River Cruise Day 2. Passau, Germany

     Mother and I did so much today taking a walking tour of Passau, while the boys took a bike ride along the Inn River.  I hope I can remember to include everything that we saw.  We started our tour in town with these remarkable  umbrellas decorating the streets.  They were painted by the school children and the cobble stones were painted red and white to represent the colors of the town.

From here we walked to the town hall. Marked on it's wall was the flood lines for all the years that the Danube overflowed.  The most recent was 2013 where is came up to the second story of all the buildings. 

We then walked over to the Inn River.  Across from this river is the Church of St. Mary which is a pilgrimage church comprised of 321 steps and you must say a prayer on each step as you walk up.

We then walked back through the town and stopped at the executioners house.  Luckily he wasn't home so we were safe.  Side note its now used as a night club for the younger generation

While we were enjoying the sites around Passua the boys were having fun biking along The Inn river into Austria and back again

Here they are about to cross into Austria

Our guide then brought us to St. Stephan's to listen to an organ concert.  The boys met up with us here.  It is home to the world's largest cathedral organ.

After a quick lunch we headed back out to do some shopping I had a few Euros burning a hole in my pocket.  

We made it back on the ship just in time.  They were literally bringing up the gangplank as we were walking up it, and off we went to cruise to our next port, Linz.  We enjoyed a nice blue champagne cocktail on the top deck as we cruised down the blue Danube.  FYI its more green then blue.

We went through our first lock too.  

The mermaid of the Danube is Isabel after we passed through the lock there is a small chapel erected as a memorial to people who lost their lives to the Danube and on the other side is a statue of Isabel

After a fantastic dinner on board the ship we have made it to Linz!

River Cruise aboard River Beatrice, Day 1 Arrival

     After a long day of travel that started on Saturday night my travel companions (Mother, James, and James Jr.) and I finally arrived in Passau, Germany.  The flights went without a hitch and with the help of mother we passed through the long lines with ease as she just kept going in the first class lines and then feigning senitlity.  It was great!  The only minor annoyance we encountered was our flight from London to Munich.  James and I had two very ill behaved children sitting behind us.  Going on just two hours of airline sleep and one hour of back massage thanks to the person behind me kicking my seat I finally got up and sat in the empty row next to me.  

     We had a light lunch on board the ship, unpacked, took a nap on the top sundeck, went to our saftey seminar, then dinner.  After dinner James and I took a walk around Passau.  James Jr. and Mother decided to stay in and rest.  We've got a very busy day tomorrow!

                                                        The boys getting ready for their nap

                                                   Enjoying a glass of wine on the Sundeck

                                      Don't worry I found the lifejackets

                                               The view from our room

       Heading out for our night walk around Passau

                                         The fortress lit up at night

                                           Just the top of St. Stephen's visible at night

                                                  Heading back onto the ship for the night

Ancient Rome

     Today is our last day in Italy.  We navigated the metro system to the Coliseum and the old Roman Forum.  The boys loved the Coliseum I didn't think we were ever going to leave.  We eventually did and headed to the enormous forum.  You could easily spend days there looking at everything.  We then stopped for a quick lunch and headed to Circus Maximus where they ran the chariot races.  This was a bit of a disappointment as they let it get overgrown with grass and weeds and it no longer looks like it used to.

 

The Colesium

Victory Arch outside the Colesium

Tomb of Julius Ceasar in the Forum

The boys standing in front of the stadium

James with Rome in the Background

Pompeii and Naples

     Yesterday we took an eleven hour tour from Rome to Naples then to Pompeii.  We were picked up at our hotel at 6:45 the tour bus left at 7:15 and we didn't get back until after 8:30, but it was worth the trip.

     Naples is a port city where we saw some great views of the ocean and Mt.Vesuvius which erupted destroying the city of Pompeii.  We arrived at Naples around 11:00 and there was a ton if traffic and our guide told us it was rush our.  Most of us would have already put in 2-3 hours of work, which I thought was kind of funny.

     After touring Naples we drove to Pompeii and had lunch.  We then toured the ruins of Pompeii.  It was amazing to see how much of the city remained.  We also saw many casting of the people who couldn't get away before the city was covered. The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius actually changed the coastline.

The port of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

The boys in the city of Pompeii

James and I in Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

A poor Pompeian who couldn't escape the eruption 

Sacrificial alter

Day 2 in Rome

     Today was our prearranged Vatican tour.  According to our paper work we were to meet at the Vaticus Termini which we assumed was at the Vatican.  Our assumption was wrong and after much asking we jumped in a cab to our meeting point.  We of course missed the tour group but they promised to wait for us back at the Vatican.  We got back into another cab and 30 euros later met our tour.

     Inside we saw the Vatican museum, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica.  Interestingly Pope John Paul the XXIII body is embalmed is the basilica which was interesting to see.   After our tour we walked to St. Angelo's Castle.  James then wanted to see more churches.  So we took our half broken legs and walked once again to St. Ignacio's church.  At this point only my husband could walk.  So we bought metro passed and rode the Metro back to the hotel.

Vatican museum 

St. Peter's basilica

Vatican City outside St Peters Basilica

Castle of St Angelo

Traveling to Rome

     Yesterday we took a train to Rome.  It was a relatively in eventful travel experience.  Our hotel is very unique.  After checking in we rode an old style pulley elevator up to our room.  Come to find out our hotel was built in the 1920s and maintains a lot of it charm with crown molding and arched entryways.

     Once we settled in we grabbed our maps and headed out to the city to explore.  Our first stop was Piazza del Papolo.  From here we walked to the Spanish Steps.  Despite much objection from our group leader aka James we stopped for lunch.  He told us he didn't come here to eat and we said we didn't come to starve.  The majority won that argument and we sat down at a great trattoria.  I had a fantastic pasta dish with mushrooms and truffles.

     It then started to downpour which was a nice break from the sweltering heat of Rome.  We headed to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain and then to Palazzo Montecitorio.  After a short rest we headed to dinner.

James by our elevator 

The Piazzo del Popolo

Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon

Palazzo Montecitorio 

A lighter touring day in Florence

     Today was a relatively lazy day here in Florence.  We started out early, so we could get to the Academia and see Michelangelo's David before the tour groups arrived.  It was quite impressive standing at 17 feet.  The anatomical detail compares to nothing else we have seen so far.

     From the David we travelled through some streets to see the Medici home and Cathedral. Both were of course massive and beautiful.  I did take a couple of forbidden pictures in the home but the curators in the Cathedral were pretty nasty and I didn't want to get thrown out.

     We then carried on to the Piazza d' Michelangelo.  It was a very long walk followed by a hike up a massive hill.  The views however were breathtaking.  I then forced the boys to go shopping.  That was fun too.  I had my first ever glove fitting, which involved powder and a pillow.

     Tomorrow we leave by train for Rome.

 

The courtyard of the Medici Home 

 

Inside the Medici Home

 

The hill we climbed to Pilazzo d' Michelangelo

 

Panoramic view of Florence

 

David Replica

 

Uffizi and Galileo Museums