Passau

 I woke up quite early, and decided to do the stretching on the sundeck again with Nina. A great way to start the day! A bit of overcast today, so it's not suppose to be quite as hot, high 20s. After breakfast we get organized for our tours. Ian the walking tour of Passau, and for me the hike up to the castle.

There were 5 of us that did the hike. The castle is across the Danube river from Passau. It was built in the 1400s, and was never captured. You can see why if you walk up, it's very steep! Luckily most of the climb was in shade, but we still got quite hot. The view from the top is phenomenal! Passau is a beautiful baroque city that wasn't bombed in WW2. And it's interesting to see the confluence of the 3 rivers, Danube, Inn and Ilz. When Passau gets flooded, it's usually because of the Inn river, with snowmelt off the Alps combined with heavy rain. Floods often happen in June, but not this year!

Our guide Elizabeth shows us around the various buildings, now there is a restaurant, theatre, art gallery and youth hostel. And because she trained as an opera singer, she sang Edelweiss for us as we viewed Passau from above! Our way back down was through trees, so was nice and cool.

Afterwards I walked over to the point where the confluence of the Inn & Danube come together. I remember visiting this spot in 2019. The weather was quite different then, about 20 degrees cooler! All aboard at 11:45, then there is a talk about disembarkation tomorrow and what time everyone needs to have bags out etc.

I'm very ready for lunch, and it's a hearty Bavarian buffet featuring Roast pig. Also sauerkraut, potato pancakes with applesauce & horseradish to name just a few things.

Now we head off up the river, with a lecture on Bavaria before we reach Vilshofen.














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