RHINE-MAIN-DANUBE CANAL

What a wonderful morning. We arrived in Kilheim to sunny, warm (39F) weather. As an optional tour we boarded a ferry and sailed the Rhine-Main-Danube canal through the Danube Gorge with limestone cliff formations reminiscent of Norwegian fjords. 

There are 17 locks in the canal, compared to over 100 if you were to continue your travels on the river itself.

We continued on to the Weltenburg Benedictine Abbey founded in 610AD. The monks here have been brewing a dark ale since 1050, which we were able to sample, along with the infamous Bavarian pretzel. Now, I’m not a beer drinker, but this was pretty good…..

Expecting to see a beautiful entrance I was a bit disappointed with the unadorned entrance. Then I went in….I hate to keep using the same phrases, but this was UNBELIEVABLE!!! Even though it is a very small church, the frescos, marble columns, statues take your breath away. As you walk in it appears very dark and as your eye travels up it gets brighter and brighter. The guide explained it represents the stages of life..the first being purification, second - illumination and the third -reunification.

One of the frescos portrayed ‘Heaven and Hell’. On the left side are men climbing up to reach heaven, while on the right there is chaos, rocks blocking the way to heaven and movement down to hell. It was  pointed out that only men were going to heaven, while on the right side only women are portrayed and they are going to hell. Guess we know what gender did this fresco.

On the opposite wall a fresco is showing monks traveling to the New World – with Columbus and the Virgin Mary and you can see the devils trying to get into the boat. Of course, this was the artist’s interpretation.

In the Baroque style (from 1600 to 1750) you can see that the portraits are of people rather than saints. Although on the highest level you can find four archangels…Michael, Gabriel, Rafael, and Uriel.

After lunch on the ship, we visited a local Bavarian family for a kaffe-klatsch. Maria, who has 4 children, 2 and 2, greeted us outside and showed off her garden and the hens that supply the family’s eggs. Inside we had ‘kaffe and tee’ and a delicious German custard cake. Maria told us about her life and her family and in turn asked many questions about us and the United States. She has a map of the States with markings of where her previous guests were from. She has been doing this for 4 years and donates the money she receives from Grand Circle to an orphanage in India.

Later she showed us around her home, which is much smaller than American homes and told us how she does her laundry at 10 p.m. because electricity is cheaper then. Her husband, who doesn’t speak English was out back splitting wood, which is their main source of heat for the winter months. After a couple of hours, we headed back to the ship to eat….some more.

Tomorrow it’s Nuremberg.

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