Danube Cruise Day 10: Cruising

The schedule for today (our last day) had a walking tour in Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart. The problem is that Salzburg is not on the Danube. It's a one-and-a-half hour (plus rest stop) bus ride from Linz. The boat would continue upstream to Passau, Germany, also a couple hours from Salzburg. 

And it was a dark drizzly day.

We've been to Salzburg before (albeit decades ago), so we and about 20 others opted to stay on the boat for a relaxing day. Very good decision. Although the rain held off for their walking tour, it rained during their free time in Salzburg and poured on the way to Passau, making a two-hour bus trip into a four-hour trip.

Meanwhile on the boat, we sat in the lounge, or walked on the upper deck between showers, and enjoyed mysterious views of the hills through the fog. I loved walking on the top with 360-degree views. The first time I went up (when no one else was there) it was all I could do not to twirl around and sing, "The hills are alive!" 

I got in my desired 10,000 steps just doing laps around the deck. We have done a lot of walking tours, but mostly rambling or gentle walking. It felt good to stretch my legs--almost like hiking on the bike path along the shore.

Here are some of my favorite pictures. They made me want to come home and watch the beginning of Sound of Music with all those shots of Austria.

This one was taken during lunch through the window with great drops of rain clinging to it, hence the blurs.

Our last on-board concert Michael and Natsuki played Mozart's Mirror Duet. That is the music on the horizontal music stand between them. They both start from the upper left hand corner from their perspective and play at the same time.

Here's what the music looks like.

It was delightful as was every one of our on-board concerts. The whole experience was beyond our expectations. We would definitely do a classical music oriented tour like this again.

Now we are home. We had to have our luggage outside the door by 4:30 AM Tuesday in order to make the 5 AM bus to Munich for our flight. A whole group of us said our good-byes at the airport, wondering if we will meet again on another music adventure.

Concert content:

October 24/Salzburg Day - Amadeus Queen

• Mozart: Mirror Duet for Two Violins
• JS Bach: Concerto in D minor for Two Violins