Prague, beautiful Prague!

It's an early morning as we disembark the boat and get on the bus to go to Prague.  The countryside is beautiful as we cross the border into the Czech Republic.

Prague Castle...the cathedral is Gothic style...amazing!

The cage on the left is the cover on the well.

Beautiful stained glass...

This window is more modern...the designs were actually painted on and then it was baked.

Mosaic design.

Take that!

View from the castle overlooking Prague.

These cars are quite common and used for tourists doing a private tour.

I'm standing on the famous Charles bridge.  What a view.

Twilight ....the castle on the hill..

As night descends the lights come on.  We're making our way back through the main square back to our hotel.  Staying at the Imperial Hotel which is lovely and great location.  Tomorrow we will have the day on our own to explore further.

Nuremberg

As we arrive in Nuremberg it is with mixed feelings.  This is the last stop on our cruise and we've had a wonderful time.  We enjoy a lazy morning on the ship as our tour of the city doesn't start until the afternoon.  We then board our bus with the local guide and drive to Nuremberg.  Nuremburg is the second largest city in Bavaria, Germany dating back to 1050.

This huge stadium was never finished.  It was the brain child of Hitler so that he could have a place large enough for all the people that would come to hear him speak.  No one wants to complete development of this now because it would be too costly.  So here it sits.

This building is where the Nuremburg trials took place.  Behind those four windows nearly a dozen Nazi leaders were condemned to death and others sentenced to life in prison.  

In 2001 Nuremburg received the UNESCO prize for Human Rights Education.

The town itself is lovely.  A lot of it had to be rebuilt after World War II as 90% of the Old Town was destroyed.

Very scenic.

View from the castle.

Beautiful flowers!

The church at the castle.  Nuremburg is also known for gingerbread so of course Marlene and I bought some and ate it with our beer.  It was actually a tasty combination.  The gingerbread is made without flour and called Elisenlebkuchen.

Then back at the ship for our farewell dinner.  The crew were all wearing their best and we as passengers tried to dig something out of our suitcases that hadn't been worn yet.

Marlene and I look pretty spiffy, eh?

And here we are up on deck for our last evening.  The crew were amazing on this trip.  Only 96 passengers and 38 crew.  I love the smaller numbers rather than a couple of thousand on the large cruise ships.  Much simpler and the food was terrific!  Good thing it was only for a week.  I've put on at least five pounds and unlimited wine with dinner was becoming a problem....it was so good...how do you say no?

Salzburg

Early this morning we dock at Aschach just to drop off the people going to Salzburg.  The boat is then going on to Passau where we will meet up at the end of the day.  It's a beautiful warm, sunny day as I board the bus taking us to Salzburg.  Marlene is staying onboard and will be visiting Passau as she has been to Salzburg in the past.

First we make a stop at this lake which is about 30 minutes out of Salzburg.  You can see the Alps in the background.

Gorgeous, pristine countryside.

The gardens of the Mirabel Palace.

The pedestrian bridge leading over the river in to the old town.  Many locks adorn this bridge.

Lovely shops.

The oldest sign in Salzburg.

We also had lunch in the oldest building in Salzburg.  Built in 800!  Had a wonderful light dessert made out of meringue.

Flower market.

The house where Mozart was born.  He only lived to 35 but by the time he was 8 he had already produced several compositions.

The churches are amazing....there seems to be one on every corner!

The decorations!  This is the ceiling in one of the churches.

Amazing art everywhere you look.

The view from the castle.  I took the vinicular up and toured around a bit.

Regensburg

On our return from Salzburg we cross the border into Bavaria, Germany.  There is no border control so you don't even notice it.  We are late getting back to Passau due to construction on the roads and are afraid that we might have missed our appointed time to go through the lock.  

Approaching the lock.

On this passing you can see how little clearance we have for the bridge.  They had to take down the umbrellas and make sure everyone was sitting down.  I could almost touch the underside of the bridge as we passed.  We pass through a total of 25 locks on this trip and travel 485 miles.  Going through the locks is really interesting.  In some we go down and some we go up.  It takes approximately 20 minutes to pass through.

Unidentified building on the cliffs as we cruise to Regensburg.

Beautiful evening on deck.

Our cabin attendant is great...here she leaves a 'towel sculpture'.

Part of the original wall entering Regensburg.  The Celts settled here about 500 B.C.  In 179 A.D. It was a Roman military post.

Built without mortar and still standing today!

Baroque design...very dark inside even though there are some stain glass windows.

This is the older style tower with the baroque design to the church on the other side.

Lots of shops and restaurants...really nice little town.  Our guide says they get a lot of fog in the winter from the Danube.

We have lunch in this eatery famous for Bavarian sausage.  Originated in 800 but the prices have definitely changed.  Quite expensive...quite a "tourist" trap.