#scharding

Reopening: D'Hofstatt in Scharding ceremoniously opened

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Author:             Party reporter Scharding from Scharding Gastronomic addition for the baroque town of Scharding. On Friday, October 25, "D'Hofstatt" was ceremoniously opened. SCHARDING. The new wine tavern with bar and wine is located in the former Oxxenhof building. The concept explains owner Martin Obereder: "The concept is built on three pillars –…

By Katharina Sophia

Photo courtesy  FTP Edelman -- Passau, Germany

Grand European Tour – Day 6

August 15 - Passau

Woke up, opened the curtain and went outside onto the balcony and saw a camper van parked on the riverside with a bike and a table outside.  As we went along, I noticed more people camping along the river—one man lying outside on a lounge chair in the cool morning air, and families with kids playing near the water.  This began a trend—more and more campers along the riverside, some kayaking, some waving at us as we went by, and one group lined up, turned away from the ship and dropped their pants to moon us!

Passau is a town filled with cobblestone streets and archways that give it an Italian vibe.  My group’s guide, Sebastien, was wearing lederhosen and making jokes about being Bavarian, independent and not liking foreigners (except tourists who spend their money).  I said, “That sounds familiar.”   For me, the cobblestone streets are a challenge with their uneven surfaces and the constant feeling of almost tripping.  But locals and others in the group seem not to notice the bumpiness.  

The shops in the town were closed today because of the Catholic Feast of the Assumption—and lots of European locations will close on Catholic holidays.  We passed by the Cathedral that had lots of people inside, but we could not go in until the mass was finished to look at the interior artwork and statues. 

 By that time, the whole town was full and we headed down a cobblestone hill to a Feast Day Festival, where Sebastien plied us with Lowenbrau beer. I gave my cup to the man behind me, since beer doesn’t appeal to me.  I did buy a pretzel thinking that I wanted to get a good German/Austrian pretzel while I had the chance. Little did I know that throughout Germany I would have the opportunity for free pretzels at almost every stop we made.  In fact, we went on the ship for lunch, and there were pretzels on board.  

The afternoon excursion was a Bavarian Cruise and visit to a Baroque Town called Schärding.  The cruise was in a nature preserve area on the Inn River in a wooden boat with tables and chairs. The drivers of the boat served pretzels and beer (or some other non-alcoholic drink) and told us some of the history of the area.  

In fact, one story about the Good King Wenceslaus in the Christmas Carol made me think twice about how good he was.  We saw a statue in the river of St. John of Nepomuk, who was supposedly tortured and  thrown from a bridge by King Wenceslaus in Prague because John, who was Bishop, would not reveal to the King the information told to him by the Queen in her confession.  St. John of Nepomuk is now patron saint of bridges and rivers as well as of fire brigades. There is a statue of him on the Inn River.  The first, from 1013, was called St. John of Nepomuk “the reliable,” but when that statue was washed away, it was replaced and the name changed to “the unreliable.”  

The tour disembarked the beer boat at a bridge that crossed the border between Passau in Germany and Schärding  in Austria, where we saw the town’s colorful buildings and lots of cobblestones, again.  As we were enjoying pretzels and drinks on the boat and wandering through the town, our cruise ship headed up river through several locks and we met them along the river at a brief stop on the way to Regensburg.