28 June

Today, we took a sightseeing tour of the historic city of Nuremberg. We saw the storybook 900-year-old ramparts, the Imperial Castle and the Justice Palace, where the War Crimes Tribunal sat in 1946.

The city tour led us to the major sights, from the early beginnings to the present. Because of a car racing event, we could not see the Nazi party rally grounds, where rallies were held from 1933 until 1938, but we took a self–guided tour of the WWII Documentation Centre. Audio guide players make it easy to see each room at your own pace.

2:00 – After lunch on the ship, we took a shuttle bus to the town square and walked up to the Imperial Castle, from which good views were across the city.

We only had an hour until the next shuttle, so we walked across the city square before catching the bus back to the ship. There was some event in the town square, and we enjoyed seeing little children getting their lifetime bicycle licence after passing a test.

We could have caught the last shuttle an hour later but chose to use some time to rest.

16:45 – We left for Kelheim, which meant the captain was confident about the river levels to get to Kelheim/Regensburg. Most other lines, such as Uniworld, Viking and APT, had transferred their passengers to other ships at Nuremberg. So far, we escaped that inconvenience. There was a bit of rain in the evening, but we needed a lot more to be confident of completing the voyage by ship.

5:00 – We enjoyed a lecture about the EU from a guest presenter.

21:30 – Some passengers chose to watch the movie “Rush” in the theatre.

10:00 – We went through one of the three highest locks at Leerstetten (24.67 m) and were allowed on the Sun Deck for a champagne celebration. It takes quite a while for the ship to be raised to the top. Unlike the earlier locks, where two gates swing open, the gate goes into the water before the ship can proceed.

Day by day

• Days -11 to -15 – Singapore
• Days -4 to -10 – UK
• Days -1 to -3 – Paris Extension
• Day 1 & 2 – Amsterdam
• Day 3 – Cologne
• Day 4 – Rhine Gorge – Rudesheim
• Day 5 – Miltenberg – Wertheim
• Day 6 – Wurzburg – Rothenburg
• Day 7 – Bamberg
• Day 8 – Nuremberg
• Day 9 – Kelheim – Regensburg
• Day 10 – Passau – Salzburg – Linz
• Day 11 – Melk – Durnstein
• Day 12 – Vienna
• Day 13 – Bratislava
• Day 14 – Budapest
• Day 15 – Homeward Bound