Back to the big smoke today. We were well and truly on the Rhine and a parade of barges passed us, going upriver from the Netherlands and Germany. I have no doubt we were just one of many vessels heading down river. It’s a very busy waterway. Because the Rhine’s water level was so low…
Getting through all those locks can be a bit of a trial because you have to wait your turn. As a result we were a bit late getting into Rudesheim, which is famous for wine. Cherie had organised for a little tourist train to pick us up and take us to a place called Siegfried’s…
Today was a little bit different. We gathered in the Amavenita‘s lounge to watch a demonstration of glass blowing. This wasn’t the sort of bending of glass into animals that you see in Venice. Hans Ittig and his family make glass instruments such as pipettes, test tubes and precision instruments in their workshop, as well…
The 7th November was a busy day. We went to two quaint medieval German villages! First stop was at Kitzingen, where the ship was moored a short waddle from the heart of town. Yes, cobblestones. At 9:15am the town’s mayor greeted us, accompanied by the Wine Queen, who arrived late in a Jeep, wearing a…
Bamberg has so many historically significant buildings it has been designated as a UNESCO world heritage site. Unlike towns like Frankfurt and Nuremberg, it wasn’t bombed flat in the war. So there was some honour between the combatants. Unlike the recent destruction of Petra, but that’s another story. Anyway, you can read all about Bamberg…
I mentioned before that the size of these river boats is very much dictated by the locks. There are 68 locks between Budapest and Amsterdam. Going from Budapest, the locks raise the boat. The lowest rise is 8.4 metres, but in the Main-Danube canal three of the locks EACH take the ship down 27.4m. That…
This morning we made it to Regensburg. And that meant the worries over the height (or lack thereof) of the river were over. However, the vagaries of the Main-Danube lay ahead, with a very different problem. Instead of water under the keel, the captain had to make sure the ship didn’t ride too high. Some…
We were off to visit Salzburg! But not by boat, or even by bus. We’re back to Imperial opulence. The President of the USA has Airforce 1: Emperor Franz Joseph had the Majestic Imperator, a special train for carrying him and his entourage. The train has been restored (read all about it here), and we…
Here’s the link to part 1 if you missed it. MS Amavenita pushed off at 12:45 headed through the Wachau Valley for the town and historic monastery at Melk. We were blessed with another beautiful day and quite a few of us perched on the sundeck to drink in the scenery. I’d hoped for some…
The captain dropped the moorings in Vienna just before midnight and the following dawn saw the vessel safely tied up at the lovely little village of Durnstein. I was up early and watched the sunlight redden the rocks on the hillside, then the walls of the ruined castle above the town. Remember the story of…