Jul 27 – (not)Regensburg, Germany-actually Brandstatt and Linz, Austria
July 27, 2019
Last updated on July 28th, 2019 at 11:44 pm
Ship Swap coming so….
The ship had docked at Brandstatt by the time we went to bed. Our tour into Linz, Austria doesn’t begin until 1 p.m., so we have the opportunity to sleep in. We took our time getting ready in the morning, going to the dining room for breakfast after several buses of fellow passengers left for the all day tour to Regensburg. With many of the passengers off the ship, several tables were available. We chose to eat by ourselves, but sat at a table next Harry and Jana, from Lubbock, Texas who we had eaten with a couple nights ago. We shared some conversation over our breakfasts.
For the first part of the morning, we worked on choosing pictures for the blog. Joyce had caught up on blog posts last night, so she helped with pictures. By approximate 10 a.m., we were ready for a walk and Larisa, our cabin steward, was ready for us to be out of the stateroom so she could clean.
We left the ship and walked along the Danube. We walked past a couple outdoor cafes and lodging houses. We came to a paved walking/bike path on raised earth, like a dike, between the Danube and a small river/creek. The path was well used by bicyclists so we had to make sure we walked on the edge. The morning was warm, but cooler than yesterday, partly cloudy with a slight breeze. We saw several ducks and a couple swans on the small river/creek. We walked a couple kilometers from the ship then turned around and walked back. We experienced light rain for approximately 10 minutes, which was actually refreshing.
By the time we returned and cooled down a little, is was time for lunch. We decided to eat on the Aquativ Terrace for a light lunch. Broccoli soup was on the menu which both of us really like. The salads on the ship are great with a delightful spring mix of greens.
The clouds seemed to clear, so in anticipation of our tour, Joyce put on sun screen, but put the ponchos in the backpack just in case. We boarded the bus and set out for Linz, about a half hour bus ride away. Our local guide was a woman from The Netherlands who has lived in Germany for about 20 years, the last 10 in Passau. Viking called on her to accompany our bus to Linz. Josephina was her name and she was quite humorous. She told us Marie had told her to give us information but not to talk the entire bus ride as she would want to do. She seemed to verbally remind herself to stop talking. On of the funniest things was listening to the person, born in The Netherlands, living in Germany describing for us in English the new automated dairy and milking operations coming to the European Union. Many of her descriptions were from the milk cow’s perspective. Joyce is chucking as she types!
The area we drove through was the most agricultural we have seen so far. We saw fields of corn, cabbage, harvested wheat, turnips, and sun flowers to name a few.
We arrived in Linz and began an hour walking tour with a local guide. Linz is the capital of Upper Austria and the country’s third largest city. We walked from the Lentos Kunstmuseum, a modern art museum, toward the city’s Old Town main square. After a WC, water closet, stop, we entered the tourist center where an aerial view of the city was mounted on the floor. Our guide was able to show us the different areas of the city. Linz was one of Hitler’s favorite places as he had lived in the city when he was around 11 years old and later said he was happiest there. The Nazis build up the industrial area to use in the war effort and as a result around two thirds of the city was bombed, thankfully not the Old Town area. The Nazis began several building projects, one being housing for those working in the industrial area that were finished after the war creating apartments. People still refer to them as Hitler apartments. Our guide discussed the dilemma the town has concerning what to do with the house were Hitler lived. The women who owned it was forced to sell it through eminent domaine to the government. They are not sure what to do with it. It is historical and perhaps should be preserved, but they do not want to create a shrine that will encourage young Neo-Nazis.
We walked through the Main Square viewing Baroque buildings, including the historic City Hall and State Parliament Building both dating from the 16th century. We viewed a building where Mozart stayed when in the city. He stayed with a friend, who wanted Mozart to play for his guests. Mozart didn’t come prepared, so he wrote a concerto while he was in the city. We listened to a portion of the Linz Concerto. We walked several narrow streets with our guide pointing out places we could visit in our free time, such as cafes, shopping areas, cathedrals, etc. The residents of Linz appear to take pride in the beauty of their city as flowers were growing everywhere, with long mixed flower beds that created a riotously pleasing array of color.
During our free time, we visited two cathedral, the first being the Mariendom, or New Cathedral. This is the largest cathedral in Austria able to seat 20,000 and build in the Gothic Revival style from 1862-1924. It has two levels of beautiful stained glass windows, some in the more traditional style of telling a story or depicting events from the Bible and others near the front of the cathedral in a more modern style of creating patterns with the colored glass. The other cathedral we visited was Jesuitenkirche, or Old Cathedral, build by the Jesuits between 1669 and 1683. The cathedral is much smaller without stained glass windows, but many statues and reliefs along ornate carvings on the walls, ceiling and arches as well as the ends of the pews and choir seating area. We have toured many churches and cathedrals and we haven’t even entered Germany yet! Gabriella, our Linz guide asked if we had started writing ABC in our notes – another beautiful church! Each one is very beautiful and different in many ways, but it is getting hard to remember the specifics of each one. Hopefully, when we can get home and view our pictures we will be able to sort them out in our minds.
We walked back to the bus and headed back to Brandstatt and the ship. We were met as we boarded with a small glass of orange juice and peppermint. The peppermint settled to the bottom so the drink looked to have a orange layer and a green layer. It was pretty and refreshing.
At dinner we said goodbye to Ghil and Jackson, the waiters assigned to the section of the dining room we most often sit in. Phil is alway complimenting us on our clean plates when he clears the table. He told us he would miss our clean plates.
After the port talk with final instructions for the ship swap tomorrow, we went to our stateroom to pack. The ship we are moving to is a sister ship to the Baldur so our stateroom should be the same. We didn’t have to worry about airline type restrictions, just what we would need tomorrow during the bus ride and excursion in Nuremburg so the process didn’t take long.
Around midnight the ship will begin moving toward Passau and dock at Engelhartszell.
