Aug 20, 2012 - Regensburg & Big disappointment!

Our guide pointed out that Regensburg was not bombed in WWII, telling us all the buildings are authentic: impressive 12th century stone bridge with 16 arches; Porta Praetoria, a 12th century Roman gate and wall; Cathedral of St. Peter; patrician (noblemen) homes with square-topped towers. There were many lovely buildings with Gothic and baroque details. After the tour Ivan and I did our usual thing – set off with map in hand to look for gardens. No luck today. The castle grounds were fenced and looked more like a green park with large...

Aug 19, 2012 - Nuremberg at 98 degrees

We are now on the Danube River. This morning's city tour was changed to 12:30, after lunch. After an hour bus ride we got to this large city that was 95% bombed out during WWII. We were driven to the former Nazi Rally Grounds building that Hitler built to impress and intimidate at an annual gathering of Nazis. It is basically a huge circular opening surrounded by massive walls. (I've forgotten how many soccer fields it would hold, but more than one would think!) From there we went into the city to the Imperial Castle. This is a complex on...

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...

Aug 17, 2012 - Wurzburg, Germany

We had a great guide in this capital city of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. Hard to believe it was 90% destroyed in WWII by British bombers in 17 minutes! For the next 20 years structures of historical significance were rebuilt in incredible detail, mostly by women as the men had been killed or missing in the war. We spent most of our time in the amazing 18th century baroque palatial residence of 8 prime-bishops. We saw just a few of the 340 rooms and the most beautiful staircase. “Ornate” and “opulent” don't begin to describe the rooms,...

Aug 16, 2012 - Glassblowing & Miltenberg

It rained last night but not enough to lower concerns about low rivers. Each day they monitor the water levels and hope we can continue without putting us and our luggage on buses to reduce the weight on the boat so it can ride higher and not drag bottom. This morning we had a treat – a humorous master glass blower who brought ½ of his shop and his torch set up to discuss and show us his art. To my delight we learned he buys his glass tubes (the best he says) from Corning Glass, and he has worked with Dale Chuhuly in his Seattle factory as...

Aug 12, 2012 - To Amsterdam & new boat

After our 'picnic' breakfast at the table in our small hotel room we packed up and check- ed out at 10:30. Our taxi soon arrived to drive us quite a distance to the train station charging 17 euro for the ride and 4 extra euro for our luggage! (Only in Paris have we been charged for luggage; the taxi bringing us to our hotel charged 3 euro for luggage.) After waiting 20 min. the platform no. of our train was posted. It was along walk out to our 2nd class car, nearly at the end of the train. The ride was fine. Ivan was able to plug in our...

Jul 28, 2012 - Munich 6 - Hofbrau Finale

It was a sweet final day with all my friends today. We went I do a walking tour but it stunk cause there were over 60 people so we bailed. Of course you could guess where we went: first to Lownbrau brewery then to the infamous Hofbrau beer hall I didn't visit on my first Munich trip. Man was it worth the wait! Cheer 'oompa pa' music all afternoon and beer served only by the liter. A group of students that sat next to us actually knew one of the girls from Calgary..small world. We even got to get some grumpy old German dudes to cheer up and...

Jul 27, 2012 - Munich 5 - Back in Town

Since in had 2 days before Amsterdam I decided I join the girls and Ro in Munich for a second round. I love this city! I heard today it was voted most livable city next to Vienna and I completely agree. The train ride was long from Berlin and I barely made the trip. It was an eye-catching ride with strange cliff formations and cool cities such as Leipzig. This was a rest day..there was confusion over hostels but we made it and simply got a pasta dinner downtown and called it quits. The one crazy thing was almost seeing a group of Turkish...

Jul 20, 2012 - Classwerk Over!!!!!!!

Today we all met at the classroom and practiced for 5 hours for the technical analysis and laboratory identification exams we will take next week. The course work is over. Next week we have a multiple choice exam and an essay exam on Monday. On Tuesday we have two face to face oral exams in the microbiology lab where we will be given two random samples of yeast or bacteria and we must identify the exact species with no help or notes of any kind. Wednesday we have to perform a technical analysis of either barley, malt, or wort and explain...

Jul 6, 2012 - Munich 4 - Pross!!!

Maybe the busiest day of the trip so far. Essentially we had 1 day to see most of Munich. We started off at Olympiapark, we took a tour of the BMW museum and headquarters which look like a giant engine. Then we saw the 1972 Olympic grounds that are styled after huge circus tents. It was eerie cause the stadium was holding a Jehovah's witness convention with thousands of people. We looked super out of place. Next we saw an epic view of the city from st peter's church, then went to englischgarten park to eat sausage and potatoes with the...

Jul 5, 2012 - Munich 3 - The Wingman Has Landed

I felt pretty good this morning since beer in Munich is locally made and there's no preservatives that give you headaches the next day. I walked around old town again seeing the glockenspiel ring (which was very underwhelming). Rohan got in at around noon, it was surreal and great to have someone familiar and also mega excited and not drained from travelling for so long. We headed straight back to old town and went to the beergardens there (surprise). We sat for almost 3 hours catching up, talking to jolly German guys and these 2 Italian...

Jul 4, 2012 - Nurnberg

There were two reasons we chose to visit Nurnberg. One was because this was the city where the war crimes trials of the Nazis were held and we wanted to visit the actual place where they took place. The other was because it is one of only a few cities in Europe where the original massive city walls, constructed during the 15th century, that encircle the entire historic part of the city still exist or are completely restored. LE MERIDIEN GRAND HOTEL NURNBERG We chose this hotel as it was located just outside the city walls. Little did we...