Jul 26 – Passau, Lower Bavaria, Germany

Last updated on July 27th, 2019 at 06:14 pm

We arrived in Passau shortly after we awoke for the day. Passau is located at the confluence of the Ilk, Inn and Danube rivers. The Inn is actually a larger river than the Danube, fed by water accumulated in the Alps. The Ilk is the smallest of the 3 rivers and come from the Black Forest area. We docked a little southeast of the downtown area. We ate breakfast again with the brothers Bill & Bob and their wives. They have been our most regular breakfast companions.

Our included tour this morning is a walking tour of the old part of Passau, ending at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, built in the Baroque style, for an organ concert. We were divided into 6 groups, each with a local guide. We walked from the Danube to the Inn River. Passau first made its money in the salt trade. The salt would be shipped down the Inn River and Passau made money on shipping fees as well as housing workers, warehouse fees and labors to unload and load the ships. We walked by several building such as the Prince Bishops old and new residences, the university, an orphanage still in use today, an executioner’s building, government offices, etc. We looked up at the Castle across and high above the Danube and learned it was built to provide protection for the Prince Bishop. The streets of the Old Town are very narrow and accommodate pedestrians, vehicles and bicycles. Our group of older people weren’t always very aware of their surrounding, causing several bicyclists and cars to stop and wait for them as they sauntered down the middle of the street 3 abreast.

Being at the confluence of three rivers, Passau is prone to flooding, with the most serious recent flood in 2013. The marker on the wall noting the water level was high above our heads on one narrow street with walked. We learned from our guide that most housing units begin on the second floor for this reason. Our walking tour lasted about 90 minutes with in the upper 80’s heat was uncomfortable. We arrived at St. Stephen’s Cathedral and had about 45 minutes of free time before the concert began at noon.

We walked around a small square in front of St. Stephens, basically from shade patch to shade patch, then down a narrow street and around a corner onto a street with small shops. On the corner was a clock shop that caught Alan’s interest. The shop was selling cuckoo clocks handmade with mechanical movements made in Bavaria. We wanted to look in the shop but it was closed. We looked in another couple shops and made our way back to St. Stephens for the organ concert. We made a quick stop at the restroom. In most places we have been in Europe you are required to pay to use the toilet, this one costs a euro and a half!

The pipe organ at St. Stephens is the largest one in Europe with 17,000 pipes in 5 interconnected organs, timed to account for the distance and reverberation in the great hall. The cathedral is very ornate with carvings, paintings on the side walls and ceiling as well plaster statues and reliefs. The alter and area surrounding the organ was covered in gold leaf as well as pulpit area. The concert lasted about 30 minutes and including six classical pieces from composers from the 17th to early 20th century. The acoustics in the church were good, filling the space with sound. The entire nave was filled with church pews and chairs so there was a large crowd.

After the concert, we walked back to the clock shop, hoping is was open in the afternoon, but it was still closed. We walked back to the Danube and made our way along river through town back to our ship. By now it is over 90 degrees without a cloud in the sky – very hot! We made back to our ship and found the dining room hot as well. The dining staff said something about using the available air conditioning for the stateroom, so we ate lunch and returned to our stateroom to find it a little cooler but not much. Our stateroom windows faced west, so the sun made the room warmer. We used the WiFi to check out a couple thing we were interested in doing, but when we considered the distance to walk the heat and the cost, the appeal waned. We checked out the clock shop on the internet and saw it got some good reviews on Trip Advisor, which listed it as open. Instead of walking back to it in the heat, we asked the concierge to call. When the call was not answered, we elected to stay on the ship for the afternoon.

At 6:15 p.m. we had a meeting to be updated on the low water situation. The ship captain, hotel manage and program director all met with us. The critical low water situation is near Regensburg, Germany. At this point the water is too low for the ship to pass through. There is a Viking sister ship to our Baldur coming from Amsterdam that also cannot pass through the low water point so we will be packing and the ships will swap passengers and program directors. All other crew stays with the ship. We will not be going to Regensburg. Viking is offering a trip to Regensburg, but to do it means a full day trip with 2 1/2 hours on a bus each way. They are offering instead a bus and walking tour of Linz, which we have elected to take. We will swap ships on Sunday, which will require a 3 hour bus ride to Nuremberg and will shorten our time in Nuremberg to half a day. The only real inconvenience to us is the extra packing and unpacking. The crew of both ships with have a lot of extra cleaning of staterooms and hauling luggage.

During the meeting the ship turned around and headed back to Austria where the captain had scrambled to find a place to dock. All the cargo and cruising ships have the same problem as they scramble to make alternative plans.

We learned at this meeting the ship was not allowed to run its generators in Passau and had to rely on the electricity they received from a city hook-up. With the extreme temperatures, the city hook-up did not provide the electricity needed to cool the ship.

After the meeting we ate dinner with the Chins from Boston. Mr. Chin had noticed Alan wearing a shirt with the Purdue logo. Mr. Chin’s son is a Purdue graduate and was a deputy police chief on the Purdue police force. Alan knew him and had been in meetings with him while on staff at Purdue. Mr. Chin’s son has since moved on to the Northwestern police force.

Our evening ended listening to classical music in our stateroom while we blogged and edited pictures.