Rare notamermaid Posted January 10, 2019 #1 Share Posted January 10, 2019 Hello everyone, here is the thread on the Danube for 2019. While the Rhine valley is experiencing a mild mix of wintery weather, the Bavarian Alps are struggling with the amount of snow that has fallen in the last two weeks: https://www.dw.com/en/heavy-snow-brings-life-in-the-alps-to-a-grinding-halt/av-47025039 The effects are certainly felt in Munich, the airport had quite a few cancellations a few days ago and train travel is in parts severely disrupted. I hope steamboats does not have to shovel too much snow and that the situation is a bit easier in the valley at Passau for G.M.T. Looking forward to hearing from our local experts on the Danube. And as always, may all river cruising enthusiasts please join in with tips for fellow cruisers and any questions you might have on any part of this splendid and long river. Safe travels everyone. notamermaid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted January 11, 2019 #2 Share Posted January 11, 2019 Sorry that the heavy snow is impacting local residents – but that does hold hope for the coming cruising season, yes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.M.T. Posted January 11, 2019 #3 Share Posted January 11, 2019 So the rain we didn't get in the summer we are getting it now as snow being dumped on us. I was impacted by cancelled flights in Munich on my way back from a week in London. I can now understand the locals in places like Venice and Dubrovnik being up im arms about over tourism, you can walk two meters in a straight line without bumping into someone with a cell phone on their ear or taking a selfie. Boy is London expensive. The best value for money and you get to see alot is a river cruise from Power to Greenwich and the Emirate Air Line. Will the snow help water levels next year, depends. If there is a quick thaw we could see flooding in winter and again low river levels, if the weather stays cold and the snows stays going into spring then the outlook would be looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeb_bud Posted January 11, 2019 #4 Share Posted January 11, 2019 Last year’s Danube thread was very informative. I’m looking forward to reading about conditions this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted January 18, 2019 Author #5 Share Posted January 18, 2019 With the river cruising ships safely in harbours for the winter it is quiet on the Danube, but barge and tanker traffic never ceases. Unless forced to by the river or the authorities... Hopefully we will see very little of that happening this year. As G.M.T. has said, all the snow could cause flooding if we get a sudden thaw, but if and when that will happen, is far too early to say. Currently it is cold and the big question is "where do you put all the snow?" Piling up on roofs it is dangerous, pushing it off the roofs dumps it on the streets, you could built mountains with that amount: https://www.dw.com/en/snow-chaos-hits-southern-germany-austria/a-47070672 "Not macht erfinderisch" as we say in German, necessity is the mother of invention, so I came up with two solutions: 1. take the snow indoors and let it slowly melt in the bathtub. 2. fill a train and hope you get it to the Rhine valley hills before it thaws, the ski slopes are in desperate need of snow there. Slightly mad, I confess. But the first idea is doable... Should you be around in Bavaria in wintertime or just to note it down for a later trip in another season, here is a tip for pre-cruise or post-cruise travels: https://www.dw.com/en/kloster-andechs-winter-beer-on-the-holy-mountain/a-18951965 notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted January 22, 2019 Author #6 Share Posted January 22, 2019 If you are headed to Neuschwanstein castle this year you will find some of it covered in scaffolding due to extensive restoration work: https://www.dw.com/en/neuschwanstein-castle-undergoes-restoration/av-47050736 notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogs4fun Posted January 22, 2019 #7 Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) 14 minutes ago, notamermaid said: If you are headed to Neuschwanstein castle this year you will find some of it covered in scaffolding due to extensive restoration work: https://www.dw.com/en/neuschwanstein-castle-undergoes-restoration/av-47050736 notamermaid Marienbrücke was closed when we were there at the end of October (2018). Do you know if it is still closed? Singers Hall was already covered by scaffolding when we were there. Edited January 22, 2019 by dogs4fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted January 22, 2019 Author #8 Share Posted January 22, 2019 41 minutes ago, dogs4fun said: Marienbrücke was closed when we were there at the end of October (2018). Do you know if it is still closed? Singers Hall was already covered by scaffolding when we were there. I do not know any details but the website of the castle knows. Do have a look at neuschwanstein.de where you can look up details concerning the restoration work and the bridge. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted January 30, 2019 Author #9 Share Posted January 30, 2019 It is frosty in Germany with snow in the Rhineland today, but little in Bavaria. But snow is forecast for Bavaria, too, before a rise in temperatures at the weekend. Although the temperatures are more fitting for glühwein and hot chocolate, let us have a look at beer. Organic beer. And the oldest brewer to make organic beer in Bavaria is based in Riedenburg: https://www.dw.com/en/brewing-organic-beer-in-bavaria/av-47130571 What makes some of their beers stand out, apart from being organic, from others is that they are made with Emmer, an ancient type of wheat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmer Accessible on a river cruise? Yes, the Main Danube Canal actually runs through the town! notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyr Posted February 11, 2019 #10 Share Posted February 11, 2019 I'll be watching this thread with interest as we just made final payment on our Avalon Danube cruise in May. Our last Danube cruise was in 2006 with Uniworld from Budapest to Nuremberg, and it was a spring high water year. We were the first to make it through in the first week of May. We didn't know until we were underway whether we'd make it past somewhere - Passau maybe? We're going the third week of May this time, and in the other direction. Here's hoping for a good season on all the rivers 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted February 12, 2019 #11 Share Posted February 12, 2019 On 1/18/2019 at 6:06 AM, notamermaid said: Should you be around in Bavaria in wintertime or just to note it down for a later trip in another season, here is a tip for pre-cruise or post-cruise travels: https://www.dw.com/en/kloster-andechs-winter-beer-on-the-holy-mountain/a-18951965 Thanks for posting the article. Chris and I visited there in 2013 (actually Chris was there once before that, while she was in college, but she didn't take me on that trip). It sounds magical in any season. On 1/30/2019 at 7:17 AM, notamermaid said: And the oldest brewer to make organic beer in Bavaria is based in Riedenburg: https://www.dw.com/en/brewing-organic-beer-in-bavaria/av-47130571 What makes some of their beers stand out, apart from being organic, from others is that they are made with Emmer, an ancient type of wheat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmer Sounds like another good place to visit - I can't play the video though. I'll try a different browser. I know emmer wheat as farro - which we eat sometimes as a grain in place of rice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted February 20, 2019 Author #12 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Interesting, jpalbny. This is farro on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farro Hulled wheat. The more common one of the three in Germany in general is spelt which we call Dinkel. It has had somewhat of a revival as part of the ecological food movement and can now be found in good supermarkets as well as the eco/health conscious shops. I have used spelt flour myself which has a nuttier flavour than wheat. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pontac Posted February 21, 2019 #13 Share Posted February 21, 2019 On 1/11/2019 at 10:23 AM, G.M.T. said: Boy is London expensive. That is amazing to hear from someone coming from Eurozone with pockets full of Euros! GBP has depreciated by 50c against Euro since its introduction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted February 26, 2019 Author #14 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Let us get away from the Danube just a little, to the Isar river and Munich. Ok, I am cheating a little as this building is in Munich but not on the Isar, the water feeding the lake comes from the small river Würm. You think Versailles is large? This is larger (at least the width of the facade beats that building outside of Paris). Nymphenburg Palace: https://www.dw.com/en/nymphenburg-palace/av-47512994 I mentioned Nymphenburg last year, but this video is too nice to ignore, I think. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I like vacation Posted March 1, 2019 #15 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Departing in 38 days for Viking cruise from Bucharest to Budapest. How is the Danube river level currently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SammyMon Posted March 5, 2019 #16 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Here is a link to the Pfelling Gage. This is a relatively shallow (during droughts) part of the Danube. For now, this looks good. Last fall many river cruise ships were not able to get between Regensburg and Passau. We were allowed by Gate 1 to move our planned Oct 2018 river cruise to April 2019. https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/webservices/zeitreihe/visualisierung?ansicht=einzeln&pegelnummer=10078000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trig2018 Posted March 5, 2019 #17 Share Posted March 5, 2019 When in April are you going? We are on the Monarch Princess on April 6th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SammyMon Posted March 5, 2019 #18 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Our trip starts 4/14. We board the Monarch Princess on 4/21. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trig2018 Posted March 5, 2019 #19 Share Posted March 5, 2019 You get on as we get off. We have 2 nights in Budapest at the end of our cruise. Hopefully we'll all have a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SammyMon Posted March 6, 2019 #20 Share Posted March 6, 2019 6 hours ago, Trig2018 said: You get on as we get off. We have 2 nights in Budapest at the end of our cruise. Hopefully we'll all have a great time. Trig2018- We board in Regenesburg on 4/21 and disembark on 4/28. What day do you disembark in Budapest? Its fairly close between Regensburg and Budapest, about 645 km. If I could ride my bike 24 / 7, at an easy 15 kph pace it would take less than 2 days. 6.5 hours in a car. We did a Rhine River Cruise a couple of years ago and I remember during parts of that trip the easy going locals on their bikes were going faster than we were! Have a great time and get the crew broken in good for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trig2018 Posted March 6, 2019 #21 Share Posted March 6, 2019 We disembark on 4/14 in Budapest so there's a weeks cruise between us but I'm sure the crew will still be broken in by the time its your turn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted March 6, 2019 Author #22 Share Posted March 6, 2019 On 3/1/2019 at 7:01 AM, I like vacation said: Departing in 38 days for Viking cruise from Bucharest to Budapest. How is the Danube river level currently? Being completely unfamiliar with that stretch of the Danube I cannot comment on figures of water levels. Fortunately, there is an official site that also gives updates in English and puts them in context as regards low, mean and high. Here it is for Budapest: http://www.hydroinfo.hu/en/index.html With more than a month to go before your cruise, almost anything is still possible, of course. A tendency that may show you what will happen at the start of your cruise is only going to be anything close to reliable much nearer to the start of your cruise. A forecast in the proper sense is only available around six days out (switch to graph on the website from here: http://www.hydroinfo.hu/en/hidelo.html) with an inbuilt error interval. notamermaid 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted March 11, 2019 Author #23 Share Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) It has been stormy and rainy almost all over Germany but the weather maps suggest that the west has been a little bit more affected than the Southeast. Will need to see how this develops in the next few days as more unsettled weather is forecast. For sure, the Danube has reacted to rain with a good rise in Bavaria, taking the level at Pfelling above the mean. It had been as high in February but fell again. This "April weather" makes predicting even more difficult than more settled weather conditions do. For now though the Danube is looking good in its German section for sailing and there is lots of headroom for going under the infamous bridge at Passau. If you are a foodie here is an interesting offering by Tauck: https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/tauck-will-welcome-noted-chefs-on-select-danube-departures.html I cannot help it, but when I read such culinary ideas I think: "give me a Wiener Schnitzel, Apfelstrudel and a Marillenlikör anytime", after all, the Wachau is apricot country and who is not partial to a great dessert that was invented in the region? I wonder what wines they will pair their dishes with? notamermaid Edited March 11, 2019 by notamermaid wrong word 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcvtmom Posted March 12, 2019 #24 Share Posted March 12, 2019 SammyMon and Trig2018, please post your experiences when you return! We will be on the Monarch Princess July 20th, Budapest to Prague (12 days), and are looking for as much info as we can get. It's our first river cruise and we are extremely anxious and excited! Thanks, in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trig2018 Posted March 12, 2019 #25 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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