Sunday, Bamberg, Germany

Sunday, August 26th
Cruising & Bamberg

          When we left for dinner last night I left small bag of laundry on the bed to be done today.  When we got back from dinner last night, the laundry was done and hanging on a hanger.  Now that was fast service.  We both had pork tenderloin, Asian style, with polenta for dinner.  Delicious!
          When I opened our curtain for first look out, we were deep into a lock, so was dark.  When the water level rose I saw a beautiful deep blue, cloudless sky and sunshine.  It was chilly when I stepped out onto the balcony as today's high temperature is for low 70's.  Within a couple of hours the clouds rolled in so has been overcast, windy, and cool most of the day.
          So this morning we sailed up the Main River and arrived in Bamberg shortly after 10am.  Bamberg is where the Danube River meets the Main River.  So now we will start sailing on the Danube River for the remainder of our trip.  We are docked in the industrial part of the city near some grain handling facilities so nothing we can view from here.  It is now 1:45pm and passengers who will be doing the excursion to Bamberg central part of city have just left via buses.  Now the boat will continue on up the Danube to Forchheim.  It is only about 25 miles away but there are several locks enroute so will take several hours.  In fact we will not arrive there until 7:30pm and will only be there long enough to pick up the excursion passengers.  Normally, the boat would be docked here in Bamberg all day but they are still way behind schedule so moving boat to save time.  It is sprinkling some now, is cool, and get back to boat right at dinner time so suspect not to many went on the tour.
          Last night the cruise director went over their plan for rest of cruise of the trip and how they plan to arrive in Budapest on time.  We will be skipping the port of Melk/Durnstein.  There will be more busing, long days, and late arrivals back to boat, unfortunately.  I nicely expressed to cruise director that we did not like getting back late as Rebecca did not have enough time to dress for dinner.  Told him we would just stay on board and cruise with the boat, not doing the excursions.  They really are working hard to make the best of a bad deal because of the 2 day delay.  Good news is, we will still get to see our friends in Vienna where they live.
          After breakfast I stopped at purser's desk to fill out a suggestion card.  I nicely suggested that they could put the bar "special drink of the day" and its price on the daily program.  About 15 minutes later the cruise director called our cabin and said the Hotel Director would like to speak to me.  So I went down to his little office.  Think I mentioned we had cruised with Gerald around 10 years ago on Seabourn Cruise Line.  Anyway, we had a nice 15 minute chat and he thanked me for my constructive comments.
          So we will have a nice cruise this afternoon up the Danube.  Osso bucco is on menu for tonight which is one of my favorite dishes.  Yummy!  Hope you all had a great Sunday!