With the ship swap, today was a bit of a bonus day in Passau. It was another beautiful European day, leaving me to doubt all these stories I hear about poor weather in Europe. My new best friend, Ian, and I decided to take a bike ride to Passau which is about 5 KM from our dock in Lindau. The ship has some bikes for our use, but they are the ‘fold up’ type, which are relatively impractical for a man of my size… but I made it work. The ride into Passau follows the Danube and was a nice ride with views into the city and towards a flash residence on the hill.
Following my return to the ship, we had a pub lunch, before Deb and I headed out for a wander around Passau, a city of around 50,000 people, 12,000 of which are university students. During the war years this area hosted sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Green concentration camps which were later used by the US Army to accomodate ‘displaced persons’ until suitable onward locations were found. The city itself has some spectacular cathedrals and still has a medieval feel.
After finding all the cathedrals and laneways, we stopped for some food and a nice german wheat beer. We shared a Peach Melba and some Apple Rings (deep fried with cinnamon and brown sugar) and accompanying ice cream, of course.
We returned to the ship for a Bavarian themed dinner and a performance from a Bavarian Band, before retiring for the night. The highlights of the performance being the ‘Chicken Dance’ and a ‘Spoonman’ performance.
Until tomorrow!
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