Castles, Duct Tape and Stubborn Snot - or Cruising the Wachau Valley

A bit about the cruising. The boat typically travels at night, which is perfect because you awaken in the next city ready for your next adventure. However, typically part of one day is dedicated to scenic cruising. The Program Director provides commentary, which you can hear if you are in any of the common areas. And on a cold day they will provide you blankets and hot beverages if you wish to get a full 360 view on the top deck. 

Our cruising day occurred after our morning spent in Krems and we cruised through the lovely Wachau valley, if you want to pronounce "Wachau" correctly, just imagine you have a huge snot ball that you need to expectorate. That'll get you pretty close. Obviously it was winter, so we missed the foliage and vineyards in all their glory, but the sights were no less impressive. 

 
We passed by the little town of Durnstein, didn't stop, but isn't this beautiful?

Some spectacular ruins up on this hill. How cool would it be to explore those?

Note to self: Before next cruise will research the castles on the route. While it's great to see them from a distance, it doesn't quite seem real if you don't know anything about them.

So, as I was exploring the top deck of the boat, and taking in the view, I walked past the wheelhouse. This is where our erstwhile Captain navigates the Danube and all of her locks and bridges. The cool thing about these ships is that if the water level is a bit too high and the boat needs extra clearance for the bridge, the Captain simply lowers the wheelhouse and the boat glides safely under the bridge.

Here is notre Capitaine keeping a weather eye on the horizon. Kind of hard to pick him out in this picture. He is a diminutive little fellow and only the top of his head and his specs are visible from outside the window.

Note the duct tape fix here. Now, I'd like to think that this is the sum total of repairs our ship needed following a tiny encounter with a bridge, earlier in the month on this same ship, same cruise. If so, it is proven once again, duct tape is the universal fix for everything.