Yorkshire Day 2 - Thursday

This was a most feared day for Arthur. Jan and Jillienne were due to shop in Harrogate. Always potentially dangerous, the day proved remarkably trouble free. They simply could not find anything the were in desparate need of.

Consequently, Arthur had few bags to carry and undisturbed credit cards (well almost......).

In the afternoon called in at Dave and Jan's and with kind permission, got the blog back up to date.

A quiet evening this evening and then probably off to Wensleydale tomorrow.

Yorkshire Day 1 - Wednesday

A quiet day today. After breakfast at the Boars Head we went to the National Trust office and recovered our cottage keys then settled in to Abbey Cottage. It was great to have room to swing a cat again. No catter walling either Tony. Mind you, we had no cat.

In the evenining, enjoyed a lovely dinner at Dave and Jan's, in company with mutual friends Graham and Catriona. The meal was lovely as usual  though we stayed  rather late. Jan always does something special.

Jan gave us a card from Tony and Colleen. Thanks to them we can enjoy Betty's more than we planned. What a real treat!

So was the Christmas card waiting at the cottage for us from Annie. What amazing friends we have to be sure - all round the world.

Budapest to Yorkshire

This was quite an exciting day. Left the ship at 9.30am to travel to the airport. The tour company has us all organised and there was no trouble checking in and then enjoying a cup of coffee with REAL milk.

Arrived in Heathrow at 2.40pm, picked up the hire car, and headed for Yorkshire. \the day was fine and the drive easy. After a few stops (including one for tea) we reached Abbey Cottage at around 9.40pm. Then we ran into a little trouble. The security panel behind which our cottage keys lay would not open. We tried all sorts of things - no luck. After 15 minutes we decided that a bed was needed without delay and so we retraced our steps a little to reach the village of Ripley and a pub we knew thanks to Jan and Dave taking us to dinner there once - the Boars Head.

We were both relieved to find that they were still open. And extreme;y pleased that they DID have some room in the inn! 
Rather expensive usually, they were prepared to give us shelter at 10.10 (at a great rate, too) and so we had a rather luxurious night, wonderful breakfast, and left our keys to the future.

And so to Budapest

Overnight we cruised to Budapest so as to arrive ...... you guessed it, mid morning (after breakfast)!!

Its a grey and cold day today so Budapest does not look at its best. But then, I like sepia photos... so I find there is a misty charm about the day. A little like Vienna, there are many beautiful buildings but so many are boarded up, in need of TLC and generally sad. Its a shame. There is clearly a huge imperial legacy from earlier times.

We had no organised thing this morning, but many people elected to cross over to Pest and see the shops and Christmas Market. We chose instead to explore the Buda side. Arthur had spotted a miriad of paths and steps leading up a very steep side of the Danube river. Onr of the seven hills of Budapest in fact. We made it up to the top!!, it was all through a park, past a monument and right to the streets full of houses at the summit. Great views - which we could get clearly because the trees are bare in the winter.

Then back to the boat for a hot cuppa and some lunch. The organised city tour follows lunch and promises to show us round both Buda and Pest.

The afternoon tour was interesting in terms of the sights but the guiding was rather tedious. Budapest is quite a facsinating place though lacking a lot of the older buildings that were so obvious in Vienna for example. Much remains of the communist inspired architecture and quite a bit of that general unconcern for the better buildings. Many are really neglected. The traffic is quite chaotic - not an ideal place in which to drive we think. Very busy and very demanding at times. Even simply crossing a street can be a major adventure and take many, many minutes. The main city centre has many of the shops you would find in almost any city, especially the established shopping strips. Off the beaten track could be better.

Among the "highlights" that we were expected to be enthused by were a small "heros square" - very plain and filled with names that meant nothing to us; several communist inspired office blocks, more statues of people we could not identify and so on. The trip to the opera house could have been interesting. It is a lovely building. The commentary though went too long and again was filled with detail on people we could not identify. When the singing started, Arthur fled several rooms away. It was a short "practice session" more than anything else. Two singers and three short items presented above the main staircase.

Later we were taken to the Castle Area high on a hill. Interesting architecture, but at this stage it was nearly dark... and cold... we were'ny interested in any of the shops... and had over an hour to fill in. We found The Hilton up there - quite luxurious. We drank coffee with REAL MILK, sat in very comfy surrounds, and looked at Snooker on tv - in English!
Then back to the bus.

We had  some Hungarian musicians and dancers to entertain us before dinner. Very energetic! Extrenmely good. Dinner was another hilarious affair with a congenial group.

Then after the dinner our Captain treated us to a cruise on  the river. The night was still and clear, and the lights very pretty.

In the morning - Good-Bye Budapest!

PS. We forgot to put our boots out for St Nicolas but he left us two large chocolate figures anyway. Quite nice.

Off to Bratislava

Into the Slovakian capital today. This morning we left Vienna (during breakfast .. everything happens around breakfast) and cruised to Bratislava.

The internet connection is not certain the next day or so but we will try and keep the regular bulletins coming.

It's a beautiful day, so we're planning to don coats and scarves and spend some time up on the sun-deck. Such a great view from up there. Not far down from our room is the gym, and conveniently for us we can go through it and up a stairway to the deck.

Just in case Matt is missing the news, we have another "choo choo" waiting at Bratislava to show the "gentle walkers" round the town (left).

Arthur may end up permanently scarred by all these non-railway contraptions.

Cruising this morning has been sensational - bright sun and cool breeze (getting colder though). We spent quite some time up on the "sun" deck just enjoying the light and the passing parade of fishermen's huts along the riverbank. They all look like they have been made by the three little pigs (right).

For the energetic, the walking track round the deck has been getting a workout. As one enthusiast commented, "I want to be able to say I WALKED down the Danube". Go Elaine! She and husband Mal have made eating time quite exciting, though our poor waiter seems to have the occasional difficulty coping. No, actually... I think the waiter revels in all the nonsense. I should really tell you about the episode of the fresh fruit and the watermelon. But I have to draw the line somewhere...!!

The sun is shining, and we are in Bratislava - so it's rug up time and get out amongst it.

Bratislava is quite attractive but it does show the results of communism rather clearly. There are beautiful buldings from Hapsburg days but many are run down and neglected; at first sight the people are more interested in drinking than in caring for their town. There is a tired grandure about the place. And then next to that, we see blatant neglect. Roads and footpaths unrepaired (some dangerous holes in the cobblestone at times), graffitti, windows boarded up, paint peeling off things, etc., etc. That seems quite sad. Did take a few pictures of the city trams as they pootled along the streets of the old city.

We pottered around town in a tour group as obedient sheep ... for about 25% of the tour. Found this magic little coffee shop and could not resist a coffee with REAL milk again. So stepped in. Found comfortable chairs in a downstairs room and settled down for some pure bliss, in a room of non-English speakers. These Slavs do have many merits. They like personal confort and make a mean coffee.

Back on to the streets and a self guided tour of the old town finally ended with us back on the boat. Nice to have had the sunshine all day (now the day is dying ...presumably in the west) and nice to be back in our cabin with our shoes off. Both of us feel about six inches shorter with all the walking this last few weeks.

Tonight we have been told to leave one shoe (or boot) outside our cabin door when we go to bed. Apparently St Nicholas is calling and will fill it for us. Nice local tradion. Wonder what that will mean??

We had a wonderful dinner - the Captains Farewell Dinner - with great friends and desert marched in in rather spectacular form. After dinner a group of five girls played popular tunes on strings and piano and flute. Absolutely wonderful. Called themselves "The Aphrodites". Thoroughly enjoyed them. 

 

Just to keep the food theme going -

Photos, showing that the waiter's patience more than matched  Mal's nonsence. He ordered - not a platter of fresh fruit, just "A watermelon". He got one!!!

Off to Hungary and its capital Budapest tomorrow. Guess when we are due to arrive, Matthew???

In Vienna

Apologies to all our faithful viewers

It's five in the morning in Europe and those pictures of the strudel still won't work. We do have our super tech in Australia now working on the problem so it should be fixed soon.

...and yes! We have a response from our super technician! (its highly technical, see below)

you are making me insert food pics!!!
*collapses to floor sobbing piteously*
*wails* Oh what cruel heartless parents I have!!  O_O

(hope dad at least appreciates the way I have replied - he likes the wailway.)
So .. check out the Passau to Linz section for these (and club the Pink Ponther if you see him anywhere there. The picture to the right is especially for him!!)

5.30am. Meanwhile, we dock in Vienna around breakfast time.

6.30am. In case any of you are worried for our safety, the boat has parked right outside a police station. We are so far out of town that there is no chance of walking the distance so buses have been put on to shuttle us all back and forth. The day is becoming exciting already.

One of the main squares (left) with Jillienne and one or two other folk exploring the Christmas market there. One thing we did really notice here was that there were tourists everywhere - thousands and thousands of them. Tour groups in all languages and all directions. Even on a winters day it was very hard to spot the local.
We spent about 40 mins at this - the largest of the Christmas markets in Vienna (there are many)... and there was SUCH a crush there that most of that time was taken up trying to get out!!! It would've suited us better to find the Artists Market, but it was quite a distance away and by that stage we'd had enough. Later, when we spoke with Elaine and Mal about this, they said exactly the same thing - great minds... and all that.


Later in the Afternoon.

It's cold today. Maximum temp. 2C. Very windy - apparently this happens alot in Vienna. So it feels colder. a few tiny 'snow' balls fell for a minute. This got the group very excited - but it came to nothing.

We've seen St Stephen's Cathedral... half wrapped in scaffolding, sadly, but still took a few photos. What a spectacular roof! We've  been around the Ringstrasse... seen the Opera House... viewed the old Winter Palace, which is now some government department or other... looked at the gardens - but all the roses are wrapped up for the winter... and had coffee and cake in a Viennese Coffee House (right). You can play "Where's Jillienne" with this picture - she is there. (The cafe frontage is shown in the picture below.)

As far as that went - we were obviously a "job lot", the cake was already at the tables, and although there were all sorts (we shared with Erica and Christine and tasted each others), none were anything to write home about. But then - we're not really cake people.

We strolled around the main shopping area (Graben and Kohlmarkt, we were told these were the most beautiful pedestrian streets in Vienna) - nothing there you couldn't get anywhere else. I was disappointed actually. Everything is very conservative and mostly on the boring side. So there won't be any explosions of our credit cards!!!
 Annie - you'll be disappointed for me seeing as you and Bill had such  terrific shopping experiences in Vienna. I DID have the best of intentions... !!

There were a number of horse carriages for hire. We thought they looked fine but in the bitting wind decided against trying one out. The pooper scoops behind each horse were an interesting feature. Kept the streets cleaner though.

We have returned to the ship and decided to have a lazy afternoon. Looked at a local jewellery display on board, and generally relaxed. This was the BEST decision. The weather had turned to heavy driving rain, and our warm, comfy "home" is by far the place to be!!

Melk, Durnstein and Weissenkirchen - Austria

Stop Press!!!!!

By special request of Matt and Andrew, and with almost superhuman assistance from our tour leader Uwe Nitschke as well as some dedicated technology improvisation, we can now bring you genuine, untouched and non-artificial (also contains lanoline) pictures of Jillienne constructing Strudel. See the previus entry - Passau to Linz.

Today we arrived at Melk before breakfast. Sorry Matt, despite our best efforts we still cannot upload our own pictures to the blog while onboard.
(Later: All our own photos, now we're home.)

Tried desparately last evening  to bring you pictures of the strudel making but no luck. Andrew too will be disappointed that there are no food pictures. Hate to disappoint you both but we did our best. (See Stop Press above) Never mind, lots of food pictures when we get back. There is even an excellent one of a poached egg - just imagine that! Wonderful.

(PS among our fellow cruisers is a family of four. The Gregory family. Their children LOVE taking pictures of food - take note Matt and Andrew).

Melk proved to be a small but incredibly attractive village. The critical aspect though was the amazing Abbey which dominated the hilltop above the village. We spent several hours wandering around this. It was so difficult to take it all in - so much to see. Continuously used as a monastry for nearly 1000 years and still functioning as such, the span of activity is staggering. The church itself is pure baroque - incredibly ornately so - quite breathtaking. I'd learned about this in Yr 12 art history, and am thrilled to have the opportunity to visit it.

The pipe organ looks SO impressive. Not by any means as large as the one at Regensburg, and not old at all. Built in the 1970's, in fact. But with all the gold carving, filagree and other decoration surrounding it. it looks amazing. Of course I took some photos, Donna. Wish you could've been there to play it for us!! It would've brought the place alive.

There are many relics around the monastry and church on display including skeletons from the Rome catacombs and a splinter of the cross.The wealth of the monastry is certainly on display everywhere you look.

One of the highlights was the monastry library. 100,000 volumes in several languages and including parchments. Very special. Arthur thought he might have died and gone to heaven.

Once out of the monastry we walked through the town and back to the boat (about 25 minutes and all downhill). We took advantage of the walk to stop in the town and have a coffee with REAL milk [the boat only uses long-life milk so I am becoming very interested in black coffee (rarely) or black tea ( more often)].

Right this moment we are crusing on to the next stop, the small village of Durnstein. Outside the rain is now falling steadily (it was fine this morning). There is no sign of snow and the Austrians are really worried. Winter skiing is one of the major sources (even 80%) of their national income. And there is no snow. Not even any frost! We don't mind, but the locals are rather worried. With the winter trees we can see more of the forest interior and no snow to get in the way of the view.

Ten of our fellow passengers took advantage of the option to cycle between Melk and Durnstein - a 30km. ride. When we passed them the captain sounded the whistle several times... and there was great excitement from the shore AND on board!! It's a shame the weather is wet this afternoon. Later in the day when they met up with us, they were rather additionally weary. A cross river ferry that was included in the route was not in operation, so the 32k ride became a 47k one in order to reach the next bridge and then double back to the boat! They were ready to get off the bikes when they reached us!!

Our short stop at Durnstein (below right, with the castle ruins high above the town) was really great. The town is very small, very quiet but totally appealing in terms of a "genuine" old town. Lots of tiny alley ways, quaint houses and tiny shops. The key features of the place are the ruins of the castle where England's King Richard (the Lionheart) was held prisoner and a neat little Baroque church. We gave the church a miss (after Melk, we thought it would be rather an anti-climax) and could not summon the energy to climb to the castle (520ft UP!!!). Rather, we padded around the village taking photos of everything - well almost.

In passing, today has been an exceptional day of food. Every two hours (nearly exactly) there has been yet another round of food and drink - all good and all beautifully and artfully, displayed. Keeping Arthur's carbs under control is a hard task. Most lunches and dinners are 5 course or more, but to have morning tea, afternoon tea, refreshments before breakfast and after dinner, etc. etc. Phew!

(...sounds all amazing, and it is. But I confess neither of us are eating it all.)

Take for instance, tonight's dinner. Instead of the 6 courses on offer, we chose - Only 3! plus a little of the delicious Austrian breads (served tonight with Rosemary butter).

Mixed garden greens with Toasted Hazelnut, Cheddar Cheese and Pear

Cream of Tomato Soup and Ginger and Coriander Cream.

Filetti di Baramundi alla Pugliese.  ...Grilled fillet of Baramundi with White Onion Ragout, Pistachio Sauce, glazed carrots, Broccoli and boiled potatoes.

(Arthur had a chicken dish)

...and that was heaps!!

We're now hoping to have a relatively empty lounge, as most are going off to walk by torchlight to taste wine at a local cellar at Weissenkirchen.

Arthur, incidently is becoming increasingly restive regarding the continuing motif of a "Choo, choo". So often when we stop for an excursion, the "less able" or usually termed the "gentle walkers" are offered a ride on a "choo, choo". They get quite excited about this and seem to look forward to it but when the said train arrives, it is invariably a thinly disguised farm tractor hauling some badly decorated (and disguised) trailers. Much more of this and he may go loco himself!
PS. the last paragraph was inserted just in case our gentle readers are concerned at the continuing references to food.

Well, off to Vienna tomorrow. Hi Ho.

Passau to Linz

Today we arrived in Passau for breakfast. Stay the morning here to explore and then sail on to Linz for dinner.

This is a beautiful town. We loved it. Perched on the side of The Danube we found ourselves exploring up flights of steps, along little curling cobblestoned alleyways, down winding flights of steps...
Always there was another interesting snickelway leading off to somewhere - quite irresistable.

Moored right in the town, we just strolled off when we were ready. There were a few things we wanted to look for here, and as the town is quite compact it was easy to find them. The main marktplatz had the Cathedral on one end, and the Christmas Market in the square itself.

The cathedral is an ornate Baroque edifice, glorious in all it's white and gold ornateness. It has the largest pipe organ in Europe - over 17,000 pipes. The decorations - especially the paintings - are terrific. The ornate decoration, so typical of the Baroque period, was all around us and simply stunning. Rather over the top to modern taste perhaps but such an amazing survival from another age.

The christmas Market was attractive, but had many of the commonly seen items. We shared a cup of Apfelpunsch (to ward off the cold), and I had some raclette on rye brot. Arthur was a whimp and wouldn't try this (it smelled just like one of my socks now I have been wearing it for a week! - A). There were several toppings you could choose, and I chose roasted onion chips (yum) and also Lingonberry conserve - VERY delicious!!

As we made our way on board again a few drops of rain began. Sailing at the perfect time.

After the first lock we were now in Austria on BOTH sides of the river. The stretch of Danube between Passau and Linz is amazingly attractive. Even today, in winter time with the day dull and getting dark early, the mist was forming in the valey above the river and the whole scene incredibly mysterious and tranquil. Beautiful mountain scenery, typical Austrian dwellings, the gentle motion of our riverboat.... what a relaxation.

Arrived at Linz after dark. Although there was the option of a walk into town, we declined. Just plain weary, I guess.

Jillienne's Strudel Excitement

Later in the afternoon the head chef and the pastry chef gave us a demonstration of how to make applestrudel. Fascinating!

 I've never seen pastry behave the way theirs did. Important things, it seems, are: To have everything at room temperature. This means (they said) - take the butter out of the fridge for a day! Have the egg out for 6 hours or so. Have the flour in the room for all day. EVERY ingredient has to be at Minimum 15C degrees. Even the milk or water... all at the same temperature. Then, when the pastry is mixed it MUST rest for at least 30 mins. ...during the resting it must be covered with oil!! All this is so the dough will be VERY elastic.

Also, the breadcrumbs are very important. And they MUST be fried in the pan till they are GOLDEN brown. Very important to get the golden colour. Use green apples. Any apples can be used, but if you use the green sour apples, you don't need as much lemon rind, so the strudel has a strong apple flavour.

Have a smaller cloth on the table. (They had a cloth on a big cloth.) Doing it this way, the small cloth is used to roll up the strudel easily, and then both cloths can be Washed. The table/bench stays clean. (Actually, the chefs English was not so good, and he said to use the cloth so that when you finish you could just throw it away....!!!

  I've NEVER seen pastry stretch like this. It was absolutely fascinating.

The head chef said his grandmother always told him you should be able to read a book through the pastry!! He took a book from the shelf, held the dough over it - and you could read it!!!

The Pastry Chef demonstrated the whole thing twice. Then when he asked for a volunteer, there was a little silence - so I volunteered! It was fantastic! The pastry just stretched and stretched - like a piece of floppy knit fabric... I got a little hole near the edge, but not as big as the chef did at one point, and he said - "is Gut Madam"!! And so - I made Applestrudel!!

Then we ate some that we(!) had made earlier. VERY YUMMY!!

In the evening, dinner finished with Sacher Torte - quite a nice idea.


-  photos now appear with trembling thanks to The Mysterious Pink Ponther -

Regensburg

7am and dressing for breakfast and a day out in Regensburg. Sounds like a great place to find Lederhosen for Chris. We will keep a sharp eye out for them.

9 am. We are moored by the bank... (of the canal, that is, not a financial institution) ... and are enrolled in the active walkers group. We like these walking tours. We get the layout of a place and can peel off at any time we wish. Sometimes a guide is excellent and we stay.

All the waiters were dressed in 'German" type attire this morning. Very cute aprons, and VERY silly hats. The things some of us have to do for a living!

6 pm. We walked miles today!

Joined the active walkers group and headed off along the path by The Danube. How romantic is that?? Had to pinch myself! ...here I am, walking along beside the beautiful blue Danube!!

However - I have a news flash. It's NOT blue!!! 

We went to 'Stonebridge", a very old multi-arched construction made out of - stone!
Then made our way through a series of little squares, small alleyways and saw a number of the famous towers of the wealthy citizens of the old medieval city. Skirted one of the Christmas

Markets, saw the City Hall and then entered The Cathedral, impressively Gothic, and known for it's boys choir.

A couple of chaps on our boat, Martin and Mark, incidentally, known as the M and M's...  were given a little pair of binoculars as a present before they left. Such a great idea! Mark loaned them to me in the Catherdral, and it was terrific to be able to see all the detail on carving and at the high altar. (Must remember to get a pair when we come next time).

...and at that point we again peeled off together to explore "our way".

 Lots of delightful hidden boutiques and shops full of goodies. Inviting looking coffee houses, and exquisite window displays. The Christmas Markets here are full of artists selling high quality items. One of the smaller satellite markets - the  Lucrezia Craft Market in Haidplatz was particularly good. We are not doing anything for the economy here, but we're having a super time drinking in all these sights. Arthur did investigate the possibility of a local velvet waistcoat with a non English speaking shop assistant (quite exciting conversation really!). Fortunately he decided against a purchase. Too Bavarian by a country mile!

At Regensburg there is the oldest sausage kitchen in Germany, located right on the banks of the Danube. Sorry Tony, we're just too well looked after on our riverboat.
...but it amazes us, how many people from our group seem to eat at every other corner - don't know how they do it!!!

The Amaverdi has been moored here all day... and so this afternoon we went walking again, the weather being a little brighter although still cold. We'll sail again at 8 pm.

Have taken several photos of the floral arrangements on board. A strange thing for me to do as they're all artificial. But so interesting - Sandra and Jan, I'm sure you'll want to see them.

Apparently "Santa" is visiting in the lounge tonight, and singing carols is on the agenda. Not sure how this will go with a group of Australians who drink at every opportunity... but we'll see. It would be nice if you were here Wilma and Eric to chat with us instead.

9.15 pm. IMPORTANT update:

It's now tonight, and the carol singing has begun. The entire crew is dressed in Santa Hats and are singing at the front of the lounge.... Arthur says that he (a writer!!) doesn't have words to describe it. So it falls to my lot.

Perhaps you can imagine 20 odd  (very odd) people all singing "Oh Christmas Tree". But each starts on a different note.... and each sings it in a different key. The manager of the boat has the microphone, and he joins in enthusiastically.... but is plainly tone deaf, and the notes(?) he is singing bear no resemblance to anything else that is happening!!! We just couldn't stop laughing... and wish we had a recording device to bring this exquisite performance to you on the blog!!!

But on the grounds that I am a musician and we are both music lovers we have retreated to our room.

Nuremberg

Moored this morning just outside of town. Another amazing breakfast and then we are off into town on our walking and bus tour of the sights. There is one thing about a tour like this - everything is included and there are not many decisions to be made. Going with the flow is quite a good idea at times.

A lot of damage was done to Nuremberg during the Second world war, but in the old section of the town there are still a number of interesting streets and buildings.

Many of you know that one of our reservations about a trip like this, was the "group" thing. We have found that there are some days when we just want to do our own thing.

Today was one of them.

Whether it was that the guide was tedius... or whether the area we started at was not inspiring... or whether it was just us!... but we "peeled" off from the group, and headed into the interesting area surrounding and including the "Hauptmarkt". Among other things, there was Winzerschnitzel for sale - no kidding!

There we found the Christmas Market in full swing, and the famous fountain - the "Schoner Brunnen" - famous in that there is no water in it!!

My raincoat came into it's own again during a  a short shower, but nothing like yesterday.

While it was happening, we decided to pop into the cathedral to have a look. The "Mariemkircke" (the Church Of Our Lady) is Nuremberg's most famous church. We couldn't have timed this better! A rehearsal for something was happening - we heard a recorder player, who then swapped to flute... a singer... and the small pipe organ. This just brought the cathedral to life - wonderful!

We also saw the little people on the cathedral clock walking about. (See picture above) This only happens at 12 noon - we just happened to be there at 12 noon!!! And, of course, the clock sounded 12 times.

Back out in the Christmas Market, we enjoyed some gluwein (alcho-frei) and also tried the famous "Elisen Lebkuchen" (gingerbread) made in Nuremberg. Delicious!!

This market is the largest and most famous of the Christmas Markets in germany, and we saw many artisan/craftspeople type things - which we enjoyed. Even got a little "something" for Andrew to give Bekah. That's all I'll say - it has to be a surprise.

Unfortunately the boat was moored too far away from the old town for us to be able to walk back to it.
...so we had to join the herd for the return trip on the bus. We had so enjoyed walking  a couple of other times.  Ah well...

Back on board with a welcoming cup of hot tea, a relax, and later a presentation on canals.

Cruising away from Nuremberg we had several VERY low bridges, and several VERY deep locks. Very exciting. And then we cross the Continental Divide...
...any ideas on how we should celebrate this????

After celebrating the aforementioned feat - we were awarded with a certificate! AND we didn't even have to pay for it!!!

Bamberg

After a morning cruising along the Main (pronounced here as "Mine") River we docked near Bamberg at lunch time and were bussed into town for a walking tour.

The cruise was made more interesting for the tour group by first an extended morning tea of local food stuffs - too many sausages of unknown pedegree for us, together with a wide range of sweet things (not much help to a diabetic!).This was followed by a guest lecturer talking about the European Union and its future. Who says these tours are not educational. By and large we gave both of these a miss and entertained ourselves very well in our own way.

We really ejoyed the walk and especially the old buildings. Many of the streets are narrow, cobbled and simply oooze character. No wonder it is World Hertiage listed! One portion of the old town, right agauinst the river, is called little Venice. It is where the fishermen lived, their houses right against the water line. Quite photogenic, even with the developing rain storm in mind. Even saw a gondola "parked" by one of them.

The Old Town Hall (Rathouse) shown on the right, is, just as is appears, built right in the middle of a serious river through the middle of the town - quite a concept. Many of the streets are entirely cobble-stoned and generally the central old town is absolutely picture postcard stuff.

Although we did walk the length of the Christmas market here nothing tempted us. What we are finding is that though a few have featured artistan/craftspeople/products, generally there are many of the same products at each market. Only a few really local differences and then mainly in the way they serve their sausages or occassionally have a specialty sweet cake or biscuit. We are getting a bit tired of seeing Kathy's Christmas shops everywhere (prices higher than everyone else).

It's the special things that most appeal to us.

...Today was the day that REALLY roadtested my wonderful raincoat... and the "waterproofness' of my Gortex boots - couldn't be better! Just wish Arthur had had a hat.

Given the wet weather though this part of the visit came to a very damp end and we rushed for the bus and then the boat.

A nice touch, we were welcomed back on board with a cup of hot tea or mulled wine - ideal for the soggy crew we were by that stage.

This may not be the best news for Colleen and Tony but we gave the soprano (evenings entertainment) a wide berth (except that we chatted with her before dinner).

Bavaria; Wurzburg and Rothenburg ob der Tauber

What a great day! Started off with a princely breakfast and finished off with a medieval dinner.

This morning we docked in Wurzburg and after breakfast rode the short distance to the Residenz of the erstwhile Bishop Prince of the place for a visit. The house was a palace modelled on Versailles (France) and not all that much smaller. Very impressive inside and out. It has the largest ceiling fresco in the world (larger even than the Vatican and so is a World Heritage site). The sun shone, the garderns were amazing in the frosty morning (temp around 3 degrees).

We elected to walk back through the quaint town and its Christmas market. It was fabulous. Sunshine and magnificint old buildings along the river bank.

After lunch on board we were bused off (about an hours drive) to Rothenburg. Dad always said this was one of his favourite places. We are with him on this one. Incidently Chris, we see what you meant. All day long we go about saying "Hel-looo". Certainly is the catch cry in this part of Germany. Noel, you would be a natural here. The town is completely surrounded by its city wall - modernised ariund 1500 - and is full of charm. It really is a time warp. We went a little mad with the cameras but meanwhile will grab a pic from the internet just as a taster.

Noticed Schneeballen all over the place. Far too sweet for us. Also impressed y the wurst sold by the metre. Very dodgy pedegree to it we suspect, so observed from a safe distance. (Don't worry Matt and Andrew, we DID take pictures).

 After a couple of hours it was time to head into one of the attractive cafes for a coffee to warm up. They certainly know how to make coffee and the Nussecken that we chose to go with it was to die for. We simply must get hold of a recipe. Thus fortified, back in to the Christmas market for a second time. The European economy is in dire stratights you understand. (Much more of this and ours will be too).

In terms of the Medieval dinner, lets just say the waiters looked right proper charlies and leave it at that!

Miltenberg & Wertheim

Sitting in yet another lock right now and going upwards. We have been through ten or twelve of these during the night, each one raising the water level 10 feet or so. Pretty good going for a boat 135 meters long.

Breakfast is over. So many lovely things to choose from. Arthur  had to stop at four courses today. Simply could not go on. Don't worry Matt and Andrew, I did not forget you. Couldn't resist taking a photo of my poached egg (yes - just the one)  to put here as soon as I have access to an upload equiped machine.

We have a glass blower giving a demonstration in the lounge in an hour or so. We think it's partly a sales pitch, or certainly and advertisement, as part of the 2nd of today's outings, visits his home town - Wertheim - where he has his business ...and is full of glass blowing things for sale. Apparently, Wertheim has quite a community of select glass artists.

A few hours have passed and so too have a number of German towns. The visit to Miltenberg was wondnerful. It is such a picturesque town. We tramped all over the place, took many pictures and finally ended up at the Christmas Market. Here, with Colleen and Tony in mind, we sampled the "Kinderpunch" it being the non-alcholic hot fruit punch common in many markets.The first one was simply a hot fruit cordial with spices included. It was such a success that we tried another, this time being told that it was a special grape juice blend. It was indeed delightful, being definitely real grape juice, hot and spicy. Just great for a winters day in this part of the world even though the sun was out and the day glorious. We also shared some "Reibekuchen mit Apfelmus" - a flat hot potato fritter thingy, served with a generous blob of apple puree. Quite delicious.

We explored alleyways, climbed stone stairways, meandered around many winding streets, and generally enjoyed the entire village. Loved the distinctive pink/red stone many of the buildings are constructed from... and finally made our winding way back down many steps to the centre of the village.

After a couple of hours it was back to the boat for lunch and cruising on to Wertheim. We did not take the off boat tour this time, choosing instead to stay aboard as the boat cruised a little further up the river. Marvellous sunny but cool afternoon with us tucked up inside the lounge occasionally toying with a drink or cookie or snack. All of this exhausting exercise was occasionally interrupted by having to raise the camera and take another picture.

All of which means that we are tired by now (about 6pm) and ready for dinner! This will be ready at 7pm so meanwhile it is time to add to the blog.