Day 7 - Nuremberg, Germany - Christmas Market

This morning, we wake up to riverbanks covered in snow. We don't get to see too much of the white stuff in Dallas, so it is a real treat. I have to slide open our stateroom door and shoot some photos.

Snow on the banks of the Danube

We were able to sleep a bit later this morning as Savor does not arrive in Nuremburg until a little after 1:00pm. Tauck offered three different excursions in Nuremburg: a WWII Tour, A Medieval Nuremburg Tour and a Panorama Tour. All three tours end up at the Old Town Christmas Market, one of the largest in Germany. We chose the Panorama Tour as it claimed to offer the most free time at the market.

On Tauck river cruise excursions, complimentary bottled water is available in the Reception area before guests disembark the ship. You are also greeted with a hot towel, warm beverage and a sweet treat when you return from an excursion. It should be noted that, of all river cruises we have covered, Tauck has the most extensive security measures in place. Guests use their room key to "swipe" out when leaving the ship, and "swipe" in when returning. This allows Tauck to track which guests are on/off the ship at any given time.

Complimentary bottled water

We board our coach for the Panorama Tour with Jill, one of our Tauck Tour Directors, narrating from the front of the coach. We have done the Panorama Tour before so we basically were using the motor coach as transportation to the Christmas Market, but the tour is a good overview of Nuremburg for first-time visitors. When we arrive at the drop-off point, Jill guides us to the "Beautiful Fountain" in the Hauptkarkt main market square, which will be our meeting point for the 5:30 coach trip back to Savor.

Jill shows us the way to the ‘Beautiful Fountain’

The Beautiful Fountain is hard to miss. At Christmastime it is decorated to appear as a tall column, so you really can't tell that it is a fountain. But, it is a prominent structure and makes for a good gathering landmark. Of course, the most imposing structure in the Hauptmarkt is the Church of our Lady.

Beautiful Fountain (left) and Church of our Lady in background

It is really cold when we arrive at the Christmas Market, and it is starting to get dark. Oh, and it is pretty windy, too, which makes it even colder. Our first objective is to find a Glühwein stand so we can get one of the cool Nuremburg mugs to add to our growing collection. We found a stand that had the mug Rickee wanted and we were soon warming our insides with mulled wine.

Rickee with her collector Nuremburg glühwein mug

The crowd at the Market is unlike anything we have ever experienced. It is Saturday night and it seems everyone in Germany has come to Nuremburg for the Christmas Market. We fight through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd to find a space to drink the glühwein without getting bumped. It just so happens we find a spot right next to a vendor selling some very tasty-looking Nuremburg sausages. What are the odds? Nuremburg sausages are small, about the size of your forefinger. For 3€ you get three grilled sausages on a crusty bun. Slather on some mustard and you have a delicious treat! Rickee and I shared one of the sausage rolls and it was very good. Not as good as Regensburg Sausage Kitchen, but pretty close.

Nuremburg sausages

With two hours before the shuttle back to Savor, we had plenty of time to see every vendor booth, and even some twice. The hardest part was fighting through the massive crowds.

Massive crowds at the Market

We stopped near the Church of our Lady where a bandstand was set up and a choir was singing Christmas songs.

There was a good variety of vendors here selling all kinds of goods such as unique Christmas ornaments and decorations, souvenirs, stuffed animals, toys, metal craft, carved wood items, clothing, etc.

Christmas decorations for sale

By the time 5:15 rolled around, we were ready to return to Savor. About two hours of cold and crowds is all we can handle. Besides, it was more than enough time to see everything. We were back on board Savor by 6:00pm. We attended the Captain's Farewell Cocktail Reception in Panorama Lounge and said goodbye to new friends. We had an opporunity to visit a bit with Steve Marchant, our Cruise Director, with whom we have previously sailed (2014 Tauck ms Inspire). We enjoyed getting to know Steve a little better and hope we have the opportunity to travel with him again.

Steve Marchant, Tauck Cruise Director

Our delightful Tauck Christmas Market river cruise has come to an end, but we will have memories of this trip that will last forever. Tomorrow, we fly home to Dallas. It will be a long day in the air, but it will give us time to go over our notes and begin our final review of Tauck Savor!

Day 6 - Regensburg, Germany (Thurn & Taxis Palace)

We have probably been to Regensburg more than any other city on the Danube. It is a very popular destination for Danube river cruises, and for good reason. Regensburg is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Germany as it was untouched by Allied bombing during WWII.

We rarely join a walking tour of Regensburg since we are so familiar with the city. But, Tauck is including a tour of the Thurn and Taxis Palace in their walking tour, which we have never seen. So, it made sense to join the tour. We met our local tour guide as soon as we disembarked Savor in Regensburg.

Our Regensburg tour guide

It is another cold and cloudy day in Germany, something we are beginning to get used to. After all, it IS December! Rain is in the forecast, so we brought the umbrella from our stateroom just in case. It would prove to be a wise decision. The tour begins with a fairly long walk toward the Old Stone Bridge, an historic landmark in Regensburg.

Rickee poses in front of Old Stone Bridge

The Old Stone Bridge has been standing for more than 900 years and is currently undergoing some repairs. It is the oldest working bridge in Germany and has survived floods, icebergs, and wars. On the south bank of the Danube, at the base of the bridge, is one of the oldest sausage kitchens in the world: Wurstkutchl (sausage kitchen). This place has the best sausages in the world so we usually don't pass up the opportunity to have lunch there.

As our tour guide leads us further south and into the city center, the cold rain begins to fall and the umbrella is deployed. We walk by many historic buildings, some constructed in the 10th century! At one point in the tour, we stop to examine five brass markers just outside an apartment building. Each brass "stone" bears the name of a Jewish resident arrested in 1942 and sent to the Janowski concentration camp in Poland where they were murdered (shot), along with thousands of other Jews, in the Pianski ravine. The "stumble stones" as they are called, are meant to be a sobering reminder to the German people of what took place under Nazi rule so that history never repeats itself.

Stumble stones

The walking tour ends at the entrance to the Thurn and Taxis Palace (St. Emmeram) where one of the palace tour guides takes over and leads us inside.

Thurn and Taxis Palace Guide

As we enter the palace, we are informed that photos of the interior are not allowed. So, my words will have to paint the picture. The palace was originally built as a monastery and was given to the Thurn and Taxis family by the Bavarian government as compensation for nationalizing the postal system that the family founded. It is a rather long, but interesting, story. When you visit Regensburg, it would be worth a visit and a tour of the palace.

After the tour, we are given tickets to visit the Christmas Market that is on the grounds of the palace. Unlike other Christmas Markets, this one is "private" and charges an admission fee. However, it is more "upscale" than other Christmas Markets we have visited. You see more craftsmen who actually create the products they are selling.

Thurn and Taxis Christmas market

After walking through the Christmas market, Rickee and I were starting to get cold and decided to return to Savor. We have already walked back to the river from the palace before, so we knew the way. By the time we got back to Savor, the sun was starting to come out.

The sun starts to come out as we return to Savor

This afternoon, Savor guests were treated to a holiday vocal performance by "Spitzweg" quartet, a local men's acapella group. We have heard them before, and they are very good. After the "concert", the galley crew showed us how to make German Stollen (Christmas cake), a treat that we refer to as fruitcake.

The highlight of the evening was the Christmas Dance Party and Secret Santa gift exchange held in the Panorama Lounge after dinner. It was another fun and exciting day on Tauck Savor.

Tomorrow will be our last full day on Savor and we will be in Nuremberg, Germany.

Day 5 - Passau, Germany

Yes, it's another cold, damp day on the Danube as Tauck Savor docks in Passau. We get all layered up for our morning walking tour. To get ashore this morning, we have to go up to the Sun Deck and cross the top deck of another riverboat docked next to us.

Rickee sees the Sun Deck for the first (and probably last) time

Once ashore, we meet up with Rudy, our local tour guide for the day. Our first stop on the tour is for one of Tauck's famed lagniappes (an unexpected treat), giving us the opportunity to enjoy a gingerbread making demonstration by Chef Simon, owner of the well-known (at least in Passau!) Cafe Simon.

Rudy, our local guide in Passau

As we wait to enter the demonstration tent, we are treated to a mug of hot Glühwein (mulled wine). After all, who doesn't drink a little wine at 9:00am? Soon, we are seated in the demonstration tent and Chef Simon proceeds to explain the traditional ingredients and methods of making gingerbread. Samples of three different types of gingerbread are passed around for us to taste. We were amazed that one of the molds he still uses for making the gingerbread dated back to 1688!

Chef Simon explains gingerbread

A the conclusion of the demonstration, we are each given a gift of a gingerbread cookie in the shape of a star to eat or use as a Christmas tree decoration.

Gingerbread cookie gift

For the next hour or so, we walked the nearly vacant streets and alleyways of Passau. Our guide stopped many times along the route to show us how high the water level got during the flood of 2013, the worst flood in Passau in 500 years. Many of the buildings have plaques showing how high the water was. Over 10 feet of water flooded much of the city.

We had an opportunity to visit the impressive interior of St. Stephen's Cathedral, located in the center of Passau. St. Stephan's is famed for having the largest cathedral organ in Europe with 17,974 pipes and 233 stops. Unfortunately, organ concerts are not offered in winter.

St. Stephen's in Passau

Just outside St. Stephens, a bustling Christmas Market is underway in the town square. Rickee wastes no time in finding another Glühwein stand so that she can add yet another mug to her growing collection. We also purchased a large soft pretzel, which tasted great!

After walking around the crowded Christmas Market for awhile, we decide to return to Tauck Savor for lunch. Passau is an easy city to navigate on foot, but there are some steep hills that can be a challenge for those with mobility issues. As we board Savor, we continue to be in awe of how much effort the Tauck staff have put into making the ship reflect the Christmas season. Nearly everywhere you look, there are beautifully-decorated Christmas trees along with other Christmas decorations throughout the ship. Christmas music plays softly in the Reception area and pretty Christmas cookies are set out in various locations around the ship for the guests. Hot gluhwein is always available in Arthur's on Deck 3.

A Christmas tree greets you as you enter Compass Rose dining room

The whole reason for taking a Christmas Markets river cruise is to get immersed in the Christmas spirit and, of the four Christmas Markets cruises we have enjoyed (with four different cruise lines), none embraced the spirit of Christmas as well as Tauck.

The gingerbread house display in Panorama Lounge

Cruise Director, Steve Marchant, has a different fun Christmas sweater every day

Tauck Tour Director, Zophia, gets into the Christmas spirit, too

Tauck even has a program where they distribute Christmas gifts to families in need. The Christmas Giving Tree in the lobby offers guests the opportunity to purchase small gifts for children (up to age 6). Tauck then distributes the gifts to families in need and also donates cash. Tauck actually has en entire department that focuses on charitable giving.

Tauck guests purchase gifts for families in need

One thing is for sure, if you are not in the Christmas spirit when you board a Tauck Christmas Markets river cruise, you will be by the time you disembark!

Tomorrow, we will be in Regensburg, Germany.

Day 4 - Salzburg, Austria (and Linz)

To visit Salzburg from a river cruise involves a two-hour coach ride from our dock in Linz, Austria. With coaches scheduled to depart at 8:00am, I get an early start on the morning in Arthur's, armed with coffee and laptop. I find Arthur's to be the perfect morning workplace. It is quiet, has comfortable seating and an automatic coffee machine is just a few feet away!

My morning workstation in Arthur's

Last night, during the briefing, Steve, our Cruise Director, mentioned that everyone should place their shoes outside their stateroom before going to bed, a December 6 tradition in Europe in honor of St. Nicholas Day. According to tradition, if the children had been "good" this year,they would find treats inside their shoes. We completely forgot to put our shoes out. Apparently everyone else on board has been very good!

Saint Nicholas left treats in guests' shoes

Before departing for Salzburg, we stopped by the Reception desk to retrieve our meal vouchers. A couple of days ago, we selected a meal choice for lunch in Salzburg and our choice is represented by a colored "voucher."

Meal vouchers

As with every day so far on this journey, it is cold when we disembark Savor in Linz.

Rickee is bundled up for a cold day in Salzburg

The good news is, it is dry and not windy! Before boarding the coach to Salzburg, I was informed that these coaches are not equipped with WiFi, although we have seen WiFi on many coaches in Europe. I had hoped to work on our blog during the two-hour drive, but will have to delay that until we return this evening. The coaches are extremely comfortable and spotlessly clean.

Motor coach

About an hour into the drive, the snow-covered Alps came into view. One of the Tauck Tour Directors, Jill, gave commentary as we drove to Salzburg regarding Austrian customs and history. We made a comfort stop at a very nice restaurant that probably had the most beautiful view of any highway rest stop in the world!

View of the Alps from the rest stop

When we arrived in Salzburg, we were again divided into smaller groups and assigned a local tour guide. Our guide walked us through the main pedestrian shopping street in Old Town Salzburg and eventually into the Christmas Markets.

Tour guide leads us through Christmas Markets

A great photo spot is the Love Locks Bridge, which we walk across to get into Old Town. From here, you can see Salzburg fortress and the Alps in the background. The rails of the bridge are covered with padlocks representing the love between two people. Basically, you buy a padlock, write your names on it, lock it to the bridge and throw away the key. You now know the secret to everlasting love!

Rickee on the Love Locks Bridge in Salzburg

Our lunch is not scheduled until 1:30pm, so after our walking tour, we have more than an hour-and-a-half to explore Salzburg and shop the Christmas Markets. The Christmas Market in Salzburg is significant, and many of the vendors have quality merchandise.

Shopping the Christmas Markets in Salzburg

Vendors are selling everything from elaborate Christmas ornaments to toys to wood carvings to engraved metal products and, of course, there are a lot of food vendors. If you love sausages, you won't go hungry in the Christmas Markets! Salzburg Christmas Market is one of the best we have visited so far.

Tauck has made lunch reservations for all of us at St. Peter's Restaurant, located within the walls of St Peter's Abbey. It is claimed to be the oldest inn in Central Europe because of a supposed mention of it in the Carmina anthology, issued in 803 AD. The former guesthouse of the Benedictine friars was also mentioned by the Monk of Salzburg in the 14th century. Based on these and other claims, the St. Peter's is perhaps the oldest existing restaurant in the world.

We show up around 1:15 for our 1:30 lunch and the crowds are huge! A lot of other tour groups are booked for lunch here, as well. When we finally get into our lunch venue, the room is beautiful. A huge 25-foot Christmas tree is at the far end of the room.

While St. Peter's Restaurant was a beautiful venue, style soon overcame substance once meal service began. All guests (about 114 of us) were first offered a beverage. Then the consomme was served to all. The first to be served the main course were those who had pre-ordered the Glazed Turkey entree, about 50% of the guests. There were only three or four waiters delivering food, so it took more than 30 minutes just to serve the turkey. Everyone at our table had ordered the turkey except for Rickee, who had ordered the pasta. However, the next entree to be delivered was the salmon, which took another 20 minutes. It was 3:00pm before Rickee finally got her pasta, and of course, it was cold. We had been instructed by the Tour Directors to meet at the fish market (a 10-15 minute walk from where we had lunch) at 3:30, so you can see the problem. In fact, by the time Rickee got her entree, most of the Tauck guests had already decided to skip dessert and had left the restaurant to start walking to the meeting place at the fish market. I don't think more than six desserts were served and our table got four of them since we were the only people left in the room!

When we met up with the Tauck Tour Directors, they were visibly upset over the service in the restaurant. This is NOT the way Tauck operates, and we know that to be a fact from our own past experience. I have no doubt that the issue with the service has already been addressed with the restaurant. Basically, I think there were not enough waiters to serve a group this large. On the coach drive back to Linz, Jill (a Tauck Tour Director) apologized for the service at the restaurant, but it really was not Tauck's fault. The restaurant just dropped the ball. Jill played a classical music CD through the coach's audio system and treated us all to the AUTHENTIC Mozart chocolates that can only be found in Salzburg and only at one particular store. These are the chocolates wrapped in the blue and white paper, not the impostors wrapped in the colored foil with Mozart's picture on them!

Regardless, it was a beautiful, albeit cold, day in Salzburg. When we returned to Savor, some guests chose to walk into Linz to explore that city's Christmas Market, but we chose to enjoy the Panorama Lounge and work on our blog!

Tomorrow, we will be in Passau, Germany.

Day 3 - Melk, Austria and Melk Abbey

Since RIckee took over the reporting duties yesterday in Vienna, I have decided to give her a rest today and I am going to cover the morning walking tour of Melk Abbey. Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey looming above the town of Melk, Austria.

This morning, Tauck Savor offered a tour of the abbey with local guides. The tour begins with a short coach drive up the steep hill to the entrance of the abbey. We walk down a few flights of steps and through the impressive entrance.

After passing through a couple of archways, we arrive at the main courtyard of the abbey.

Here, we were divided into smaller groups and assigned a local guide for the remainder of the tour.

Our local guide for the Melk Abbey tour

The rest of the tour took place inside the abbey, and they have a new policy which does not allow cameras. As I recall, it used to only restrict flash photography. I would suppose that because so many tourists either ignored the rule, or could not figure out how to turn off their flash, the policy changed.

That is a shame because the church is one of the most impressive ones you will find anywhere. If you are in Melk, you don't want to skip seeing the abbey. It is spectacular. I especially like the view from the balcony where you can see the village of Melk and the Danube below.

The view of Melk and the Danube from the Melk Abbey balcony

The tour only takes a couple of hours and guests are offered the option of taking the coach back to the ship or walking back through town. The walk takes about 30 minutes and there are a lot of steps and steep streets. We usually walk back, but it is so cold and windy today that I decide to wimp out and take the coach back.

Tauck Savor docked in Melk

When I get back to the ship, it is almost time for lunch. Rickee and I make our way to Compass Rose and find a nice table for two. The buffet lunch is well laid out, featuring two lines with identical selections in both lines, and there are lots of delicious choices. Today, they are offering crepes made to order. Everything we tried was delicious! Tauck also serves complimentary wine, beer or soft drinks with every meal.

Rickee tries some of the many salads on the buffet

After lunch, Rickee decides to try out her construction skills at the gingerbread house building competition held in the Panorama Lounge. Rickee joins three other ladies to form a team. Each "team" is given a "kit" with all the materials necessary to construct a gingerbread house. The galley has provided icing in piping bags along with bits of candy to decorate the houses.

The construction begins by erecting the walls and cementing everything together with the "icing mortar".

Then come the decorations: more icing, candy bits, you name it. Each team came up with its own decorations. Rickee said is the was the most fun she can remember having on a cruise!

The completed gingerbread house

This evening, Jill, a Tauck Director, gave the briefing on what we could expect for tomorrow's activities.

She was briefly interrupted by Saint Nicholas and Krampas, who proceeded to go around the room and learn who has been naughty and who has been nice this year.

Krampus and Saint Nicholas

In folklore, Krampus is a horned figure described as "half-goat, half-demon", who, during the Christmas season, punishes children who have misbehaved. Saint Nicholas, in contrast, rewards the well-behaved with gifts. Apparently, Jill has not been a very good girl since Saint Nicholas was doling out some punishment for her.

Soon, we are all invited into Compass Rose for the Gala Dinner. We find our favorite table for two, which is quite elegantly set.

The multi-course meal was delicious and quite sophisticated for a river cruise ship.

Tomorrow, we will be visiting Salzburg, Austria.

Day 1 - Embarkation in Vienna

The last thing you want to do on a cold, windy day in VIenna is haul your heavy luggage half a mile to your ship. However, logistically, that is exactly how our morning began.

We were actually able to locate where Tauck Savor was docked using a Marine Finder app that shows the real-time location of every ship in the world. Sure enough, as we walked down the pier, Savor soon came into view and, as we dropped our luggage at the bottom of the gangway, we were greeted by a familiar face. Steve Marchant walked down the stairs to welcome us and we instantly recognized him as having been the Cruise Director on our April 2014 sailing on Tauck Inspire. We were one of the first to arrive this morning, as it is only a little after 10am, and embarkation does not officially begin until 4pm.

Savor docked in Vienna

After we exchanged pleasantries, Steve said we were free to hang out in the lounge, or go into town to explore. He even arranged for a taxi to take us and another early-arriving couple into Vienna city center. We decided to take Steve up on his generous offer and join the other couple for the 15-minute taxi ride into town. We were dropped off in front of Mozart Cafe, near the famed Opera House.

With nothing more to guide us than a map of the city provided by Steve, we started walking towards the main pedestrian street in Vienna. Soon, we were in a sea of tourists and locals walking down Kaerntnerstrasse, toward St. Stephen's. The street is lined with shops and cafes, most of which are closed. We are on the hunt for a pharmacy, or Apotheke. I have acquired a bit of a head cold and am in need of some cold medication. Unfortunately, as it is Sunday, nearly everything is closed.

Rickee does some window shopping

The Christmas decorations are everywhere you look. Vienna is perhaps the most decorated city in Europe at Christmas. Eventually, we make our way to the Rauthaus Christmas Market, the largest in the city.

Across the street from Rauthaus

We walked around the Christmas Market for the better part of an hour. Rickee found her souvenir Gühlwein mug, shaped like Santa's boot, that she had been wanting. The market is crowded, but we have seen it even more crowded on previous visits.

It felt as though in a little more than two hours we had walked all over Vienna. The architecture here is amazing. If it were not so cold, we would have spent the entire day just trying to get lost. We somehow stumbled back onto the Kaerntnerstrasse and managed to find our way back to Mozart Cafe. We decided Mozart Cafe was a good landmark from which to call an Uber. In about three minutes, our Uber driver showed up in a brand new Hyundai and we were on our way back to Tauck Savor. The Uber ride was about 8.65€ (about $10 US). When we get back on board Savor, they were still serving a light lunch in the lounge.

Light lunch in lounge

We are able to go to our stateroom and unpack before meeting the rest of the guests in the lounge for an early Happy Hour. Waiters/esses circulate with delicious hors d' oeuvres as we enjoy our favorite cocktail, which is complimentary on a Tauck river cruise. Soon, we were all welcomed by our Cruise Director, Steve, and introduced to the Captain and senior staff.

Steve Marchant greets Savor guests

Tomorrow, Savor will still be docked in Vienna where guests will be treated to a visit of Schönbrunn Palace. It is good to be back on Tauck!