Cruise Day Three

We've been through many locks during the night. We've been on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, which connects the Main and the Danube rivers and consists of 16 locks. Not sure how many we've been through in our three days cruising, but it's certainly double figures. We had a talk on the building and workings of the canal, and it's an incredible engineering achievement. At one point we went UP to 400m above sea level, then came down again. 

We arrived in Regensburg about midday, so it was a relaxing morning with a late breakfast before setting off on our various trips. We had chosen The World of Beer' months ago when we booked, but we were somewhat surprised that we'd chosen a beer trip AGAIN. Then we remembered - this was NOT technically a beer trip, it was a trip to see the famous Kuchlbauer Tower, designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, which happens to be in a brewery.

We've always known about Hundertwasser - he emigrated to New Zealand and lived there for the last 20 years or so of his life, but he was an established famous artist before he went there. I always had a calendar of his colourful, childlike pictures, and have used them as inspiration for children's art work over the years. And so, on our trip today, there were only 5 of us. Mainly because they advertised it as 'The World of Beer' and many people had been on the beer cellar trip yesterday chose to avoid it. In fact, it was a great joke with our Aussie pals that we were going on yet another beer trip!

Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the area, and seemed to be a beer expert too. This was a 'wheat beer' brewery, and I'm sorry, but I glazed over at the finer details of 'top fermenting' and 'bottom fermenting' brews. We had a tour of the brewery, which was quirky and full of Hundertwasser touches - use of bottles in the walls, NO straight lines, lots of colour!

When we eventually got to explore the tower, the rain, which had been threatening all day, started. There was a lift to the top of the tower, thank goodness, but the views from the top were of course disappointing. It was soooo quirky! Hundertwasser though, did not see it built - he died before the build was started.

The entrance fee included a beer of choice and a pretzel, but was hardly the main event of the tour. 

Back to the ship in time for dinner. The chap we'd been on the tour with invited us to join him and his wife.

An early start tomorrow, though the weather doesn't look too promising...