The skies were gray and getting darker as we ate breakfast but the impending rain couldn't erase the beauty of our location. Hillsides full of grape vineyards surrounded us on both sides of the river. This is what Spitz is best known for.
As we ate, we watched a small car ferry struggle against the current from our side to the other with a few cars on it. The ferry seemed to almost go sideways as it worked hard to keep from ending up downstream of the dock area it was aiming for. Later we would learn (and see) that a cable stretched high above the river helped the ferry navigate the river crossing.
It did rain but not hard, as we walked to the buses that would take us for our morning tour. While I'm not keen on museums, at least we would be indoors and out of the rain.
A short, very short, drive and we were at the Schiffahrtsmuseum. We walked a short distance to the entrance and were divided into two groups. One group would begin by touring the museum and the other would begin with the wine tasting. Whoa! It wasn't quite ten o'clock yet but it was tasting, not drinking.
We ended up in the tasting group first. There were three white wines all from the same grapes but harvested at different stages of ripeness. I like the way the wine expert who was here learning how wines were made to enhance his knowledge explained it. A green banana has a certain taste and a brown overripe banana another. They still taste like banana but with slight differences.
The best samples we got however were from the apricots that are also grown in the region. There was an apricot liquor that was very good, an apricot jam that would be tempting to baste a turkey with, and "gummy bears" made from apricots. They were the best. Not as sweet as your candy gummy bears in the stores and a great apricot flavor.
Next we were off to follow our second guide around the museum. He was very knowledgeable of the history of shipping and boating on the Danube. The current is quite strong in places and the boats that carried goods and people were fine going down stream. Long hand held rudders steered the boat.
Going upstream was a whole different ballgame. Depending upon the size of the boat, there could be as many as sixty horses pulling it upstream. Once they reached their end point, the horses would be sent back downstream to do it all again.
There were many models of boats on the Danube from the past. They had an expert model builder who our guide said was actually an architect and did the model building as a hobby. The intricate hand made details were amazing and everyone had a laugh over the fellow depicted at the bow of one model sitting on a makeshift toilet of sorts with of course an instant flush--everything went right through.
Some of the costuming from ages past were displayed. I especially enjoyed the handmade bonnets. The larger ones were for the married women and the smaller for the single younger ladies. I stood for a time and managed to get a general idea of the history of the lady who made the ones in the case. My high school German comes back a little. Frau Huebner would be proud.
The rain had stopped and we opted to walk back to the riverboat. We had planned to do do some walking around the little town but decided to drop our umbrellas off first in the room. The morning rain appeared to have moved out.
The night before at dinner there had been schnitzel but it wasn't very good. On the walk back to the ship, we saw a restaurant that featured schnitzel. We returned, got a seat in the small local establishment and ordered schnitzel with fries. So much better!
It appears that we will be shopping for sweatshirts tomorrow in Passau. Today we had all our layers on and it wasn't quite enough. The temps drop into the 40s F overnight and barely recover past 50. It doesn't look promising for the next week as we head further north.
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