Krakow

Yesterday we visited the Wieliczka Salt Mines in the morning. The total depth of the mines is over 1000 feet. Mike and the others walked the full depth, while Carol and I got a ride in a miner's elevator to the first level and met the group. 

The chapels and statues that the miners carved out of the salt are simply incredible! St. Kinga's Chapel is the largest and contains a carving of the Last Supper, chandeliers made of semi-transparent salt, and much more. 

In the afternoon we took a walking tour of Kraków with a local guide, Ada. 

She took us everywhere, including the old Jewish quarter. Today there are 130 or so Jews living in Kraków. Before the Second World War they comprised twenty-five per cent of the population of the city, over 60,000 people. 

Kraków is very proud of its native son, Pope John Paul II. There are statues and references to him everywhere, including a photo of him in the window of the Archbishop's residence where he often spoke to the people. 

Today we head to Auschwitz. 

Prague. Last Day

Last night in Prague. We went to the Dancing Building and the Ginger and Fred restaurant. They had amazing views and great food! 

The photo below isn't mine, but shows the full building. 

It was quite cold in Prague yesterday. We had to break down and buy jackets. 

We took a nice walk to the Charles bridge and then found a coffee shop down an alleyway. We ran into our tour guide from the previous day. In fact, this seemed to be the place all the guides congregated. 

Unfortunately for my spouse, we visited the Moser factory store. It was lovely! 

Today we head to Krakow. 

Prague

View from the castle area

View from Charles Bridge towards Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral

We arrived in Prague on Friday and took a quick walking tour. We ate dinner at an authentic Czech brewery and pub. The beer choices were light and dark. The food was delicious and the restaurant had what you would call character. 

Saturday we took a city tour and visited Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge and the castle area, including a tour of the Lobkowicz Palace, with its recovered art.  

Town Hall has the medieval astronomical clock, used to mark the phases of the moon and the seasons of the year. We saw the top of the hour performance of the clock - very underwhelming, but interesting. 

Charles Bridge was crowded, as expected, but the statues were worth the visit. Below is the tower entrance to the bridge and a statue for your entertainment. The statues are mostly blackened, as they were built of sandstone. 

The Prague Castle area was beautiful, as the first photos show. St. Vitus was closed, so we did not enter, but the outside was pretty impressive. 

Lobkowicz Palace had the best view and we had a wonderful lunch there, along with seeing the collection. 

We took a long walk last evening and found a great Italian restaurant, purely by chance. Eating outside is terrific. 

We have one more day here. 

Nuremberg

The center of Nuremberg is the Beautiful Fountain, currently undergoing renovation. The photo above shows what it usually looks like, the photo below is our group standing in front of the covered fountain. 

We walked the old town area in the morning, with part of the group heading up to the castle. 

Mike and I went to find a coffee house, as we had not had our fill. I found this sign in the shop. 

 

After lunch we took the World War II tour. 

This included the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and the Documentation Center, located in the unfinished Congress Hall. This Hall is based on the Coliseum, and was to be a lasting monument for the Nazis. The center examines the causes, context and consequences of Nazi tyranny. It is definitely worth a visit! 

Our guide Ingo took us from the Center over to the Palace of Justice and Courtroom 600, the location of the Nuremberg trials after the war. This tour was our best by far! Ingo was knowledgeable and approachable. 

Passau and Regensburg

This is Passau's Art Alley. They turned it over to the artists after the last flood destroyed the area once again. We stopped in Passau to visit the old town and St. Stephen's to listen to the largest pipe organ in Europe. 

Our guide Andrea took us through the old town to the cathedral and left us there. 

She also explained the significance of the way a dirndl's apron is tied. Hers is tied to indicate that she is engaged. 

Carol and I found these two guys in the street and took them back to the ship with us. 

We traveled on to Regensburg the next day. We took another tour of a beautiful medieval town, including the old stone bridge with its 12th century sausage restaurant. 

By the way, the sausages are excellent! And the bridge is under constant construction.

But it was still a lovely place with some of the best shopping and most interesting architecture we have encountered.  

The houses all indicated the wealth of the families that owned them. 

We spent the afternoon on the ship cruising lazily along. Then we had a typical Austrian dinner and our cruise director Tatjana posed with everyone in her dirndl. She has been terrific! 

   

Melk and the Wachau Valley

When we left Vienna we sailed through the Wachau Valley, an area of wineries and castles, including the one above. The same family has owned and lived in it for over six hundred years. 

The mountain sides of this valley are covered in grape vines. The wineries make mostly white wines, including an ice wine made from the grapes left to freeze at the end of the growing season. 

The town of Melk is at the end of this valley and contains an abbey that has been active since the eleventh century. We visited this abbey. 

The library of the abbey has over 100,000 volumes. The library is in the left hand corner above. We could take photos everywhere in the abbey - except in the library. The photo below is from the abbey's website. 

The glass case in the center holds some of the older books of the collection. When we took our tour I was looking into the case and noticed one book in particular. It was dated 1517 and was a handwritten catalog of the library with book locations noted. I asked the guide about it and she said, "0h no, the library catalog is on the Internet." I couldn't convince her that the book in the case was also a catalog of the collection - only  earlier than the current internet catalog. 

We walked from the abbey down into the village via the abbey steps, and after shopping a bit, back towards the ship. 

A little parched, we stopped at the local gasthaus garden for a nice beer. Mike had to buy a glass to bring home. 

Vienna

We started towards Vienna on the 30th, heading through our first lock that night. We are supposedly going to pass through twenty-seven locks on this trip. 

 

We visited Vienna on Sunday, which, if you want to shop, is not the best day of the week to be there. We managed to get to a great coffee shop - we asked a local where to go. Cafe Leopold Hawelka is a funky old place with great coffee and so-so service! The coffee saves them. 

We saw a lot in just a few hours, from the  Lipizzan stables to the National Library, located in the Hofburg Palace. We drove the Ringstrasse a couple of times, once in daylight and once at night. It is a beautiful boulevard. The Vienna Opera House isn't open right now, as it is the summer break, but even the outside is gorgeous. 

Opera House

National Library

Lipizzaner Stables 

We visited St. Stephen's in the heart of the city. This beautiful church is always worth the time, even though I have seen it before. 

St. Stephen's

After dinner we went to see a shortened version of "The Marrage of Figaro." Mike even agreed to go, his first taste of opera. 

When we arrived we had an opportunity to meet the singers who were to be the players. Mike and I met Figaro and Susannah. The singers who played these parts were excellent! As my friend Katie knows, I love the baritone voice! 

Vienna was a lively, but very quick visit!