Cruising the Danube: November 2013

Our ship was docked on the Main-Danube Canal so we had not yet seen the Danube. We had our safety drill and then set sail! We went up to the top level of the ship (a short, steep set of ladder-like stairs got us to the top.) We would sail the remainder of the day and overnight to reach our next destination (Regensburg) and wouldn't actually be on the Danube until the middle of the night.

River cruising is very smooth - we never felt motion - and you are never out of range of seeing land. In fact, if you did fall overboard (and you really wouldn't ever do that!), you could easily swim to shore.

As we traveled down the canal, the elevation was increasing and since water doesn't flow uphill, we had to go through locks - I think we went through 11 before reaching the Danube. I had never been through a lock before and I found the experience fascinating!

I will now share a very unscientific, unofficial explanation of how a lock works. As we proceeded down the canal (and the Danube), a tunnel-like structure would be in front of us with a traffic light. Most times, it was a red light so we would pull over to the side and wait our turn to enter.

Then when it was our turn, the ship would slowly enter the lock. Once inside, the ship would stop and we would sit there and the lock would do its thing (technical term). Since at this point, we were traveling uphill, we would enter on a lower level and water would be pumped in until we were at the proper higher level to exit on the other side of the lock. The locks were very narrow.

The view from the upper deck .......

The view from the lounge ......

For those of you with enquiring minds, I will explain in layman's terms how this works. Beside each lock are three levels of holding areas that are filled with water as we ascend and that take in the water from the lock as we descend.

So once we were at the proper level, out we went and continued to sail .....

Some of the bridges were quite low on the canal so the crew lowered the rails on the uppermost deck so we could safely sail under the bridges.

If the captain said "DUCK" ........ well, you had better listen!!!

We went through a lot of locks during the trip and continued to ascend as we traveled towards the Danube. We passed the Continental Divide - the highest point that a watercraft could reach on the continent of Europe!! We were so excited to see it ......

WAIT FOR IT ....

HERE IT COMES ....

It's a BIG PIECE OF CEMENT!!!!!

Lefty and the Continental Divide ....

After the excitement of the cement, we leisurely cruised past scenery that looked like home!

Our bus tour of Nuremberg began at The Congress Hall (Kongresshalle) that was inspired by the Colosseum in Rome but was never finished. It was planned as a congress center for the Nazi Party and was located across a man-made lake from the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The huge structure was designed to hold 50,000 seats but remains unfinished and without a roof.

Across the lake, we stopped at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds that covered about 11 square kilometers. Hitler declared in 1933 that Nuremberg should be the "City of the Nazi Party Rallies" and six rallies were held there between 1933 and 1938. Albert Speer, Hitler's favorite architect, was commissioned in 1934 to design an overall plan for the Rally Grounds. They were to demonstrate to the world the power of the Nazi Party and to make the visitor feel that power while feeling his own insignificance.

We saw the remains of the stone Zeppelin grandstand - the main stand and the side stands held 60,000 people and the field in front was large enough for another 100,000. It served as the location for mass parades and assemblies. In 1945, the US Army blew up the swastika that was on top of the grandstand.

This was a very eerie place - we were standing in places where Hitler, the monster, once walked. We were looking at the grandstand where he once stood and addressed the crowds. I have to compare the feeling that went through me to how I felt the first time that I visited the site of the 9/11 crash of flight 93 in Shanksville. We went shortly after the crash - before the crowds and memorials - when the wind whipped across the empty field and you were alone with thoughts of what had happened there. This was what I experienced at the Rally Grounds.

Next we went to the Palace of Justice that is most famous for being the site of the Nuremberg trials of 1945-49. In Courtroom 600 (still in use today), German war criminals were tried before the International Military Tribunal in the aftermath of WW2. The world learned of the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people from the Nuremberg trials. Since court was in session, we were not able to enter the building. In the first photo below, the courtroom was behind the four second floor windows on the right side of the building.

Next was the Imperial Castle that was the residence of Germany's Kaiser from 1050 to 1571. During that time period, all of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire stayed in the Castle at one time or another. In WWII, the castle was heavily damaged but has been restored.

We had to walk through a thick stone tunnel to enter the castle grounds.

The tunnel served as protection for the castle and had openings in the ceiling where hot oil could be poured down onto intruders. We got through unscathed!

We walked around and enjoyed the various areas of the castle grounds.

We continued to Old Town where the local guide told us about various landmarks including the home of Albrecht Durer who was a painter, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist.