June 2, 2026 - Passau to Melk, Austria

Neither of us slept well last night - I woke up at 1:30am and could not go back to sleep, Tobey didn't sleep much more than me! We got up and took the "early-morning" walk with Nico, the cruise director to see the confluence of the Danube River at 6:30 this morning before breakfast.

We walked along the river and saw the Veste Oberhaus on the opposite side up on the hill. Veste Oberhaus is a massive 13th-century fortress in Passau, Germany, founded in 1219 to serve as the stronghold and residence for the city's Prince-Bishops. Perched above the Danube, it is one of Europe’s largest surviving castle complexes, historically protecting the city, functioning as a prison, and now acting as a museum, restaurant, and panoramic viewpoint. The year "1499" on the Veste Oberhaus in Passau marks the completion of the Schachnerbau, a major building phase of the fortress. It commemorates the expansion of the stronghold into a Renaissance residence under Prince-Bishop Christoph von Schachner, who ruled from 1490–1500, and is displayed alongside his coat of arms.

This building is the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall). It is also located on the waterfront along the Danube, this historic building features markings from various high-water events throughout the centuries, including the devastating 1501 and 2013 floods.


We just chuckled over the name of this hotel.

It was difficult to really see much difference in the water color when we got to the red spot on the map because of the early morning sun, but we were there - where the Inn, Ilz and Danube all come together.

This was the scene across the Inn River - to the left of the red dot.

We headed back to the ship for a quick breakfast because we had an 8:30am departure for the optional tour of Salzburg.

We spotted a couple pheasants when we stopped for a bathroom stop.

A view of one of the dams on the Danube

After a two hour drive we arrived in Salzburg. This is a view from the "Locks Bridge".

The Locks Bridge
Mirabel Gardens was used as part of the film set for the 1965 movie, "The Sound of Music."
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer played the main roles in this film and many of the memorable scenes were filmed in the picturesque gardens and Mirabell Palace. Since then, these places have attracted visitors from all over the world who want to follow in the footsteps of the von Trapp family. Our tour guide wanted us to sing the "Do, Re, Mi" song as we descended the steps into the garden. Tobey, Wendy, and I opted to move away from the group and not sing! Our guide was a bit on the eccentric side and I wasn't sure I would make it through the day.



The Mirabell Gardens were established around 1687 and heavily redesigned in the early 18th century, making them roughly 330–340 years old. While the associated palace was built earlier, in 1606, the Baroque layout of the gardens that exists today was largely shaped under Prince-Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun around 1690.

After strolling through the gardens we went out to the shopping area and walked along some of the shops while she explained the area.

Shop signs in old Salzburg, particularly along the historic Getreidegasse, are ornate, wrought-iron, and often gilded [guild signs] that date back to the Middle Ages. Originally designed to identify businesses for a largely illiterate population, these elaborate symbols, such as pretzels for bakers or keys for locksmiths, remain a mandatory, charming feature of the Old Town.


We even went by where Mozart was born which is now a museum.

After our 1-1/2 our tour we had free time so we opted to tour Fortress Hohensalzburg. Hohensalzburg Fortress is a large medieval fortress in the city of Salzburg and sits atop the Festungsberg mountain at an altitude of 1600 feet. The fortress is 820 feet long and 493 feet wide making it one of the largest medieval castles in Europe.

In 1077, Archbishop Gebhard began the construction of the castle complex. In the following centuries, his successors significantly expanded Hohensalzburg and around 1500, the fortress attained its current appearance under Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach. The original aim of the fortress was to protect the principality and the archbishops from enemy attacks. Throughout all these years, it was never captured by foreign troops.

The Fortress is the large building at the very top of the hill. Our tickets included the funicular ride up and down to save a VERY LONG walk up the hill!

We wound our way up several staircases to the top of the fortress. We had amazing views over the city and out to the Alps.





One area of the fortress also served as a prison at one time.

After our tour we headed back to meander the streets and enjoy a treat before heading back to the bus. We shared a nut pretzel and it was pretty yummy!

You can rent horse-drawn carriages to tour through the Old Town area.

Just an interesting statue!

Tobey was a good sport and posed serving an original Sacher torte. We looked in their sales shop but $15 for one slice of cake was a bit pricey!

We were back on the bus around 3:30 for our two hour drive to get back to our ship which had sailed on to Melk. After another wonderful meal we are turning in early and hopefully having a better night's sleep. Tomorrow we tour Melk Abbey and then sail on to Dürnstein, Austria.

June 1, 2026 - Vilshofen to Passau, Germany

Today's post will be mostly pictures. I did not feel good so Tobey and Wendy went to Regensburg and I stayed on the boat and slept all day.

They took the 1-1/2 hour bus ride from Vilshofen an der Donau to Regensburg for the city tour there. The drive took them along miles (or should I say kilometers?) of poppies and solar panels.



Other views from the city.

Tobey and Wendy split a bratwurst and sauerkraut sandwich on a really good bread from the oldest fast food restaurant in Regensburg. The oldest fast food restaurant in Regensburg is the Historische Wurstkuchl, which has been operating for over 880 years! Originally built in 1135 and serving as a kitchen since 1146, it is considered one of the world's oldest continuously operating restaurants. It primarily serves traditional sausages, sauerkraut, and mustard.

Regensburg is also know for its cuckoo clocks and they stopped into one of the shops to check them out.

After they arrived back to the ship, we listened to our tour guide, Bart, who told us about tomorrow's agenda. We went to the sun deck to watch as we went through our first lock and watch the sunset. Yes, we were that close to the side of the lock!

A view of the front of the lock while we were waiting for the water level to go down.

Beautiful sunset from the back of the ship.

We called it a night and headed back to the cabin about 9:30pm. Tomorrow we booked an optional tour to Salzburg so it will be an early morning.

May 30, 2026 to May 31, 2026 - Fort Collins, CO to Vilshofen, Germany

We started our trip for our Danube River Cruise today. Though a scheduling mix-up, Wendy got booked on a different flight from Denver to Newark so she had a 5:30am shuttle to the airport while Tobey and I had an 8:30am shuttle with a later flight to Newark. She was stuck waiting in Newark for almost five hours before we arrived!

Our departure from Newark was about 8:30pm and we arrived in Munich at 10:00am today. Navigating that airport took a few wrong turns, but we managed to get through customs and retrieve our luggage in time to catch the 11:00am transfer to our ship. Our trip was originally supposed to start in Regensburg, Germany but the water levels on the Danube are low that the ships cannot get through that section of the river so we are taking off from Vilshofen, Germany instead. 

The weather when we arrived was HOT and sunny. After we had a small lunch and unpacked most of our things we planned to walk into the town town. That changed! We came up to the main deck there was thunder, lightening, strong winds, and the rain was pouring down. We took a quick tour of our ship, the Monarch Queen, and decided to wait out the weather before venturing out.

About 4pm the rain let up and we decided to check out the little village area near our ship. You can see how dark the sky still was! There is another boat docked right next to ours. They have to pass through our ship to get to theirs!

Vilshofen lies at the confluence of the Vils, Pfudrach, and Wolfach rivers, about 20 kilometers upstream from Passau. Because of these tributaries flowing into the Danube, the town is also know as the "Little Three-Rivers Town," taking its name from the three-river city of Passau.

This is the Vilshofen Town Tower which we walked through and along many of the shops - most of which are closed because it is Sunday.

This is a view of the parish church at the opposite end of the street from the Town Tower.

In town we noticed lots of statues along the walk.


Along our walk.

We spotted a couple of swans along with their cygnets.

Wendy spotted this beautiful snail in the street!

The rain started back up so we headed quickly back to our ship! We unpacked some things and I heard a weird noise. I realized the boat next to us was taking off so I went up to watch it pull away. In a matter of about 10 minutes it was turned around and motoring away.


The tour company had about an hour presentation along with appetizers and champagne to introduce staff and folks on the cruise. A five-course dinner followed! The cheese appetizer was delicious followed by a yummy soup and another hot appetizer. We all picked a different entree - beef, fish, and spring rolls. The entrees were good, but the other courses were better. Dessert was hot lava cake with vanilla ice cream - a perfect way to end the meal.

Wendy and I called it a night at 9pm while Tobey went up to the lounge to check out the rock-n-roll musician. We are all exhausted after not much sleep in the plane so we are thankful our tour doesn't start until noon. Good night for now!