April 16 - Austria and on to Germany

Ship reception desk

We were a little late getting up and were late for breakfast. There was plenty of food left, same o-same o though. The booked tour to Salzburg left at 9:25 and we were only in port in Linz from 7 to 9:30 so we didn’t even get off. The sun was out and we were hoping for a nice day. We spent some time in the lounge and working on the puzzle.

Along the river

Lunch was self serve salad and again I passed on the soup. I had the chicken cordon bleu. The rice was too salty so I didn’t eat it and peeled all the breading off the chicken. The desserts were banana terrine and pistachio ice cream. Yuck! I tried the ice cream and it had no actual nuts in it and not a strong flavor so it was OK. We all headed back to the lounge to chat and relax. We crossed over into Germany around 3:30. At 4 was afternoon tea and tea cookies.

Dome of St Stephens

Inside the cathedral

We docked in Passau about 5:15 and they gave us until 6:45 to be back on the ship. It was a disappointing stop. We went to St. Stephens Cathedral and to the Rathaus but it was closed as were 95% of the shops. I did pick up some postcards and cute dish towels with embroidered pictures on them. There were plenty of bars and cafes open, but that was about it. We made it back for the 6:45 evening briefing and dinner at 7.

The ladies with Stanislav

It was the best dinner for me so far. I started with Caesar salad, then tried the carrot soup as it sounded interesting, and it was really good. I need to try making it at home some time. I had duck breast with little potato stacks and for dessert the apricot dumpling in a cream sauce. All delicious! We chatted over our usual Earl Grey tea and then asked our waiter, Stanislav, to take some group photos of “our gang”. We then retired to the lounge for the Crew Show. Most of it was the same show they did on our Rhine cruise but it was still pretty funny.

Showered and got clothes out for tomorrow. Can’t believe this was one of our nicest weather days, sunny and 60 and spent it almost all on the ship.