Today's visit was to the medieval city of Regensburg, described as a perfect medieval city, right on the banks of the Danube River. The city is dominated by the spires of its impressive Cathedral, which as our guide explained, is constantly in need of maintenance to keep it clean and preserved. The charm of the city is its narrow alleys, quaint squares and little shops. There were plenty of cobbled streets to give the hips and knees a work out once again. The city was spared destruction by the bombs of WW2.

The city has the famous stone arch bridge crossing the river Danube and the water was sure racing under it today. It was a pity that the bridge was covered in scaffolding, but according to our guide the renovations are going to take 5 years to complete. Not sure when the renovations started, but maybe after the high floods of 2013.

In 2013 the historic little green house that dates back to 1135 was completely flooded. It is the oldest sausage kitchen in all of Germany and I guess most tourists are like us, they had a sausage just so they could say so! We just did the sausage in the bun deal, which meant you could not sit at one of the tables and eat it. It was okay. Although it looks like you have onion, it is actually cabbage that has been fermented. This is called 'sauerkraut'. The taste of the cabbage depends on how good and how long the cabbage has been fermented! The Germans are big on different mustard's with their sausages. The sausages were being cooked on a hot plate in the tiny kitchen.

The Danube river is the second longest river in Germany and it rises in the Black Forest mountains of Western Germany. The Black Forest is the area of Germany where the best Cuckoo Clocks are made. There is a beautiful Cuckoo Clock store near the river Danube and the store gave a little talk about Cuckoo Clocks after we finished our town tour. Mike Burrows was up the front listening intently! So I wonder if a Cuckoo Clock will be shipped back to Australia for his home in Mandurah? The clocks were lovely, but there isn't one going back to Bluff Point.

Back to the river Danube! It flows 2,850 kilometres to its mouth on the Black Sea and along its course it passes through ten countries. The river played a vital role in the settlement and political evolution of Europe. It's banks, lined with castles and fortresses, formed the boundary between great empires, and its waters served as a vital commercial highway between nations. Our guide today was Michael. He was a nice young man who is studying at the university in Regensburg to become a teacher.

Regensburg is a city of 150,000 people, in the largest German state of Bavaria. It is the oldest medieval city in Bavaria. There are 16 federal states in Germany and Bavaria has a population of 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in south east Germany and with an area of 70,548 square kilometres, forms 20% of the total area of Germany. It is also said to be the most beautiful state and it is Germany's most wealthy state, with a healthy economy. The BMW factory and the University are amongst the largest employers in Regensburg. The capital of Germany is Munich, which is further south in Bavaria and the city is famous for the annual Oktoberfest (beer festival) which starts at the end of September. Regensburg proudly says it was the home of former Pope Benedict XVI and although much of Germany clings to the Protestant religion, most of Bavaria is staunchly Catholic.

Little did we know when we started on our tour this morning, that the river Danube was going to make significant alterations to our tour! We were supposed to have a full day in Regensburg and sail for Passau at 5.30pm. We had just got to the Cathedral, when Cherie caught up to us puffing and panting! She took the headset off our guide to give us an important message from the Captain. The river Danube was rising due to the recent rain. We had a low bridge to get under further down the river and he would like to now sail at 2.00pm. In Cherie's words " We were going to make a run for it"! Well we did that, but the Bogan Bridge won!

Fancy naming the bridge that! But obviously it has been a 'Bogan' over the years. We got to it about 6.15pm. We were all out on the balconies, climbing up on rails, cameras clicking and it wasn't looking good. Finally the Captain decided he would have to take on more ballast, so we were sent to dinner, as that would take at least an hour. During dinner the ship started heading back the way we had come! Bogan Bridge was just too low with the rising water of the Danube. We went back to a small town named Straubing and docked there for the night. Two other ships joined us.

After dinner Cherie briefed us on 'Plan B'. She had arranged for us to be bused to the train station in Passau for our train trip to Salzburg. It now meant we had to leave at 7.00am! More about that in the next blog!

During the afternoon Cherie did an introduction to APT. Told us the story of how APT started, how far the company has come and said she had information on other cruises. If passengers booked another cruise whilst on this one they would get 5 percent discount on top of any other specials. The presentation was not pushy and the Australian Pacific Company has a lot to be proud of. I felt pleased that we had chosen the company.

Finally Cherie had been able to get the entertainment for the evening on board. She didn't know how she was going to get them back to the car after the show, but they were here for us to enjoy. 'The Bavarian Devils' were great. We enjoyed an hour of oomp pa pa from three fellows dressed in their Bavarian traditional costumes. Those leather shorts again Pete!