we were at times in less than a metre of water and crawling along slowly trying to avoid all the shallow areas.  The captain and a couple of others were working hard watching the equipment gauges and the sides of the river to ensure we made it through.  We were all amazed at how close they could come to shallows and rocks.  The mosquitoes were terrible as it got later and eventually everyone started heading for the decks below.  Later on it was raining and they would still have been up on the bridge and at the side of the ship ensuring our path was clear. 

At times it appeared we had stopped and Gillian and I were up at one point staring out the window of our room.  We were stalled totally and we assumed we were stuck.  But then we saw a light getting bigger on the TV screen so finally decided he was just over at the side letting another boat pass and then he was immediately back to a slow crawl.  When we woke up in the morning we were moving much faster so obviously we cleared another lock and got into some deeper water but that is obviously a story for another day.