Thursday, October 31, 2019; Passau, Germany

Thursday, October 31, 2019; Passau, Germany

Our ship remained docked in the commercial slipway overnight.  We had felt the ship rocking for a while after we had gone to bed, but that was due to a changing of the ship that had been rafted alongside.  When we awoke, we could see the tour buses waiting alongside the ship.  If we had been one floor down, our view would have been of the wall of the slipway, or if we were on the opposite side of the ship, it would have been directly into the adjacent ship’s veranda.  

We had breakfast in the dining room.  The breakfast was set up with a buffet featuring an omelette and egg station.  They had plums wrapped in bacon as a regional item.  

After breakfast we walked a little around the bus boarding area.  Ben found an unusual looking plant growing nearby.  Google Photos identified it as a Thorn Apple, which in addition to being an odd looking plant, is chock full of pharmaceuticals and highly poisonous.  

Thorn Apple

Every part of the plant is considered poisonous- stems, leaves, seeds, and roots.  It contains alkaloids and opioids.  Apparently, some herbalists throughout the ages have used it to treat schizophrenia, GI troubles, or simply for it’s hallucinogenic and psychotropic effects, but the therapeutic margin (difference between a useful and a deadly dose) is extremely thin. 

Because our boat was parked a couple miles upstream from the historic district of Passau, we boarded buses and were driven to the historic district, where other river cruise ships were tied up.  We then broke up into smaller groups.  Our guide, Andrea, was a Passau native, and she was very enthusiastic and had a great sense of humor.  We did a walking tour of the old town noting flood markers on some of the buildings.  The highest flood in history occurred in 2013.  

Salt silo on the Inn river, Passau, Germany

Literal Pigeon hole in the Salt Silo

We had stopped in Passau during our 2015 Viking river cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg, so we didn’t really see anything new on this tour, but did attend a formal organ concert in the Passau Cathedral.  The pipe organ actually consists of 5 organs that can all be played from a central keyboard.  There are just under 18,000 pipes in the complex, making it the largest cathedral organ in the world.  

St Paul Church, Passau, Germany

St. Stephens Cathedral, Passau, Germany

St Stephens Cathedral organ in Passau, Germany. 

Largest church organ in Europe with nearly 18,000 pipes.  Probably

the second largest church organ in the world- actually a composite

of five organs linked by a central console.

St Stephens Cathedral Passau, Germany

St Stephens Cathedral, Passau, Germany. Not expecting to see these in a church.

St Stephens Cathedral, Passau, Germany.  There’s that flaming sword!

St Stephens Cathedral, Passau, Germany

We didn’t have much free time after the concert to wander the city, so it was a good thing we had done so in 2015.  

The ship headed downstream to the confluence of the three rivers (Danube, Inn and Ilz) in reverse, doing a “Y” turn up the Inn so it could then proceed bow first further downstream.  

Confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers at Passau, Germany

The ship went through a lock about 2 hours out of Passau which dropped us about 25’.  The upstream gates were vertical shutters, while the downstream gates swung out from the sides.  We did pass a few RV and trailer home parks along the banks of the Danube as we made our way downstream.  It wasn’t long before we saw Austrian flags on either side of the river.  

In the afternoon, there was a Strudel making demonstration.  Ben was able to volunteer, along with another young woman, to assist the chef in preparing a Strudel.  Instead of stretching the dough, as we had seen in the demonstration in 2015, we rolled out the dough.  

Guest Strudel Chef

The Strudels we prepared disappeared below decks at the conclusion of the demonstration, with the dining room staff serving professionally made strudel to the passengers in time for afternoon tea.  Ben got to keep a souvenir Viking Cooking School apron, which was a nice touch.  As we sampled the strudel, we met an older couple from western Illinois who had been in Prague when it was under communist rule for a semester, teaching college.  They corroborated stories told to us by our Prague guides about how there was nothing you could buy with what money you had.  

The regional specialty dinner menu featured a collection of dumplings, which was interesting, but not particularly memorable.  We would prefer Xiao Long Bao Chinese soup dumplings, but when in Austria...

As we ate dinner, the ship passed another lock in the dark and eventually ended up tied up between two boats in Linz.  The view out our balcony is another ship’s French balcony with its curtains drawn.  With a view like that, you might just as well book an inside cabin, but that will change after we enter the Wachau valley.

The evening entertainment was a group of singers from Salzburg who did a selection of opera and soundtrack songs from the Sound of Music.  The group arrived a half hour late because they got caught up in traffic, and when they started, the room lighting was dim, and you could not see them in the front of the room.  They also didn’t have microphones, so if you weren’t in the front of the lounge, you wouldn’t have been able to hear them.  We asked one of the Viking staff to turn up the lights and give them some microphones, which they obliged after the first 3 songs.  That improved the experience, although their singing was of only meager professional level- probably good enough for entry level cruise line performers, but below Branson Missouri or better cruise line level.  We were pretty tired and struggled to stay awake through it.  It made us miss the quality of entertainment that we are used to on Princess cruises.

Tomorrow, we will be taking an included excursion that will bus us 90 minutes back into the Czech Republic to tour a UNESCO world heritage village of Cesky Krumlov.  For those on the ship who didn’t pre-cruise in Prague, this will be an opportunity to add another country to their travel credentials.  The alternative of staying in Linz for a much shorter walking tour is significantly downgraded by the fact that it will be All Saints Day in Austria, and all shops and offices will be closed for a national holiday.  The Czechs do not treat All Saints Day as a national holiday, so it will be business as usual.  The distance from the cruise ship port means we will spend 3 hours commuting over the course of the day, but the cruise director assures us that the village is a gem worth seeing.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019; Transfer from Prague to Passau

20191030 Wednesday, Transfer from Prague to Passau

We got to sleep in a little this morning, but with our biological clocks messed up, we chose to be up with the sun to make the most of the daylight.  We found blue sky and scattered puffy clouds greeting us this morning.  The weather has cooled off, with temperatures forecast to be in the mid 40’s today.  We repacked our suitcases and had our last Hilton Prague breakfast.  We sat at a two top next to a 4 top that was against the wall.  Shortly after our coffee and tea arrived, a young professional woman sat on the 4 top against the wall.  Then, as we started into our food, we soon found ourselves surrounded by a whole flock of young professional women cheerfully greeting each other with hugs and chatter.  We soon found out that they were all staying at the Hilton to attend a training seminar for their company which produces heart valves.  These gals were perfectly suited to medical sales and marketing.

We checked out of the hotel, and had a a couple of hours to kill before boarding our transfer bus to Passau to embark on our river cruise ship, so we headed out for a walk, and found ourselves in the heart of Old Town Prague.  

This time we were able to watch the Astronomical Clock ring in the 11 o’clock hour with it’s parade of the 12 Apostles in the two windows flanking the clock face.  Actually, the Apostles make more of cameo appearances at the windows, rather than a parade.  A skeleton representing death is below the windows ringing the bell as each Apostle looks out his window.  We also were able to walk out to the river bank upstream from the Charles Bridge, across from where we had seen the swans yesterday, and found a great view of the Prague Castle hill and the Charles Bridge.  

We had gone back to the Gate restaurant where we had hoped to have some traditional Czech food for lunch, but learned that there  was no way we would be able to get our meals in time before we had to board our transfer bus, so we visited the American Embassy (Mc Donalds) for a quick bite before boarding our transfer bus.  

As we headed out of Prague, we saw their horse racing track on the outskirts of town.  Beyond that, the countryside is covered by large agricultural fields and forests.  We passed several ponds, used for raising carp, which are served as the traditional meal for Christmas in the Czech Republic. We learned that there is usually a spike in emergency room visits on Christmas Day because of people with fish bones stuck in their throats since the only time most people eat carp is on Christmas.  Pavel, our guide to Kutna Hora yesterday told us that people buy the carp live and keep them in their bath tubs until just before it is time to prepare the fish because otherwise it stinks up the kitchen quickly.  He then floated the scenario of a man’s daughter becoming distraught at the idea of him killing the fish for Christmas dinner because she had bonded with it during it’s brief stay in the family’s bathtub.  That could have been the inspiration for the movie “The Shape of Water”.  

We did pass through a small mountain pass on the way to Passau as we passed from the Czech Republic into Germany.  There were several chalets and a tiny ski area with a single chair lift.  We made one stop at a gas station with free modern bathrooms and a large convenience store.  

As we descended into Passau, we discovered that the city is a lot bigger than what we remembered it to be from our last visit.  During our first Danube River cruise in 2015, we visited Passau as we went from Budapest to Nuremberg.  We did the walking tour of the historical downtown, but driving in today from the Czech Republic, we could see that the historical downtown is actually surrounded by quite a large modern city.  The ship was actually docked in a side channel to the Danube that appears to have been created specifically for river cruise boat embarkation and disembarkation operations.  This location is a little ways upstream from the historical downtown district.  Apparently, the boat will be repositioned before tomorrow morning so that it is tied up at the historical downtown waterfront.  

The Vilhjalm (pronounced William) is a sister Viking Longship to the Atla, which we were on in 2015.  We are in a veranda room, which has a small balcony, just wide enough for two small chairs to fit on.  The room is a bit tighter than our usual Princess balcony staterooms and has less storage space, but we had enough drawers, shelves and closet space to unpack everything we will need for this leg of our journey.  There is no need for swim suits or workout clothes and shoes since there is no pool or gym.  We’ll be getting our exercise walking in each port of call.  So some of what we packed stayed in the suitcases under the beds.

There was a welcome briefing in the lounge.  It’s a good thing we have been on a prior Viking River cruise because there was a loud group of people at the bar that made it impossible to hear what was being said from where we were sitting.  Those people were probably raised by wolves.  

At dinner, we sat with a couple from Milwaukee who were on their very first cruise, and an elegant older couple from Nova Scotia, who were long time cruise veterans.  This is their 5th Viking river cruise.  They had also done one Viking Ocean cruise on the Baltic recently.  Prior to that, they had cruised on Princess and Celebrity, but were pleased with the smaller ship size that Viking Ocean offered.  The Milwaukee couple had an unusual story in that the husband had married the his wife’s college roomate as his second wife.  We’ll have to see if he ends up working his way up and down the dormitory hallway as time passes.  Janet ordered Norwegian salmon, which appeared to be farmed Atlantic salmon, while Ben ordered the local cuisine menu which featured pork with cabbage and potato.  The port was basically ham steaks.  

Perhaps we are still fighting through jet lag, but we could barely stay awake as we got through our desserts of creme brûlée and Bavarian cake, so we turned in right after dinner.  The only scheduled entertainment for after dinner was the piano bar.  

Tuesday, October 29, 2019. Kutna Hora and Last Day in Prague

Tuesday, October 29, 2019.  Kutna Hora Excursion and Last Evening in Prague

Following breakfast in the Hilton’s excellent buffet, we boarded a Viking tour bus for an optional excursion to the city of Kutna Hora, which about a 90 minute drive outside Prague.  There were 32 people signed up.   The bus was a very comfortable Viking tour bus with 52 seats.  So there were plenty of extra seats, allowing us to spread out a little.  

While the bus had a bathroom on board, it was kept locked.  Apparently in the Czech Republic, there is a law that says bus passengers can’t use the bathroom while the bus is underway, or so they told us, but we suspect it is more a matter of the bus driver not wanting to have to deal with cleaning the bathroom and dealing with the grey and black water dumping.  We have been able to use the toilets on Viking buses in Hungary and Austria in the past, so this is probably a local issue. Fortunately, the drive out to Kutna Hora was not too long.  

The majority of the passengers loaded up at the Hilton, but there were 6 passengers that had to be picked up at another hotel across town.  As we headed to the Radisson, we received another daylight City tour with our guide Pavel providing commentary.  All the guides we have had on this trip have been quite good.  Many Czech’s learn English as a second language.  Since WWII and Soviet occupation, German and Russian have been much less popular, despite the geographical proximity and common heritage under the Holy Roman Empire of the Germanic peoples.  

Oddly enough, right after we picked up the passengers from the Radisson, the bus headed back to the Hilton, where it got onto an expressway ramp.  Pavel explained that due to traffic, they were re-routed by Waze, Google Map data, and live reports from on the road from other Viking bus drivers.  

The expressway is tolled electronically, and is very modern and well maintained.  It was also quite clean, with a notable absence of litter along the expressway.  There were quite a few large lorries (European term for Semi-Tractor-Trailer rigs and other large commercial vehicles with more than 4 wheels) using the expressway.  There were quite a few communist era LEGO styled housing projects in the suburbs.  Pavel explained how these are largely prefabricated concrete structures that are quite cheap and easy to put up.  

Pavel explained that most people prefer the freedoms of democratic rule over Soviet occupation, which ended in 1989 with the Velvet Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union.  The Czech Republic was apparently never actually a part of the USSR, remaining an independent country on paper, but in practice, it was ruled by a puppet regime acting on behalf of Moscow.  

A significant minority long for the simplicity of life under Soviet occupation.  If one didn’t have any ambitions, or strong opinions, it was easy to make do.  There was no pressure to be productive.  Work days were short, and there was little to do with your spare time anyways, so you spent a lot of time hanging out with your comrades drinking spirits distilled from plum juice or beer.  There was no pressure to make money because there was nothing to buy, and everyone was equally poor, so there was no pressure to better oneself.  Nowadays, if you don’t work, you can’t afford to live in a nicer apartment or drive a nicer model car.  People like to have things, and like to do things that were never available during communist rule.  They see how other people live, and desire improvements in their standards of living.  I guess you can only be so miserable if everyone is equally miserable, but under democratic rule with open and free markets, you can be more miserable knowing everyone else is doing so much better.

As we drove through the suburbs, the forces of the market economy are evident everywhere in the form of shopping malls, big box stores, and car dealerships.  We learned that the number one industry in the Czech Republic is automobile and mass transit production.  The Czech Republic was the industrial hub of the Soviet Union, producing nearly all rail trams for subways and other light rail systems in the Soviet Block nations.  They also produce Skoda cars, which is currently owned by Volkswagen.  Pavel joked that before Volkswagen bought Skoda, the cars were not very reliable or well built.  So the Germans taught the Czechs how to build high quality and reliable cars.  In exchange, the Czechs taught Volkswagen how to cheat on their emissions tests.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, corruption and political abuses remained the norm.  State owned industries ended up being swept up by a handful of oligarchs who used monopoly power to achieve incredible wealth.  The current president of the Czech Republic apparently has made is wealth in canola oil production.  As we drove out of the suburbs into the countryside, the country is covered with huge agricultural fields producing canola oil.  Czech laws now require that canola oil be blended into all automobile and truck fuels, so that works out well for the President.  That sounds suspiciously like what is going on with ethanol and corn in the USA.  

We exited the expressway and descended into a valley where we could see several church spires rising above the surrounding city.  Kutna Hora is a lot smaller than Prague, but in the 14th century, it vied with Prague for economic and political power.  It was built on silver mines, which became the major source of wealth for Bohemian royals.  

Our bus unloaded in front of a large cathedral called the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and St John the Baptist.  While this was a grand gothic structure, it was not our tour destination, which was tucked a couple of blocks into the adjacent neighborhood.  

Our true destination was a much smaller Roman Catholic church surrounded by a cemetery called the Kostnice Sedlec.  Within this little church’s basement are the bones of 40,000 to 70,000 human skeletons, artistically arranged in a macabre display. 

Why?  Well the story goes that in 1278, a monk was sent to the Holy Land by King Otakar II of Bohemia to bring back earth from Golgotha- the site of Jesus’ crucifixion. This was scattered over the abbey cemetery, making it a top destination for burial throughout Central Europe.  The Black Death and the 30 years war resulted in massive overcrowding.  Around 1400, a Gothic church was constructed in the center of the cemetery with a lower chapel to be used as an ossuary for the mass graves unearthed during construction.  In 1870, a woodcarver employed by the Schwarzenberg family was hired to put the bone heaps into order.  He created the macabre display, which includes the Schwarzenberg family crest made of human bones, and he even signed his work with human bones on the wall by the entrance.  

The family crest includes a raven pecking the eyes out of a Turk’s decapitated head, and this scene is faithfully reproduced in bones as well.  This has got to be a popular site to visit for Halloween!

From the Sedlec Ossuary, we walked to the magnificent Cathedral of St. Barbara, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It features a combination of Gothic and Baroque design elements, and was completed in 1905.  There is a spectacular gold orchestra of angels and cherubs in front of the massive organ pipes including a cherub behind what appears to be a drum set.  

I didn’t spot the lead or bass guitarists, but there are woodwinds, brass and string players up there.  The stained glass windows are also quite striking, but include some Art Nuevo stylings rather than true Gothic or Baroque scenes.  

By the way, St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners.  She was killed by her father when she refused to give up her Christian beliefs.  In return for the favor, she had him smote with a lightning bolt from heaven which incinerated him instantly. Technically, that makes her patron saint of quick deaths, so it must have been preferable to be killed instantly in a mining accident, as opposed to being maimed for life.

We walked along Barborska street in front of the Czech Museum of Silver.  There is a row of 13 baroque statues of saints on this pedestrian street reminiscent of the Charles Bridge.  There was even another statue of St. Jan of Napomuk who was murdered by King Wenceslas IV for refusing to reveal his wife Queen Sofia’s confessional testimonies.

There is a silver mine associated with the Museum  that you can tour, but our excursion didn’t include that.  We did see a large group of Asian tourists clad in white overalls, hard hats and lamps headed up the hill towards the mine entrance.  

We walked into the historical heart of Kutna Hora, which includes a Plague Column of the Virgin Mary Immaculate, erected in 1715 as a thanksgiving for the ending of the Plague.  

We walked up the cobblestone streets past quaint shops selling silver, garnets and skeletal artworks to our lunch stop, the Dacicky Restaurant, which is elegantly decorated with a Medieval Theme dedicated to a local legend who lived in the 16th century. He was described as a renaissance rebel who founded a local brewery, and later gained renown as an author and poet.

It serves traditional Czech cuisine, which featured roast pork in a stewed plum sauce with mashed potatoes, served with its namesake beer, and followed with apple strudel and coffee.  

We left the restaurant full and happy.  Traffic back into Prague was terrible, necessitating an unscheduled bathroom stop at a truck stop, which was just like an American AM/PM minimart truck stop, including free bathroom facilities.  

It took nearly 2 hours to get back to Prague through the traffic, which seemed every bit as bad as traffic in any American big city.  Janet was still hoping to attend the evening’s folkloric dinner show excursion, but it was sold out, so we retired to our room relax and finish digesting our lunch.

At 8pm, we took inventory of our remaining stock of Czech Korunas and found we had just enough for some cheap Vietnamese food that we had seen on the day we arrived in Prague.  The temperature has dropped substantially from our initial arrival when it was in the mid 60’s.  Now it was down in the low 40’s, and expected to dip into the upper 30’s.  We put on warmer clothes and got in an evening walk and got some Phad Thai noodles and a bowl of Pho.  The food wasn’t all that great- no fresh bean sprouts or basil for the Pho, and the phad Thai was pretty bland, but improved with a squirt of Sriracha sauce.  But the total was the equivalent of $12 US, and we got to unload most of our remaining Korunas.  We kept a few 10 and 20 Koruna coins for potential toilet emergencies.  We then walked along the trolley line, which was lined with shops and a couple of malls.  There are plenty of young people walking about in the night.  A theater show had just let out.  There are a lot of smokers in Europe.  We then turned around and retired to our hotel room.  

We will need to repack our suitcases.  It should be easy since we won’t have the weight constraints imposed by the airlines.  Our bags need to go out at 10am tomorrow.  We board buses for Passau to begin our Danube river cruise around Noon.  So it looks like we get to sleep in.