Passau is at the junction of the Danube, Inn & Ilz rivers, originally settled by the celts, then the Romans. We took a walking tour with the local guide who pointed out the high water mark when the rivers have flooded, which sounded like not an uncommon occurence as the bottom floors of the houses were eventually left unused. The Cathedral of St Stephen is German baroque & it made a nice change, all white stucco cherubs & gilt. The stucco worker plus 13 little helpers took 17 years to complete all the decorations, started in 1677. I liked the chubby cherubs with their cheeky mischievous poses perched high on the walls. At midday there was an organ recitel, world's largest organ, the choice of music left me cold, but the noise certainly filled the cathedral. I kept waiting for the organist to launch into the Phantom of the Opera. When I looked around the people in the seat behind had their eyes shut in what looked like orgasmic pleasure...takes all kinds!
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| The most delicious monkfish wrapped in prosciutto |
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| A towel sculpture exhibiton by 2 of the waiting staff |
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| The Rhine meeting the Danube |
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| View from boat at Passau |
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| St Stephens Cathedral Passau |
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| The organ in St Stephens Cathedral Passau |
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| Me reclining in cafe in Passau where I ate cherry strudel, below |
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| Cherry strudel, delicious |
When we went through the Lochstein lock, there were 2 vessels in the lock at the same time & it was a neat fit. I watched the deck hand working hard attaching the rope to the pegs in wall of the lock to keep us close to our side as we descended the lock . This entailed judging when to slip the loop off the peg which was disappearing upwards & get over the next one down, quite a feat, hope he had remembered his deodorant
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| Chap keeing the boat close to the side as we went down in the lock |
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| Opening the lock |
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