August 11, 2014
Today was the first day of touring with our cruise. It was raining and so all we departed for our tour of the town we were surrounded with a sea of red umbrellas.
Passau is located where threes rivers converge- the Danube, Inn, and Ilk. The old part of the city gets flooded often, the last time was just a year ago. You could see the very high water marks in some of the buildings. It is amazing that they keep restoring the buildings. A lot of their art shops and student housing for their university is in this area.
St. Stephen’s is a 17th century cathedral in which we got to listen to an organ concert after our tour. They have the largest pipe organ in Europe
In the afternoon, Sharon, Judy, Lauren, and I went back to the Old Town to do some exploring on our own. We walked along the Danube to the point where it joins with the Ilk and then the Inn. The currents in the rivers were very rapid. I can only image how destructive the rivers must be during the floods.
We explored a grocery store. It is fascinating to see all the different items they have to offer, even in their fresh produce. There were peaches in the shapes of short, squat tomatoes and huge green grapes. Sharon and I also drooled over the yummy looking pastries, pretzels, and breads at the bakery, but had the will power to resist buying any. Sharon was sure Malcolm would have had to sample a pretzel.
Our tour guide shared that the important buildings in the Old Town are always painted the same colors so that everyone would know which was the bakery, pharmacy and grocery store no matter what language the spoke.
Our day ended with another delicious meal and pleasant conversation amongst our group. Tomorrow we had to Linz and then Salzburg, Austria. I can just picture Julie Andrews singing on the mountain top “The hills are alive with the sound of music…” Rain, rain go away!