Time capsule - European Vacation Part 4 - Germany

Week 8 - Part 4- European Vacation  

River Cruising in Germany

This the part 4 of a 5 part blog detailing a recent trip my husband Burt and I made to Europe.

      Part 1 covers our time in Switzerland and a visit with my cousin Aline Reppel. 

      Part 2 covers our time in France with cousins who live in the Alsatian village of Mussig

      Part 3 covers our time in Prague the capital of the Czech Republic

      Part 4 covers our Avalon Danube River cruise in Germany (from Nuremburg to Passau)

      Part 5 covers our Avalon Danube River cruise in Austria and Hungary

     

Day 14 Nov. 3 — Nuremberg, Germany

It was a cold rainy day. We went down to the breakfast buffet and had made to order omelettes, sausage, and croissants. After breakfast, we picked up our shore passes and we went on the city tour of Nuremberg. 

The town of Nuremberg is older than 1000 years. It was mentioned as early as 1050 in preserved writings.

Nuremberg was located on several important trade routes and became a prosperous medieval city. Around the end of the 13th century, it was made a free imperial city. In 1806 it lost it's independence and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria. During WWII, Nuremberg's industrial complex was involved in the manufacture of aircraft, submarines and tank engines. Nuremberg was systemically bombed by the allies forces which results in the destruction of much of the medieval city center, a large portion has since been restored. Nuremberg is know for the manufacture of pencils, toys, and meta works. Gingerbread and Clarinets were developed here. Nuremberg was located on one end of the first German Railroad. 

The location of our docks was not located near the Old Town, so we were transported by bus. As the bus headed towards the old town, we passed the train station, and the courts where the Nuremberg trials were held. The Nuremberg trials were carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. The defendants included Nazi Party officials, high-ranking military officers, German industrialists, lawyers and doctors. There was no precedent to an international trial of war criminals. In 1945, the allies established the laws and procedures that led to the establishment of a permanent international court. Nuremberg was chosen to hold the trials because its Palace of Justice was relatively undamaged by the war and included a large prison area. Additionally, Nuremberg had been the site of annual Nazi propaganda rallies; holding the postwar trials there marked the symbolic end of Hitler's government, the Third Reich. We bus circled behind the courts for a better view of the adjacent prison area.

We passed a cemetery outside the city center. According to our local guide, the cemetery was created in the to bury the victims of the plague epidemic of 1517-18. The government forbid cemeteries inside the walls in order to prevent spread of disease.  Each plot is the same size and according to our guide you are not allowed to build large displays, so it became the custom to decorate the graves with plants. 

We drove past the hangman's bridge. The medieval hangman's trade was considered a dishonorable but necessary profession. The hangman was shunned by the Christian community, and made to live separate from society at large. In Nuremberg, a tower home was built to house the hangman. A wooden bridge was built in 1457 to connect the hangman's tower to the town. When the original bridge collapsed in 1595, it was rebuilt as a wooden covered bridge.

We made a short stop at Kaiserburg castle. It was misting, the guide made a joke that the Germans had engineered everything except the weather.

In the middle ages, the Nuremberg castle was one of the most important impreial castles of the Holy Roman Empire. During WWII, Kaiserberg was left in ruins by the allied forces bombing runs. In the 1940s, Nuremberg was the home of many factories, and the home of many Nazi rallies, thus it was heavily bombed. The factories were located away from the city center, so until near the end of the war it escaped the bomb attack s. So when late in the war the sirens sounded the bomb warnings many of the citizens ignored the warning to their detriment.

  

The imperial castle was not continuously inhabited. So the frugal residents of Nuremberg didn't furnish the castle. When they received word that the court was on their way they would gather things from their homes to temporarily furnish the castle. We weren't able to enter the castle, so we were only able to view the exterior from the ramparts.

We soon returned to the bus which drove us to the market square. During the week, the square is filled with vendors selling produce and other goods. Today being Sunday the shops were closed and the square empty. Only cafes and restaurants were open. We had an hour free to explore the square.

The square contains an elaborate 14th-century public fountain called Schöner Brunnen which means beautiful fountain in English.  According to the guide, it was one of the only items that wasn't damaged during the war. It has the shape of a Gothic spire and is adorned by 40 colorful figures. The fountain is protected by a metal fence. Two brass rings embedded in the fence are said to bring good luck to those who spin them.

   

I snapped some pictures of some architectural details which caught my eye:

   

On one side of the market stands Frauenkirche (Our Lady Church), a rather small 14th century brick Gothic church. Originally this area was home to the Jewish quarter of Medieval Nuremberg. In 1349 Emperor Charles IV ordered the Jews to evacuate; the Jews who refused to leave were burnt at the stake and their assets confiscated. A market was built on the site of the former Jewish ghetto slum. Charles had a Catholic church built on the site of the destroyed synagogue. It was originally build to house the crown jewels and other relics which were later relocated to Prague. To facilitate imperial ceremonies, the a narrow balcony was built on the facade that faces the marketplace. It allowed the emperor and queen to be seen by their subjects. During WWII, it was nearly destroyed in 1945 in bomb attacks; the west facade facing the market square and the entrace hall remained intact. Many of the church' treasures were save from destruction as they were stored in a bunker beneath the church. The restoration of Frauenkirche was completed in 1955.

  

 

Our guide told us about the Christkind. Nuremberg is home to a large Christmas market. Christmas market is opened by the Christkind dancing across the Frauenkirche balcony. In Martin Luther’s time, it was traditional to give gifts on St. Nicolas’s Day Dec. 6th. To break from the Catholic worship of saints, Luther began giving gifts on Christmas Eve telling his children that "Holy Christ" had brought the presents. The tradition took hold in Lutheran families and was practiced in Nuremberg before 1600. Over time, the gift-giver took the form of an female angel.

Since it was a cold rainy day; we found a bakery on the square and went inside to warm up. We purchased 2 cups of tea and a bag of Lebkuchen, the gingerbread cookies for which Nuremburg is known for; we paid € 11.35 or about $16. The bag had 6 large cookies, 3 chocolate covered and 3 with almonds. They are only available during the Christmas season. We were just in time to try them.

Needing to use the facilities, I went downstairs to the rest room. The door was locked with an electronic combination lock. In order to use the facilities you had to know the code which was printed on the receipt.

We were back on board for the noon departure. Lunch was a Bavarian buffet; I had a small piece of fish and a small slice of pig's knuckle, salads, and ice cream for dessert.

In the afternoon, there was a lecture on the Danube-main canal and it's associated locks. The presenter was a local historian from Nuremberg who had written a book about the canal. The first attempt to build a canal was made by Charlemagne. As he was giving the lecture we entered the first of 28 locks that we will be going through during our voyage.

After we booked the cruise, we learned it was a wine tasting themed cruise. Almost every day there was some type of wine tasting event. After we left Nuremberg, they had a Franconian wine tasting that we attended. Franconia is the German region north west of Bavaria. The two largest cities of Franconia are Nuremberg, and Wurzburg. They are known for their white Rieslings and Syn We tasted 4 Franconian wines, 2 whites and 2 reds. Franconian wines are distinctively bottled in Bocksbeutel bottles.


There was also a lecture on the history of Germany in the afternoon, but we missed it.

It gets dark far earlier in Germany than it does in Florida. About 5 pm I looked out the window and it was pitch black out. So I opened the window to look out and found that we were in one of the many locks on the canal. When I looked up, I could see the sky wasn't completely black, but nearly so.  Earlier is the afternoon Burt and I was a rainbow.

Dinner was dress up casual for the captain's dinner; the features entrees were tilapia and roast beef. Sometime after dinner, the vessel departed the dock and we sailed for Regensburg.

Day 15 Nov. 4 — Regensburg, Germany

We awoke early and went to the dining room for breakfast. We could see houses and pedestrians on the river bank. We were approaching Regensburg. As we docked I watched one of the sailors place a bumper between our ship and the one next to ours. The weather is cool, 48 high, 38 low. We are dressed in layers. I got out our gloves.

We took the walking tour of Regensburg. Regensburg is an old city. Regensburg is one of Germany's oldest towns. According to Wikipedia, settlements in Regensburg date to the Stone Age. The Celtic name was Radasbona. Around 90 AD the Romans built a fort called Castra Regina which means fortress by the river Regen. It is situated at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers. Regensburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it has one of the most intact medieval city centers in German. It sustained little damage in WWII Allied bombing attacks.

The first site we came to on the tour was the Old Stone bridge. This medieval wonder was built between 1135 and 1146. It is Germany's oldest vaulted stone bridge and served as a model for many other bridges including the Charles Bridge in Prague. The kights of the 2nd and 3rd crusade used the Old Stone bridge to cross the Danube en route to the Holy Land. Currently it is undergoing renovations.

According to a legend, the builder of the bridge made a bet with the builder of the cathedral about who would finish construction first. The construction of the cathedral was progressing faster, so the builder of the bridge made a pact with the devil; the devil would help him build the bridge in exchange for the souls of the first three crossing the bridge. when the bridge finished first the devil asked for his payment. The bridge builder sent a rooster, a hen and a dog over the bridge. The furious devil tried to destroy the bridge, but failed but left the bridge bowed. 

 

After leaving the waterfront, we entered the city center via Porta Praetoria. This gateway dates from 179 A.D.  Giant blocks of stone were used to construct this gate into the norther wall of the Roman military camp Castra Regina. 

In order to leave the other tour groups behind, our tour guide took us through a courtyard to an area behind the Cathedral. 

 

The skyline of Regensburg is dominated by the twin spires of the Regensburg Cathedral (Dom St. Peter). 

It was built in the 1300's from two types of stone; limestone and sandstone. The limestone is the better of the two. The government is currently working on the restoration. They have hired stone masons to replace the damaged stones with new limestone blocks. Our guide took us to the back of the cathedral where replacement stones were being stored.  On our way to the front of the cathedral we could see the stone mason working on the building.

 Here are pictures taken from the frong and side of the Dom.

   

Our guide took us through some of the many small medieval lanes and alley ways that are common in Regensburg. Here are some of the pictures I took along with way:

The last stop on our tour was the "Salzstadel" the historic Salt Barn that currently houses the Visitor Center World Heritage. In the 17th century, the salt barn was built to hold salt when the salt trade was at its peak. More important to us, it was home to clean and free restrooms.   

The tour ended at Wurstkuchl, the famous "Sausage Kitchen". The 900 year-old building which is near the stone bridge is said to have fed the workers during the construction of the Stone Bridge and the Cathedral in the 12th century. Burt and I skipped the sausage even though we had vouchers for 6 free sausages.

During the floods in May/June of this year, the Sausage Kitchen and Salt Barn weres underwater as shown by this picture borrowed from Flickr where it was posted by deningures.

When the tour was over, Burt returned to the ship and I went to the Dom to meet my friend Lee. Since I had a few minutes, I went inside the gothic cathedral. I looked for the pipe organ that our guide had spoken of. Not being Catholic, I don't have a proper appreciation of the various stations of the church. It is impossible to not be impressed by the soaring ceilings and flying buttresses of gothic cathedral when you think about the year of construction and the construction techniques that were available to them.

  

Lee and I wandered the old town looking through some of the shops. We walked by a memorial showing where the Jewish Synagogue stood that was destroyed in 1519. According to the internet, Dani Karavan erected the "Place of Encounter" memorial in 2005 as a reminder of Christians and Jews in peaceful coexistance.

 

We walked to one of the local breweries, I think it was the Hofbräuhaus, which was located near the town hall. The waitresses were wearing traditional Bavarian dress called the dirndl. We ordered the daily special - pumpkin soup and beef goulash. They placed a basket of bread on the table. Lee warned me the bread wasn't free. I had heard one of my fellow travelers saying it happened to her in Prague. They put a bread basket on the table and like most Americans, she assume the bread came with the meal.  She was surprised when the bill came and she was charged extra for the bread. 

When we left, I accidently left my gloves behind. When we realized they were missing we returned to the restaurant. My gloves were waiting there for me.

We shopped a bit longer and then went to the ship. I obtained a visitor's pass for Lee and I gave her a tour of the ship. We returned to town going to a small deli/produce market where Lee bought some kalamata olives and something from the deli. We went to a department store that had everything from housewares, clothing, as well as food on the bottom level. Lee and I returned to the waterfront near the ship and said our goodbyes. We promised to make time for each other and to stay in touch.

After returning to the ship, Burt and I went up to the lounge for a chocolate tasting. It was presented by a Regensburg Chocolate maker, and oh was the chocolate good. We tasted 3 different "pralines", 1 white and 2 dark. In Germany the term "praline" refers to a filled chocolate. According to the Chocolatier, prior to the 17th century, chocolate was served as an unsweetened liquid. The creation of the "Praline" is credited to Clement Lassagne, personal chef of the French field marshal Comte du Plessin-Praslin. In 1671, the Plessin-Praslin who was a sugar industrialist and an ambassador serving King Louis XIII was entertaining. His chef Lassagne had prepared some sweetened almonds to be used in a dessert. A clumsy apprentice accidentally drops the bowl of sweetened almonds into a vat of hot chocolate. The nuts were fished out of the chocolate and left to cool. When Lassagne tasted the almonds to decide if they could be salvaged to his delight the nut encased in the chocolate was quite tasty. Lassagne called the confections “Praslines”.

After the completion of the wine tasting, there was a wine tasting - we skipped this event. The ship sailed at 7 pm heading toward Austria.

Day 16 Nov. 5 — Passau, Germany 

We went to the dining room for the breakfast buffet. After breakfast we went on a walking tour of Passau. Passau is located in Bavaria, Germany near the Austrian border. It sits at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers and is known as "The Three Rivers City."

Passau was part of the Roman Empire for more than 400 years. Passau was originally part of the Hapsburg dynasty before being made an independent state. When it was ruled by Napoleon he put the town under Bavarian rule.

Danuabe routinely floods Passau during the snow melts. As a result residents along the water front are prohibited from using the ground level as living space. Insurance companies will not insure the spaces so the buildings are owned by the city and rented for artists or cafes. In the spring of 2013 Passau had about 3 weeks of rain which produced a record flood waters. Along the Danube many cities recorded record flood waters.  Being at the confluence of 3 rivers, the flooding in Passau was unreal.

As our guide walked us down streets near the waterfront he told of residents being evacuated from the 3rd story by boats (both pictures were borrowed from the internet)

 

The town hall is next to the Danube river; on the wall of the building they display the historical high water records for the city. In June of this year the Danube set a new record flood mark which you can see on the picture by the water darkened paint. It was marked and labeled but not yet painted with the black paint. The city is still drying out, when we walked through the streets near the waterfront, they were still running fans trying to finish drying out the buildings. You have to be impressed by the Europeans, just months after a major flood, they are up and running and other than the high water marks they proudly display, you would never there had been a flood.

On the hill across from the town hall stood Veste Oberhaus, the castle and residence of the price bishops since 1219. I don't remember the significance of the number on the building, but I do know the number is 1499. The second number is half an eight.

     

Passau was destroyed by fires in the 16th and 17th centuries. When it was rebuilt, the ruler wanted a modern city so it was rebuilt in Italian baroque style which gave rise to it's nickname "Venice of Bavaria".

Passau's skyline is dominated by the three green onion-domed towers of St. Steven's Cathedral. Part of the orignal Gothic Cathedral survived the destruction; the damaged portion was rebuilt in the baroque style. The entire church was painted white to unify the two styles. St. Stephen's cathedral contains the world's largest cathedral organ.

  

 

The guide provided a nice explanation of gothic vs baroque.

Gothic - God was in heaven. The Cathedrals were tall and pointed up to heaven which included the window casings. The architecture common in the Middle Ages is characterized by tall, massive buildings, dark interiors with dark stained glass windows, pointed archs, flying buttresses.

Baroque - God was in heaven and on earth. There was no reason to build tall buildings, buildings were covered with plaster and painted in light colors. The windows contained clear glass to let in more light, the window casings were arched like a rainbow.The interior was painted white again to make them light and airy. Buildings have stone and plaster adornments.

We wandered Passau's medieval lanes.

 It was early in the morning and the shops were not yet open. We returned to the ship which sailed for Austria at 10:15 am.

 To be continued