Aug 18, 2012 - Bamberg

Our sailing schedule is being altered day by day due to low water in the Main-Danube Canal now. We see the 'high water' mark on the rocks along the bank; water is down about a foot now. The canals are not deep to begin with so it is a concern. (We passengers don't want to have to leave the boat and ride in buses for who knows how many miles.) And, now we have crossed the Continental Divide so we will be going down in all the locks from here to Budapest. It has turned hot so we welcome morning tours before the heat of the day. Today is...

Oct 27, 2011 - Bamberg

Today is a little bit quieter only one guided tour of Bamberg in to morning and a 15 minute tour of the galley. Bamberg is quite an interesting town with a town square showing all types of architecture including Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Modern. The rose garden of the castle was quite beautiful even though the roses were not flowering. The view from the garden over Bamberg were glorious. Apparently we missed a really beautiful church as our guide chose not to take us there. We had a take away coffee which was very nice and very cheap...

Sep 12, 2011 - Bamberg, Germany

Next up, Bamberg, Germany. What a wonderful medieval centre. Bamberg suffered no significant damage in the Second World War, so much of the medieval centre survived intact. It is extremely picturesque. We have been very fortunate with our guides for yesterday and today. They have been members of a historical society and extremely well informed. Two man points of interest today were: First, the old City Hall or "Rathaus". It was built in the middle of the river which runs through the town. When the people of the town wanted to build a town...

Aug 21, 2011 - We're Not In Kansas Anymore

August 21, 2011 Our program schedule for the day listed a “Special Briefing” with the Captain, Hotel Manager and Program Director and we were told the night before it shouldn’t be skipped. As the Hungarian Captain’s English is limited, he gave a brief introduction and Program Director Kurt handled his prepared statement. The bottom line was that the Viking Danube had a damaged propeller and urgently needed repair that could be completed on an emergency basis at our Thursday stop in Cologne at a local dry dock. In essence it would mean we...

Aug 21, 2011 - the mood changes

Sunday morning was spent cruising through the Main-Danube canal, which is a stretch of 160km with 16 locks. I think we are meant to go through almost 70 locks during our two-week trip, so we’re getting used to what happens in a lock including banging against the sides of the lock as there’s not much room to spare on either side of the ship. It is a bit shocking during the night to be awakened by the sudden noise and movement. I can highly recommend this journey as a pleasant pastime as the scenery along the river is gorgeous. Germany is...

Aug 10, 2011 - Bamberg

The ship left Scheinfurt before we were up this morning. We heard it leave, but spent another hour or so in bed as we were not going anywhere. When we got up we had breakfast an went up to the sun deck for a short while, but it was quite cool, so we went down to the lounge where Christine wrote post cards and I read. After our room had been made up I started some laundry but was interrupted by lunch where we sat with a couple from British Columbia. There are only a few of us from out west on the boat, most are from Ontario. I excused myself...

Jul 17, 2011 - Update from Bamberg, Germany

Now have access to wi-fi in my hotel so hope to be able to give some more news. The apartment in Berlin was on a fantastic spot on Gendarmenmarkt in Mitte where there was a concert quite a few nights which lots of people paid for but we could hear for nix either on the steps of the church or at home or in a restaurant at end of our street. We did lots of walking in this fantastic city of about 3.5 million which has dozens of museums , many detailing German atrocities during the war. Particularly poignant were the Holocaust Memorial and...

Apr 25, 2011 - Medieval buildings and vegetarian-sounding meals

From Koblenz I continued following rivers:- the Lahn, the Main, the Wern and the Main again. To deal with the hills I devised the cunning strategy of following a river for as long as it went in vaguely the right direction, then hopping over the hills using the shortest route and picking up a river on the other side. I think this was better than following the direct route over several hills. I overnighted in three towns I hadn't until then heard of - all were full old old buildings and cobbled streets. I passed through similar places en...

Apr 5, 2010 - Bamberg, Germany

April 5th, 2010 Today we were off the map, that is off the beaten path set out by Rick Steves. We went half an hour north to Bamberg. Few, if any Americans to be seen, it felt more like a town that Germans come to visit. It’s difficult not to be impressed by Bamberg, clearly one of Germany’s most beautiful cities. With a majestic centre, wonderful cathedral and superb palaces, this Unesco-listed place was built by archbishops on seven hills, earning it the sobriquet of ‘Franconian Rome’. This was a Roland/Monie idea and we were glad to...

Jul 29, 2008 - Bamberg (29th - 30th July 2008)

While Munich may have suited Michael, I am still not a convert to beer so we headed up the romantic road towards Gemany's wine growing area. First stop was Bamberg. This was a charming little town previously ruled by Bishop Princes (whatever that is). There were a lot of old churches with attached palaces (for the discerning bishop) the whole of which were surrounded by fortifications to withstand siege. It was rough work in the church in the middle ages. We stopped for a performance in the rose garden of one of the palaces of children...

Jun 26, 2008 - Bamberg

We visited a friend of Matts (Julian) in Bamberg, a university town in Germany. It has a beautiful town hall with awesome paintings covering it and the bridges are lined with colouful flowers. Unfortunately we don't have much time to spend here but it gave us a chance to catch up with friends before heading off.