Friday June 27th 2014
Yes another warm sunny day on the river!
Today we spend mostly cruising down the Main River, through lot's of locks before reaching Baumberg around 3pm. Last night we passed though around 6 locks whilst we were sleeping (but the nudges against the walls wake us sometimes).
After breakfast we came back to our cabin & watched the life on the river pass by, taking photos from time to time. Then we went up to the lounge whilst our cabin steward cleaned our room & grabbed a coffee. The planned German sausage fest was being prepared with all the usual trimmings.
Then the Cruise Director came in with a "Special Announcement". Yes it was exactly what I predicted ..... the water levels on the Danube were too low to safely travel though to Vienna. Anyway APT had made the decision for us to disembark tomorrow morning in Nuremburg & be transported by coach to Vilshofen, where the AMAVerde sister ship the AMABella will be waiting for us in the afternoon. Apparently the 2 ships are identical & we will have the same cabins as on this one. Because we are heading South & the AMABella is heading North, it will just be a swap of passengers and the original itinerary will remain unchanged. So best solution to an unpredictable problem. At least we won't be coached from one hotel to another as many lines do. Some passengers have been complaining, but it is nature and nothing can be done about that unless it rains. At least we will have had a full week on this ship so not a major drama for us.
We had a German beer, a sausage & a small piece of pork belly before coming back to our cabin to commence the packing process and prepare for this afternoons excursion from Bamberg.
Once again, I will just add some photos taken along the way. No explanation required :)
The German water Police keeping an eye on us!
Because it is an actual canal with many locks, the Main River does not have the same issues with low water levels as the Danube. There seems to be a lot more industrial plants along this river, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. You see them, then kilometres of farmland or grapevines. The occasional village pops up every now & then which can be spotted from afar by the church steeple. Every town or village has a beautiful church or 2 in Europe.
We arrived a little early into Bamberg, which is a WW11 World Heritage listed village which was one of the few German cities not destroyed by bombs during WW11. It is also famous for it's smoky flavoured beer which we will be able to try, compliments of APT. We actually chose to take our beer away as it was very hot in Bamberg & not much free time. Maybe we will drink it later tonight.
Here are some photos taken in the town. A really nice visit but would have preferred more time.
Not sure when this will publish as the internet had been poor for days. Tomorrow will be spent on excursions & coach transfer to Vilshofin so not sure when you will hear from me next.
Until next time.
Betty & Mike
