Just back from the Danube!

[acwmom]

Cruising under a bridge

 

 

A castle on the hill in the distance, and then, closer:

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't even see the man sitting on the boat, until I saw this on my full screen:

 

[Ritabob]

In case you are wondering about the man on his boat with Faire written on the side...it's the ferry! complete with a schnapps bar on it. our bicycle tour needed to take the ferry from one side of the river to the side where our ship was docked waiting for us. It was a rather wet and rainy day, so the schnapps kept us from catching a cold.

[notamermaid]

acwmom,

 

thank you for the great photos, especially the one of the ferry. It is indeed the local Radfähre "Isa" (bicycle ferry) taking mainly cyclists across the river as it connects one part of the Danube long distance cycle path with the other on the other side of the river bank. The ferry offers crossings from Kramesau to Engelhartszell.

 

Incidentally, Engelhartszell near Passau, but in Austria, is now the embarkation port for the company AROSA for their cruises on the Danube. They moved away from Passau as it was getting fuller with ships.

 

Your fourth photo from the top is the Engelszell Abbey outside of Engelhartszell.

 

notamermaid

[stonepebble]

Great pictures, as usual Robin!

I love the bridge one!

 

Not a mermaid Thank you for identifying them. I may need your help when we return!

 

Chris

[acwmom]

acwmom,

 

thank you for the great photos, especially the one of the ferry. It is indeed the local Radfähre "Isa" (bicycle ferry) taking mainly cyclists across the river as it connects one part of the Danube long distance cycle path with the other on the other side of the river bank. The ferry offers crossings from Kramesau to Engelhartszell.

 

Incidentally, Engelhartszell near Passau, but in Austria, is now the embarkation port for the company AROSA for their cruises on the Danube. They moved away from Passau as it was getting fuller with ships.

 

Your fourth photo from the top is the Engelszell Abbey outside of Engelhartszell.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the info Notamermaid, and Ritabob. I have another picture of the "other ferry", and one of the two of them side by side.....it wasn't quite as "cute" though.

 

We asked our cruise director at the start of the cruise if he could arrange a trip from Passau to Engelhartszell for us, as we are beer geeks, and there is a Trappist Brewery there. He did "look into it" but made it sound like it was going to be an expensive endeavor, so we passed. I knew Engelhartszell was in there somewhere, but all of the little villages start to run together....

 

Robin

[acwmom]

Thanks for the compliments, Chris. I'm looking forward to your photos.

 

First, a picture of the 2 bike ferries, side by side:

 

 

Several pictures of the Jochenstein Lock and power plant:

 

 

 

 

 

[acwmom]

The spring colors and clouds were perfect on this sailing day, I'm not sure why anyone was inside, with these views!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, Passau!

 

[dodger1964]

Great pics.

 

We are doing Danube trip at the end of July, can't wait.

[notamermaid]

Great pictures, as usual Robin!

I love the bridge one!

 

Not a mermaid Thank you for identifying them. I may need your help when we return!

 

Chris

 

Thank you stonepebble,

 

I admit I do not remember all the little places from my cruise. Google photos and google maps are my close friends, along with time to spare due to health problems (not my friend, but gives me too much time on my hands and a need to occupy my otherwise idly used brain).

 

acwmom,

 

in your post from 13th June the second and third photos from the top are of Burg Rannariedl close to Engelhartszell.

 

I did not know the ferry service had two ferries, by the way.

 

And I am glad to see I am not the only one taking photos of the underside of bridges. :D Your photo is especially great because it looks like a close shave under the bridge, probably was one, too!

 

Passau! Looking forward to your photos of this delightful town.

 

notamermaid

Edited June 16, 2016 by notamermaid

[acwmom]

We spent most of our time hill-climbing, once again. We ended the afternoon with sunshine, beer, and a pretzel. We skipped the guided city tour, but ended up having our beer with the tour guide and others from the ship. If anyone is interested, he said the river cruise companies pay the guides in Passau $70 for a 1 hour guided tour. Viking pays $90 for a 90 minute tour.

 

We first climbed to the Pilgrimage Church and Pauline Father's Monastery. We opted to walk up the hill, instead of the enclosed 322 steps. We had no interest in praying at each step, and didn't want to disturb those who may be....besides, it was a gorgeous day, and the steps were enclosed.

 

A view, as we approached the city:

 

 

A view of Passau from the ascent:

 

 

A more panoramic view, to include the castle on the opposite hill:

 

 

 

The chapel, itself:

 

[jpalbny]

Ah, Passau was sure pretty! Sounds like you did it right. Thanks for the view from the other hill - the one we didn't climb!

 

PS - the river shots were gorgeous!

Edited June 17, 2016 by jpalbny

[acwmom]

Ah, Passau was sure pretty! Sounds like you did it right. Thanks for the view from the other hill - the one we didn't climb!

 

PS - the river shots were gorgeous!

 

I'm still jealous of your castle tower shots. We'd go back to Passau in a heartbeat.

 

Thanks for the compliment. We had a picture-perfect day on the river. I see several on my wall, in the future:)

 

Robin

[acwmom]

A view from where the suspension bridge inserts into the hillside:

 

 

The Passau Cathedral, from a castle "window"

 

 

Passau, from the castle:

 

 

The start of our hike:

 

 

Castle architecture:

 

 

Fake windows, and balusters:

 

[stonepebble]

Oh Robin,

 

I won't be posting any pictures...true novice and my equipment is an IPhone! ha ha.

I may just ask you & JP to send me yours! ha ha

 

Hope I get to see some of Passau after our trip to Cesky!

 

Chris

[jpalbny]

Don't knock cell phone pictures too much. Most of the newer models take surprisingly great landscape shots. As long as the ambient light is good and you don't zoom much, it can be hard to tell the difference. In fact, some of the pictures in my past reviews have been cell phone shots. In dim light and/or when you need a zoom, the quality falls off quite a bit.

[acwmom]

Oh Robin,

 

I won't be posting any pictures...true novice and my equipment is an IPhone! ha ha.

I may just ask you & JP to send me yours! ha ha

 

Hope I get to see some of Passau after our trip to Cesky!

 

Chris

 

Like JP said, phones take really good pictures. In fact, a few I have posted have been from my iPhone. I always use both, in case something happens to one or the other. Of course, the resolution isn't there to blow it up for a wall poster, but, its good enough for an 8x10....

 

A few of Passau, itself:

 

 

 

The must stop for beer:

 

 

The reason there aren't more pictures of Passau, itself:

 

[lourdest]

acwmom, do you remember the name of the beer place in Passau? We will be doing our Danube river cruise in 5 weeks and stopping in Passau. We are also planning on doing a beer stop in every port. :)

Your review has been very helpful in my research of the trip. Love the pictures.

[jpalbny]

That's the outdoor tables in front of the Rathaus, correct? It seems to be called the Löwen Brauhaus (as opposed to the Löwenbrau Haus). Looks great; wish we had stopped!

 

Here is a bigger copy of Robin's picture that I blew up so that I could read the name off the menu. Robin, I can tell you how I did that if you want. :)

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by jpalbny

[acwmom]

That's the outdoor tables in front of the Rathaus, correct? It seems to be called the Löwen Brauhaus (as opposed to the Löwenbrau Haus). Looks great; wish we had stopped!

 

Here is a bigger copy of Robin's picture that I blew up so that I could read the name off the menu. Robin, I can tell you how I did that if you want. :)

 

 

It was the perfect day....even got a little sunburn (not the best pediatrician role model:-( ). We spotted it cruising in, and finished our day there, after our castle climb. Yes, you have the name right, and the Radler was excellent. I wish we would have stayed for dinner.

 

I would like to know how to make the vertical pictures bigger. I have a fair number of portrait orientation pictures, but haven't posted them, because they didn't post as large as the landscape orientation ones....

 

Thanks!

 

Robin

[acwmom]

acwmom, do you remember the name of the beer place in Passau? We will be doing our Danube river cruise in 5 weeks and stopping in Passau. We are also planning on doing a beer stop in every port. :)

Your review has been very helpful in my research of the trip. Love the pictures.

 

We definitely drank our share of beer, though I admit I prefer Belgian beer. We did the same in France last year.

 

I am traveling to Burlington, VT for a conference next month, and can't wait for that beer experience:-)

 

Enjoy your cruise, we were crafted with your ship and had to pass through its lobby-gorgeous!

 

Robin

[jpalbny]

Robin, when you copy your photo's url from its host website, it's a long string of gobbledygook that usually ends in some sort of code that determines the display size. for example, here is part of the address from your first photo from Passau:

 

...13349535_fa64cfc958_m.jpg (red color added by me)

 

by changing the size code in the URL, you can blow it up. For Flickr, changing the _m.jpg to _z.jpg will increase the size.

 

So we have:

 

 

Now I can read the street name in your photo.

 

Picasa used to have an easier way to do this, where you could pick the size before you copied the url. Google Photos no longer does this but you can change the image size by this method (different coding). Flickr (apparently) has a way to do this too - here is a forum discussing: https://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157661622129194/ Since I don't use Flickr I don't know more specifics about that site.

[notamermaid]

What a lovely photo of medieval Passau. It is the "Small Knife Alley" so named for the cutlers that used to have their (small) workshops in that alley. Oh, and the treacherous cobblestones, although those are tame compared to the ones in Marksburg castle on the Rhine.

 

Thank you for the lovely photos of Passau, Robin, especially the beer glasses at Rathausplatz. Brings back memories of my trip.

 

notamermaid

[acwmom]

Robin, when you copy your photo's url from its host website, it's a long string of gobbledygook that usually ends in some sort of code that determines the display size. for example, here is part of the address from your first photo from Passau:

 

...13349535_fa64cfc958_m.jpg (red color added by me)

 

by changing the size code in the URL, you can blow it up. For Flickr, changing the _m.jpg to _z.jpg will increase the size.

 

So we have:

 

 

Now I can read the street name in your photo.

 

Picasa used to have an easier way to do this, where you could pick the size before you copied the url. Google Photos no longer does this but you can change the image size by this method (different coding). Flickr (apparently) has a way to do this too - here is a forum discussing: https://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157661622129194/ Since I don't use Flickr I don't know more specifics about that site.

 

Thanks, JP. I'll look it up.....I still have a few days in Munich to cover, and most of my Neuschwanstein photos are vertical.

 

Robin

[acwmom]

What a lovely photo of medieval Passau. It is the "Small Knife Alley" so named for the cutlers that used to have their (small) workshops in that alley. Oh, and the treacherous cobblestones, although those are tame compared to the ones in Marksburg castle on the Rhine.

 

Thank you for the lovely photos of Passau, Robin, especially the beer glasses at Rathausplatz. Brings back memories of my trip.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the translation and additional info!

 

Robin

[acwmom]