Today had been scheduled to be a nice quiet boring day, at least until last night when they announced that there wasnt enough water in the canals for us to make it to the Danube. We thought there would be enough water, but not quite. Fortunately, Viking has been through this all before and what they do is called a ship swap. While we have been proceeding from Amsterdam to Budapest in the Viking Lif, an identical ship, the Viking Vidar has been proceeding from Budapest to Amsterdam. When we both reach the point where the water is too low to pass, but from opposite directions, we will be moved from the Lif to the Vidar and the passengers on the Vidar will be moved to the Lif. The Vidar will turn around with us on board and return to Budapest, and the Vidar passengers will board the Lif and it will turn around and return to Amsterdam.
All we need to do tonight is pack our bags and leave them outside the door in the morning as we leave for our 8:30am tour, and when we board the coach after our tour, we will be returning to the Vidar
with our suitcases waiting for us in our new identical room on the Vidar. Other than a couple of hour coach ride between the ships, it should transparent to us. Surprisingly, some of the people on the ship were very upset about the swap. Im not sure why, we were warned before we left that it may be a possibility as a lot of rivers in Europe are experiencing low water levels due to drought. Jody & I just think of it as part of the adventure. The staff remains with the boat, but the cruise director with us to the new ship so we can maintain continuity. Evidently, some of the passengers develop relationships with the waiters, waitresses, bar staff, and housekeeping, and are upset that the staff are not following us to the new ship. We dont really understand the dynamic as we are always nice to the staff, but assume they have lives of their own and are not really interested in a lot of interaction with the guests. There are a few staff members we like, but well just meet new ones on the other ship.
in late, as our tour didnt leave until 1:30. After breakfast and lunch, we headed out to the coach to meet up with our local guide Stephan, who explained that even though his name was spelled Stephan, the proper German pronunciation was Schtephan and that no German would ever pronounce it Stephan except the Germans who lived near the coast, and they were strange fish people anyway. Schtephan was young, but a historian and knowledgeable about Bamberg. He was a lot of fun and made a lot of bad puns and Dad jokes.
Bamberg is a university town of about 77,000, with about 15,000 of them being students. But evidently school was not yet back in session, because we saw mostly old people as we wandered the town. The old part of town is from the Middle Ages and has untouched by WW2 as the town had no military importance, and it was too small to be destroyed for demoralization purposed. Local legend says that the town was actually spared because of the many fine breweries, and the allies wanted to make sure there was plenty of beer available once the town was occupied. Speaking of
beer, Bamberg is famous for its Rauchbier or Smoked Beer which is made by drying the barley over an open flame. Some people say it has a bacon flavor, others say it tastes like an ashtray. Since we dont drink, we have no idea, but people from the ship who tried it had both reactions.
It has Bamberg Cathedral, a typical Baroque church from about the 12th century and the same legacy of rule as Wurzburg, but these were not as rich as Wurzburg as the residence was not nearly as opulent, and in fact, while the front was decorated with a baroque faade, in the rear, the faade was smooth, but the features of the front were painted onto the smooth faade like a fresco.
Most of the buildings are but you cant tell because many of the elements have been plastered over to give a smooth stucco effect.
