Day 05 - Prague to Bamberg, Germany

Today we departed the Czech Republic and traveled all day by bus to meet our ship, the Alsvin, in Germany. We started very early with a 5:25am alarm. We had to put our luggage outside our room in the hallway by 6am so it could be loaded on the bus for us. We got our bags packed up and headed downstairs to get in line for breakfast before it opened at 6:30am. Everyone else on our ship had the same idea. By the time the restaurant opened, there was a crowd of hungry people. 

While we were eating our food, a lady at the table next to us exclaimed “OH NO!” She had cracked open an egg and discovered the hard way that it was not hard boiled. Needless to say, she had raw egg all over her pants. We gave her our napkins to help her clean up. Michele told her that things could only improve from here for her today. She wasn’t too amused.

We finished up breakfast by 7:15am and returned to our rooms to collect our carry-on bags. Viking divided the ship passengers into four groups: orange, grey, green, and blue. We were in the blue group scheduled to depart at 7:45am.

At 8:04am we departed on the E50 west out of Prague. E50 is a major highway that starts in the east at Brno, runs north through Prague before turning west and ending in Brest, France. 

The highway runs through Nuremberg. East to west it also passes by the following cities before reaching it’s end: Heidelberg, Mannheim, Saarbrucken, Metz, Reims, Paris, Chartres, LeMans, Rennnes, and Saint-Brieuc. The route took us through the western Czech countryside where we saw fields of blooming rapeseed. 

The crop’s yellow bloom lasts just a few weeks. We stopped for a quick 20 minute bathroom/leg stretcher break around 10am. Back on the bus at 10:20am we crossed over into Germany 10 minutes later. There was a small border station, but the guards didn’t stop the bus so we continued on.

Michele was last in Germany in 1991 when she took a trip to Italy via Germany with her friend’s family. Rob was last in Germany in 1985. Back then the Czech Republic was Czechoslovakia and the Iron Curtain was well intact. This trip would not have been possible (or likely desirable) back then.

While the terrain in the Czech Republic was mostly rolling hills with farmland, crossing into Germany we saw the size and number of hills increase with woodland and evergreens. We were also greeted with the site of an idyllic German hillside town.

The other notable change was the speed limit. In the Czech Republic the speed limit was 100km. Now in Germany and on the autobahn, the speed limit signs disappeared and cars were zipping past the bus at high speeds.

At about 11am, the bus driver turned off of E50 onto U85 (a secondary road). This was not expected so Rob took a quick look on his GPS and noticed that E50 was closed in the west-bound direction between Ursensollen and Schwend. The detour took us through Amberg and Souzbach-Rosenberg where we turned south on ST2164 towards Schwend where we got back onto E50.

We arrived in Nuremberg around 12:30pm.The cruise director, Jen, led us to the historic downtown square and to sightsee on our own until 2:15pm. We found an Irish pub with plenty of indoor seating and ordered lunch. The bartender/waiter spoke such good English that Michele thought he was Irish. Rob, Roy, and Gwyn all had the fish and chips while Michele had a ham and cheese toastie with a small salad. Roy and Rob also ordered a Pilsner.

In the late Middle Ages Nuremberg ranked as the most distinguished, best located city of the realm (the Holy Roman Empire). Today it is a modern, bustling area for locals and tourists. 

We drove to a few historic sites and met our tour guide. First stop was Zeppelinfeld, the Zeppelin field used for large-scale Nazi party gatherings from 1933-1938. Crowds were an astounding 1.3 million during these gatherings and the venue was used for propaganda.  This is what it looked like in those times.

Later, the Allies paraded down the same area and blew up the Nazi symbol atop the main stage. This is today’s view of what remains.

Michele felt that the place had a very bad vibe about it.

Next was a visit to the Imperial Castle of Nuremburg. 

The rampart. Note the curve of the rampart and the incline. These made charging at the gate more difficult as well as transporting large gate ramming “machines”. The curve also put the attackers back to a fortified wall allowing the defenders of the castle to shoot arrows at their backs.

These stones are original. You can see little holes in the center of each block. These holes (one on each face of the stone) were used by pincers to grip the stone so they could be lifted into place.

At the top of the rampart, you enter this gate which requires you to turn sharply to your right, making progress forward more difficult since you have to turn. This passageway was one of the defenses against enemies. It had a surprise defense mechanism.

This tunnel had no windows save for three ports in the ceiling. There was another set of doors at the other end making visibility very poor inside. Using the ceiling openings, boiled poo would be dumped upon intruders to keep them from advancing further into the castle structure. No enemy ever made it this far in this castle while the empire existed to test out that defense. 

We were shown pictures of the before and after WWII of the area around the castle. It was built in 1200 and represented the importance and power of the Holy Roman Empire. Nearly 90 percent of the city center structures were destroyed in WWII in a one-hour bombing run by the Allies. Subsequent bombings of the entire city would see 75% of all structures destroyed. Reconstruction after WWII was done to put everything back as it was pre-Nazis. So, while the city looks old it is not.

Perhaps most famously, Nuremberg is known for the Allied trials against defeated Nazi Germany for crimes committed during WWII. In the east wing of the Palace of Justice there is Courtroom 601 in which the Nuremberg trials took place. That room is located on the second floor behind the large windows on the building to the far right with the red tile roof.

After our tour of Nuremberg we drove about 45 minutes to Bamberg, arriving at the ship at 5:30pm. Check in was a new experience for us. Each crew member was assigned to each couple and walked us to our stateroom. We knew immediately this would be a more personalized type of cruise experience. We got checked into our room 321 on the third level, just below the sundeck on the top level.

Shortly after checking out our room, we went to the lounge located forward on the second deck for cocktails and the welcome presentation. We were introduced to the captain and his senior crew, and were told about the rules of the ship. A woman was rudely talking loudly near us so we could not hear everything being presented. Gwyn stared very intently at her with the evil eye and a disgusted look, but it did not work. Michele was considering how to tell her to shush without being rude herself, but the lady eventually shut up. From that point on she’d be known to us as “Loud Lady.” There’s at least one in every group, and so far most people have been friendly and kind. We learned there are just 186 passengers on our ship. 

Viking has a video on the room TV for the mandatory safety training showing where the life vests are located and the exits. In the past on the big ships we all had to show up at the muster station with our vests on and listen to the safety briefing. Michele told Rob should we need to abandon this ship, why can’t she just put on her vest and jump overboard? The ship and our balcony are very low to the water. 

Rob said he would opt to go up to the sundeck and wait until the ship sinks to the bottom, then he can just walk off it because the river is not that deep. Let’s hope neither of us need to test out our strategies. 

Before dinner we got organized and unpacked. All of our meals are at a set time, vs. large cruise ships that have a long span of time in which to get meals. Tonight’s dinner was at 7:30pm. The menu includes regional dishes, nightly specials, and an everyday menu. There are plenty of choices and we can mix and match. We can sit at any table and got one for just the four of us. Most tables seat six and some are much larger, encouraging people to mingle. The starter was pumpkin soup. Roy and Rob got the pork tenderloin, and Gwyn and Michele chose the chicken and vegetables. Dessert was New York cheesecake with raspberry drizzle.

Tomorrow we have a half day tour around Bamberg from 8:30-12:00 before we set sail down the Main river.