Friday, September 25
We were overly ambitious a year ago and booked two excursions today. A hike in the morning and a bike ride in the afternoon. Of course this is the morning that I was not feeling the best (thanks Don for sharing!) but thank goodness for Mucinex!
We woke up to fog this morning in Passau, Germany with the temperature in the high 40’s. Our hike started at the ship, across the bridge and up the mountain to the fortress. Yes if you haven’t noticed by now, all of the towns have a fortress. This one was also built by the Prince-Bishop. The closer we got the more we realized something…the first floor windows were painted on! This was done so that the townspeople would think the Prince-Bishop was doing well financially because windows were expensive but in fact he couldn’t afford to put them in. I’m not sure how long they were fooled as I imagine word would get around!
Once at the fortress we could look around the museum a little and then enjoy a beverage in their beer garden which had wonderful views of the town. By this time the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.
On the way down we had a great view of the point where the 2 rivers in Passau merge together. The two rivers, the Danube and the Inn, are different colors. The Inn River comes from the mountain glacier so the water is bluer than the Danube.
After a quick shopping trip for Lederhosen at a shop in town, we joined our next excursion-a bike ride to Austria. Ok I’ll let you be impressed for awhile before I tell you that we were only 7 miles to the Austrian border and there might have been e-bikes involved!
We followed a nice bike trail past the Passau University. By the way, it only costs 140 euros a semester for students to attend whether you live in Germany or not! Tell your friends..
The path then led through the forest and beside the Inn River until we got to the bridge. The river divides the two countries (except a little bit of Passau but that’s another story.)
In the middle of the bridge is a marker that marks the spot. We had a beverage stop (are you now seeing why I sign up for these activities?!) with a fresh baked pretzel in Austria. We then rode back on the Austrian side for a while and then went back into Germany.
Ironically, one of our guides has a full time job as a Border cop. Because of the formation of the European Union, the borders are open between European countries so his unit works primarily preventing drug smuggling. When Don also found out that he loved American football and better yet the Broncos, we didn’t hear any other scenic info from him because he and Don were too busy talking about Fantasy Football, etc!
Back on board we enjoyed German Night in the restaurant with all kinds of German dishes so I guess it was good that we were so active that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment