July 12 /15

This morning we sailed to Hassfurt - nice to be able to relax at the start of the day. We listened to a presentation about the canal system that we're travelling through. Until tomorrow we will be travelling upstream through the locks (67 in total) until we reach the highest point at the Rhine-Main-Danube  canal. This canal is man-made, and links the Rhine to the Danube. Here we'll be 1300 feet above sea level, then we'll be going downstream on the Danube as far as Budapest.

I tried one of Germany's staple food items - a soft pretzel. They look like the twisted hard pretzels (even have the salt on the outside) but these are baked and mostly soft and puffy. They're quite good, especially with a beer! Like many other treats here however, Michael couldn't try one.

The boat came ashore at Hassfurt, and after lunch we rode the bus to Bamberg, where we had a guided walk, follwed by some free time. Bamberg is a large city, and predominently Catholic, unlike many of the smaller places we've visited, which were largely Protestant. Unfortunately we were here on a Sunday and most things were closed, so there wasn't much to do during free time. Also, we needed to buy more tylenol for Michael, as he's not yet quite recovered, and we were unable to do so. However, a very kind tourist overheard me asking for it, and happened to have some in her bag. This was a stroke of luck, as Michael wants to be well enough for Nuremberg tomorrow.

Bamberg was fortunate in that it didn't sustain as much damage during the war as many places did. It treated the Jewish people badly even long before the war, as they were run out of town if people couldn't pay back their debts to them. And there was a certain amount of religious intolerance as well towards them. But now they have been welcomed back, and have a new synagogue to replace the destroyed one.

We really didn't get much out of this tour today, as there was little to see of interest, and too much free time without much to do. However, keep in mind that the ship was sailing to catch up to us, and needed a set amount of time for this. Also, we always have the option to sail with the ship and forego the tour if we wish. One thing that we did enjoy was some delicious ice cream from a shop that had unusual flavours such as rose and lavender.

But the most fun thing of all today was a game we played in the evening called the Liar's Club. A word was presented to us, and four staff members gave a definition of the word. Only one was telling the truth, and we had to decide who it was. They used words such as 'fullfart', 'titup', 'collywobble', 'cloop', and 'gardyloo', and as you can imagine it was pretty funny to hear their explanations of these words. It's even funnier because none of the staff speak English as their first language.