RDVIK2016

During the floods in 2013 even the industrial area of the Deggenau part of Deggendorf was flooded. A Viking Longship looked for refuge there. Still this would have withstood the floodwaters better than that spot where TUI tied up ISLA with @Yorkieboy1972 on board.

I would imagine the river bank has been strengthened and built up a bit higher at the other berths in order to support the access road and promenade - and even more so at the industrial area. Some disruption of a vacation river cruise can be accepted and even expected, but this looks to have been badly mishandled. I hope it is resolved quickly. Good luck! RDVIK

Yorkieboy1972 It looks like TUI made a very bad choice as to which berth to tie up at. There are other berths at Deggendorf that seem to have better access for busses and probably other services as well. The berth that you pictured and where Marine Traffic shows your boat doesn't even have a paved approach. The other berths appear to be currently free of ships. I hope they can get busses in there for you or move you back downstream past the rail and pedestrian bridges to another berth (Anlegestelle) or even to the industrial area. RDVIK

Wow, that's quite system! Are tours given regularly? Water levels permitting of course. My wife and I were in Munich earlier this month and I became interested in the vast complex of streams and canals in the Englischer Garten and out to the Nymphenburg and Schleißheim. palaces. At Nymphenburg we got to see the pump and water wheel operating in the Grünes Brunnhaus in the Dörfchen. A lot of engineering went into moving all that water around.

On our Viking Danube cruise (Budapest to Nürnberg) in 2016 it was the Bogen railroad bridge that one of the helmsmen told me would be the most problematic. We had not quite reached Passau when he told me that. As @notamermaid posted above the Pegel at the Eisernebrücke in Regensburg to report the Wasserstand at Regensburg, but ships don't have to pass under that bridge, which is quite low, 2.45m according to the chart from @steamboats, because the shipping channel is on the other side of the Stadtamhof island from where that bridge crosses. They don't seem to bother to list the Steinernebrücke at all - not much could get through there. If you're on a cruise that uses the Main-Danube Kanal you don't have to worry about the 5.25m Maximiliansbrücke at Kelheim either because it crosses the Danube beyond the point where traffic goes into the canal.

Check you spelling. It is Katharina von Bora. Here's a Wikipedia page https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora_(Schiff)

Yesterday I did a Google image search to find out to whom you were referring and one of the first hits lead me to the Alemannisch Wikipedia page for Tulla. I certainly can't understand spoken Alemannische dialects, but seeing it in written form was almost as bad and I braced myself to see something just as bad or worse when you wrote "This is how the Swiss reported"...

There are itineraries on several rivers that add a visits to Prague - but only the occasional Elbe itinerary will actually reach Prague by the water route. I figure this board might be the most appropriate for these photos of the Vltava/Moldau at Prague. Prague as a large number of boats on the river providing a large dining facilities to little open boats. One photo has the MS Königsee that use to sail on other rivers for Nicko and another company, but is not tied up in Prague as a stationary hotel boat. A few months ago notamermaid educated us on what is a bridge "starling", so look for the "starlings" of Prague protecting the bridges. Czechs call them "ledomany" which basically means icebreaker.

We visited Dresden at the end of April, and even though we got there from Berlin by train, we felt pulled to the Elbe for some sights. Do flood waters ever enter the city in Dresden? One would think not due to the expansive flood plain along the Elbe there. I caught a Viking ship in the distance in one photo. The Graefin Cosel looks like it might be a hotel ship,but is a "saloon ship" for dining, etc. I thought it looked a bit odd that the boats had their bows pointed downstream - normally they like turn them selves with bows facing the flow of the rivers - maybe the Elbe here is slow moving enough for this orientation. Up stream at the Czech border the Elbe passes through a picturesque landscape. (view from train headed to Prague) RDVIK

Katharina von Bora would be a great name for a entire class of ships named for women of the Reformation. Katherina Zell could be for a boat traveling the Rhein as she was from Strasbourg. Also Argula von Grumbach has a nice ring to the name for cruises on the Bavarian Danube. I asked a crew member of our Spree excursion boat about "hotel ships" making it into the Spree from Spandau and he said they do not. RDVIK

Cruising on the Spree in Berlin. Posting this here only because water of the Spree eventually reaches the Elbe by way of the Havel. Sitting topside having a beverage is as nice cruising through the Wachau or elsewhere - just different scenery. The river is quite busy with a variety of vessels, which attract quite an audience at one particular location.

I can think of a few four to eight hour excursions that a cruise company might take to the Bavarian Forest. Deggendorf on the Danube would probably make for the shortest drives to the most likely destinations. In the second photo the highest mountain in the Bavarian Forest is poking it's summit up far in the distance between two hills just to the left of center. That's Großer Arber at about 1,450 meters. Others in the photos are between 1040 and 1300 meters. Going to Prague from the Danube at Regensburg, Deggendorf, or Straubing the route through Cham could be a good choice, but would add too much time from Passau. This recent trip we took the train from Prague to Cham and rented a car there.

Another river - no "Hotelschiff" here, but a sightseeing boat on the Salzach River in Salzburg two weeks ago. Water current was quite strong as you can see, but the little boats could handle it. RDVIK

Although they don't qualify as river cruising, the attached photos do at least contain moving water (some rushing, some nearly stagnant) and a boat for a short ride. Branching off of the Isar River is the Eisbach and right next to the Haus der Kunst at the southernmost end of the Englischer Garten you can watch the surfers! Much calmer waters at Nymphenburg and Schleißheim palaces are a good spot for a ride in a Venetian gondola. These photos are from 10 days ago. RDVIK

Three weeks ago, when my wife and I were in the Bavarian Forest, we wandered around an artificial lake that partially serves as flood control for the Regen and a tributary, the Chamb, that joins the Regen at the town of Cham. Two photos are attached, one looks across the lake, called the Drachensee, towards the north and you can see the dam that holds back the waters of the Chamb. It was an interesting project and serves also as wildlife habitat and for recreation. There is additional cleared area upstream so much more water can be contained. The second photo is in the opposite direction - One can just make out mountaintop towers in both photos - relics of Cold War electronic intelligence gathering - one of the NATO in (West) Germany the other an installation of the Warsaw Pact in Czech-ia/(-oslovakia).

Well, we were very lucky then with the weather in the Bayerwald. As we spoke before there had been a late season snowstorm shortly before my visit there. There were still a few Schneeresten on "my" mountain, Hoher Bogen, but otherwise all was fine for a ride up the chairlift and climb up 263 steps to the observation platform on the former signals intelligence tower. All the rivers were full from snow melt, but no flooding. We took note of the condition of many rivers and took short cruises on two (in Berlin and Prague). Rivers I remember observing: Spree, Elbe, Vltava, Berounka, Regen, Donau, Isar, Ilm (Bavarian), Inn, and Salzach rivers. The last one had a really strong current at Salzburg.

notamermaid, Well I do still have almost two weeks before I am there, but it may be messy in the areas that got snow. Fingers crossed and Daumen drücken. Check out Großer Arber - minus 2 for a high tomorrow day - also wind gusts up to 55km. No thank you! Fortunately the mountain I want to be on, Hoher Bogen, is only just over 1,000m, but Arber is another 400m taller. Thank you for the links - I mostly use wetteronline.de but I like the presentation on that first one from BR. RDVIK

There should be a thumbs down button so I could register my disapproval of the weather. I do really like the snows of winter, but I will be in that area soon and had planned to get up to a location at over 1,000m and had not planned on weather like this.

I saw a post today from someone on the Bavarian-Bohemian border where he said he enjoys spring, summer, autumn, and winter - just not all in one day! and he added "So a sauwedder" ("such terrible weather" in Bavarian) In recent days ago they had highs well into the 20s C (70s F) and lows below freezing. When travelers wonder what they should pack one has to say to be prepared for anything.

Bayern to Rügen! They must have had fun with that. I had a friend here in the US who was from Fehmarn. He and my Bavarian first wife had some fun with their dialects. (edited to add - He left Fehmarn because there was no way for him to earn a living there, either as a fisherman, after the British forces punished locals for having a side job of smuggling from Denmark and Sweden by beaching the boats and burning them.) The brewery's 10er Gespann comes at 7:20 until the end of this video - right after the boy on the cart drawn by two miniature ponies. There are two views of team and wagon viewed from either side. Video should open at 07:12 so you don't have to skim through. (There is an eight-horse team earlier in the video)

Roß seems to be in quite regular use in southern Germany and Austria. Besides the Haflinger one of the other breeds that is beautiful is the so-called "Schwarzwälder Fuchs" with a blond mane grown long. That town I mentioned with the huge Pentecost Monday procession also has an annual "Roßtag" where they celebrate pre-internal combustion farming technology. A highlight has been the local brewery wagon drawn by a team (Gespann) of up to 10 "Brauereigäule" (I only make out eight in recent photos. The former handler has passed away - he was also the brew master). RDVIK

notamermaid, Where the horses are used for plowing they can be called an Ackergaul, right? Usually I heard the horses in the processions being referred to as Kaltblüter - not that their blood is any colder than that of any other horse, but because of their cool temperaments. Roß is very commonly used or even Schimmel for a white horse. One of the most common breeds is the Haflinger, but many other breeds of draft horses are represented in these processions. At a nearby town, Bad Kötzting they have been carrying of a very large procession every year since 1412. It is not unusual for there to be 900 horses and riders taking part in the Kötztinger Pfingsritt. RDVIK

Notamermaid, Referring back to our "language nerd" discussion in January: Here is another use of the Latin genitive for naming German Roman Catholic religious observances. This one is "Leonhardi". St Leonhard's remembrance day is November 6, but he is honored at other times of the year also. As he is the patron saint of farm animals, especially horses, mounted processions, called a Leonhardiritt, are held. This is a link to the Leonhardiritt just held two weeks ago on Easter Monday, as every year, in the Upper Palatinate town of Furth im Wald. Some of the horses are just magnificent looking animals. https://www.tvaktuell.com/mediathek/video/tradition-leonhardiritt-in-furth-im-wald-2/

Jazzbeau, The Rhine and Danube both have deltas, although the way the Netherlands has reclaimed land it his hard to tell, but The channels that continue to carry the names all the way to where they empty, respectively, into the North Sea and the Black Sea are not the channels navigable by larger vessels. Actually it really looks the Waal, which carries over 70% of the volume of the Rhine from Emmerich to the North Sea, is the branch that should be called the Rijn all the way to the mouth. However the Dutch give that name to a small distributary which eventually also reaches the North Sea north of the Waal and another branch of the Rijn/Waal/Maas/Lek/whatever at Rotterdam. (Maps from Wikipedia) Ship travel on the Danube to and from the Black Sea has to take the Sulina branch through the Danube Delta. This branch has been canalized for shipping and remains in Romania. When we hear about Ukrainian grain being shipped up the Danube it can come by barge up the Sulina canal or most likely gets loaded on to barges at Izmail assuming they can save the grain from Russian missiles. Izmail is 80 kilometers from the Black Sea, and about as far as the Danube is navigable headed downstream. From there barges have to backtrack upstream and meet shipping from the Sulina and the St.George branch. All this does not explain why the Danube is measured from the mouth and the Rhine from the "source" (sort of), but that is the way it is. The source of the Danube can be pinpointed in the Black Forest. Meanwhile the Rhine is measured from the Bodensee at Konstanz even though there is more of the Rhine, the Alpine Rhine, emptying into the other end of the lake with sources farther up in the Alps. Confusing!! , emptyi

notamermaid, Isn't Danube kilometer 0 at the mouth of the river in Ukraine where it empties into the Black Sea? Which differs from the Rhine which is measured from the source at Lake Constance. RDVIK