Thursday, 22 Dec 2022
We generally awoke to the feel of the ship bumping up alongside and tying up on the riverbank in Passau this morning. Once again we elected not to miss a meal and succumbed to Carmen’s talents in getting ourselves suitably nourished for the day. We had only one tour today also, and would have the afternoon free to explore on our own. Rain was forecast for today, so we geared up appropriately and departed for our morning tour.
Our guide met us in the parking lot next to our mooring and walked us into town, which was really built right on the river bank. We saw the Town Hall with waterline markings on it to show the extent of floodwaters for various Danube floods. Looking across the river, we were treated to views of an imposing fortress on the ridge overlooking town. There was a date painted prominently on the fortress wall, which appeared to the untrained eye to say “1999” but in fact was old German script for “1499.” This place has also been around a long time!
We walked up into the working part of town, seeing several shops, restaurants and churches. We crossed over the east center of town and walked down to the other river, the Inn River, that flows through town. Passau is built on the point of land that is formed where the Danube and Inn rivers join. The foggy view across the river to the other parts of town was quite striking.
We walked back up from the river and passed by the back side St. Stephen’s Cathedral (the third “St. Stephen’s” of the trip so far) as we made our way down to the shopping area. There were many shops and restaurants on this particular street, and the guide pointed out a few, as well as the larger indoor mall at the northwestern end of the district.
Our next stop was a former church that was now the focal point of other cultural gatherings and concerts. Here we would meet and receive a talk from a gingerbread baker, not just any gingerbread baker, but a Master Gingerbread Baker. We were told that this was not the same thing as a master baker, confectioner or a pastry chef, but was a separate artisan who apprenticed and achieved mastery within the specialty. German gingerbread, or Lebkuchen (sometimes Pfefferkuchen) is a distinct specialty of the Bavarian area and dates back to the 13th Century when it was prepared by medieval monks. We were given samples of three types of gingerbread; one made only with honey for sweetening, one made with molasses and one that was made with sugar. Each had a different consistency, with the sugar recipe being the most firm, and which could be baked hard into Christmas ornaments!
After this tasty interlude, we began walking back to the “Domplatz” or square in front of the cathedral to visit the Christmas market there. Our tour included a cup of glühwein, so a few of the group assisted the guide in obtaining and passing out mugs of this welcome warming treat. Here our tour ended, and we walked around the market, buying a couple of half-meter wursts for an early lunch snack. It was fun seeing these, but we had them cut in half so we each only actually had a quarter wurst. It was the wurst snack ever!
We had a choice ot make; go back to the ship for lunch and a ride up river on the way to Regensburg, or stay until 5 and catch the bus back to the ship somewhere up-river. We decided not to go back to the ship, but to stay and shop the town until we had to meet the bus. We walked back to the main shopping street and began working our way down the street. Many stores caught our interest. John, Halie and I purchased some gummy bears. Then we went through some leather shops, which smelled very good, with all the fresh, new leather clothing and accessories displayed.
After a while I had seen enough and it was beginning to rain, so I plopped down at an Italian sidewalk place and had a nice hot coffee while maintain cognizance over the various shopping bags in my charge. It began to rain, gently at first and then fairly steadily. My stay may have extended to the point at which a beer may have been ordered. Possibly two. Eventually, the rest of my party returned to the table for refreshment. Not having had a full lunch, we decided to order something to eat while we waited for the rain to taper off. I recall having a tasty schnitzel.
Soon we finished eating and the rain did taper off somewhat, so we paid our tab, gathered our bags and left in search of the Dackelmuseum, or Dachshund Museum. This was a museum and shop we had read about and passed earlier while still on our tour. We arrived just after 4pm, and found that it had closed, apparently at 4pm, sharp. We left quite disappointed, and resumed shopping a few small places that were still open. The rain continued and increased somewhat, so we sought a shelter in a small café where we ordered refreshments while we waited for the bus meeting time to arrive. after this brief respite, we traced our steps back to the path down the hill to the bust stop by the river and boarded our bus, which took us on a 25 minute ride upriver to meet the ship in Vilshofen an der Donau.
We arrived in time to clean up and relax with a drink before attending the port brief for the next day. afterwards, we again attended a full dinner table under the capable ministrations of our hostess, Carmen. I believe this was the Bavarian dinner festival, where we had all sorts of sausages, schnitzel, kraut and German potato salad. Even though we had already eaten in town, we had to try most of this feast, and we left completely stuffed and wretched. I went up to the lounge have a drink while I finished expanding. Finally, I went down to be, and thus ended another day.