Night 3: Wachau Valley Cruise

We left Passau and cruised through the Wachau Valley. It's a deep wooded valley with all Bavarian buildings along both banks. We cruised all night under a beautiful full moon.

We reached Krems Austria in the morning, but there were too many boats already docked, so we headed back upriver to a little village called Ybbs.

 

Day 3: Passau

For Day 3, the boat moved from the backwater dock in Passau to the main city dock. We hopped off and explored the town on foot.

We stopped for a snack at a traditional German pub. Nothing like a cold beer when it's 95 outside.

Passau has some magnificent structures on top of the hill opposite the main town. It's a 420 foot elevation gain on the hike up, but worth the view of the city. The city is at the confluence of the Inn and Danube rivers. The Inn flows down from Salzburg at the foot of the Alps and it milky white-green from the glacial sediment. The Danube is normal brown river color. The salt trade flowed down the Inn and from Passau could go in both directions on the Danube.

 

Day 2: Regensburg

Our first real stop was Regensburg, where were supposed to embark. It's a beautiful medieval town built on top of an old Roman fortification on the Danube.

Our walking tour included bonus material about the Jewish history of the city. During some construction, a 12-century synagogue was discovered. This is a reconstruction of its foundation.

We had lunch at the oldest brewery in Europe. Monks have been brewing beer here since 1050. Our food discovery of the day was sliced cold potatoes under a green salad. It was unexpected and delicious.

 

Day 1: Getting to the boat.

We flew from Chicago to Munich and arrived around noon. By three, we had traveled by bus and made it to the boat.

Our cruise was supposed to being in Regensburg, Germany, but due to the water level being low, we boarded in Passau. The boat was docked at an out of the way parking space and there was no real way to get off and sightsee. We were tired enough that exploring our new surroundings on the boat and having dinner was plenty for that day.

ORD Supercomputer

We passed thru O'Hare on our way to Germany. We have not been there in years! The brontosaurus is still there, but he's wearing a United Airlines shirt.

Why don't we have this guy at MSP??

This is an IBM quantum computer. It's fascinating to look at, as it is very physical and old-school Jules Verne-ish. 

 

Heavy Bookcase

JP found an incredible deal on a beautiful walnut bookcase. We thought it would fit in the Honda. Nope. So we went downtown and I got GP's truck while he was at work and we summoned CP to come help us load it. It took all three of us to get it into the truck and back out.

 

Smoky Sky

We had  a bright blue sky for the morning swim.

By the afternoon swim, the forest fire smoke had settled in and downtown was barely visible.

 

New Homeowner

CP closed on his new home!!

It's a beautiful townhouse in a nice quiet & clean neighborhood.

 

Construction Begins

July 16th kicked off the physical aspect of the Oliver Ave. Storm Sewer Project.