Getting To Passau

Well, the trip from Dresden to Passau was uneverntful and went as planned (for Luelle, who went by plane and then the Uniworld provided transfer)   Dave chose to stay later and participate in a PassivHaus field trip and take the train.    All was going well until there was a medical emergency and the train stopped for 16 minutes.   Since there was only an 8 minute wait for the next train, we missed it.

Compared to sleeping in a train station, this hallway to my stateroom looked VERY nice at 2 AM!

There was one more way to get to Passau that evening but it went all over the countryside, stopping in dozens of small towns.   It was a wonderful adventure.

The first part I sat with an architect who had put on the PassivHaus conference.

Then after moving to plan B, I wound up in Passau, arriving on the board the ship about 2 AM.

My first thought walking down the hallway to our room was, “Wow!”  they’ve really outdone themselves on this latest addition to the Uniworld family of river ships.

Our Guide explained the door within the door was for food delivery to quarantined Black Plague victims. The food was delivered on the end of a long pole thru the small door. She also rooted the children's rhyme, Ring Around The Rosie in that same time. Posies were herbal flowers which had curative powers. Of course Ashes, Ashes, All fall down, was the fate of 25% - 50% of the population of Europe every time the Black Plague hit.

One thing that makes a difference in the daily walking tours is the guide.   Guides who feel their job is to impress you with facts and give you lots of them are actually rather boring.   Our guide on the Passau walking tour was the opposite,  She described herself as a “storyteller.”   The good guides weave the facts and figures into stories.   And the best guides do all that with humor and transparency that shows their love of the area.      So we agree on what’s a good tour guide.    But because you are given a radio with a number that corresponds to the guide who is waiting for you on shore, it’s like, as Forrest Gump said, “a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”   So it becomes part of the adventure.

The date on that building is 1499. The funny second digit is half an 8 = 4.

And I would have to say that all of the River Cruise daily tour guides have rated at least “Good” … But it sure is nice when you get one that is “Great,” like our guide on the Passau walking tour.

Passau is at the confluence of 3 rivers,  The Danube, The Ills and The Inns … which comes from Innsbruk.   They all continue on as the Danube, a mighty transportation  and business corridor all the way to Budapest and on to Bucharest at the Black Sea.

Once used by Maximillian, this chamber is now available for rent for social or business affairs.