Elegant Elbe: Day 9
Day 9: Monday, November 06, 2023 - Bad Schandau, Germany, and scenic sailing
The day's statistics:
- Weather: mid 50s, overcast then sunny
- Steps: 7,445 Linda; 9,646 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 48
Breakfast was a full buffet on the ship. In essense it was the same as the other ship with typical breakfast buffet items, as well as an
eggs-cooked-to-order station, and the usual menu items (we never asked for a breakfast menu so I didn't get a picture of one).
Linda typically had the egg benedict and I had the buffet.
Before our excursion departed, we got some scenic sailing pics.
This ship had a coffee station - only one and a little smaller than the Alsvin, but it was still nice to have coffee and cookies available
pretty much whenever we wanted it.
By about 9:25 we headed to the parking lot to get on the bus for today's excursion - The Bastei.
The Bastei was in a town called Bad Shandau. The "Bad" portion means "Spa". The only significance this has is that
there are just over 300 towns beginning with "Bad", and that really just means that they can charge a resort tax.
Even though we only had about an hour or so drive, we saw quite a few interesting sights.
I just thought this name was funny.
Some flowers still in bloom.
At 10:40, we arrived at Bastei. Bastei is known for the unusual natural rock formations.
The bus parked, and we had about a kilometer (3,000 feet) walk to the main building - which had a gift shop, and a restaurant.
A 3D model of the grounds.
We headed to the platform overlooking the Elbe, and miles and miles of landscape.
We walked back up the hill a little toward the buildings, then turned right, and proceeded toward the stones.
A plaque dedicating the the site. On either side are square anchor holes where original timbers were put for the original platform structure.
The rocks are popular for climbing. There were a few platforms on top of some of the rocks too - with people standing on them as visible in
the top left corner in this shot. Also, there are boxes with notepads in them for climbers to sign that they made it.
Peeking through the rocks.
The platform in this shot is where the Elbe River and and landscape shots above were taken.
Looking around more.
Some narrow steps to the top of one of the rocks - they aren't used anymore, though. Not that I would want to go up them anyway...
At the far end of the walkway we were on was a little bit of an opening that had a path that continued on to other sections - I think
the path even led to the steps and platform in the first image above.
After admiring the views for a while, we started to head out. But we didn't go straight back to the buildings - we started down the path
but then turned right and proceeded to another overlook area. There were SO many people on the walkway that a picture of it from
the walkway wasn't practical. But these - showing slightly different angles, perspectives, and zoom levels - do the trick.
And we took a selfie too.
After our selfie, someone asked if we wanted our picture taken "normally". I guess...
The group started up the path to the buildings. However, a short way up the path were the stairs from whence we came that headed back to the
overlook platform we first visited. I told the guide I'd meet them back at the buildings and I made my way back to the platform in order to try
to get good shots to stitch a panaramic. Two things made this difficult: 1) other people and B) the photographers inherent fear of heights.
I was able to get the panaramic and still beat the group going back to the meeting point. The group was on the path that I had one
of the first images of above.
As we walked out, there was a small café selling the famous dough snacks.
While we are visiting some of the National Parks in the US,
we happen to also be in one in Germany. The bump at the top / above the river is actually Lily Mountain.
The visit to Bastei was over, and we headed back to the bus.
Some sights on our return to the ship.
A huge field of lavender. Or thistle.
This is Lily Mountain, the mountain featured on the National Parks' sign above.
Another roundabout, a large one, with something interesting in the middle of it - in this case, some ruins.
Up on the mountain top was King Stone fortress that has the deepest well in Germany at 150 meters (450 feet).
The National Park is a 50 meter (150 feet) walk that way. Parking is the same distance the other way.
We got off the buses at about 12:30, took our short walk to the ship, and headed to our cabin. We dropped off everything we didn't need,
and headed to the dining room for lunch. The lunch menu has the "daily specials" on the top (the dinner menu has them on the right page)
and the "always available" on the bottom (the dinner menu has them on the left page).
We sat with Karen and Bob, from North Carolina; and Darla and Scott.
Linda had the red bell pepper soup (not pictured), Scandinavian baby shrimp sandwich, and caramel sundae.
I had the red bell pepper soup (not pictured), Thüringer rostbratwurst, and caramel sundae.
The dining room on the COL ship is on the second of three floors whereas on this ship, it is on the first of two - and really close to the
water line.
We ate and chatted with our travel companions. We were in no rush to go anywhere or do anything as this afternoon was some scenic sailing.
Before getting underway, we had our mandatory safety drill. Put on the lifejacket and meet at the gathering spot.
While passenger and crew safety - especially in the event of an emergency, is not to be taken lightly - during the previous night's
port talk, while being told that today there was a safety drill, we were told that in the case of an actual emergency, if you put on your
life jacket you would look pretty silly because the water is so shallow, that passengers can just walk to the shore. Also, if the ship actually
did start to sink everyone could just go to the second floor or sun deck because the ship wouldn't have far to sink.
The crew participates too, including one crew member that dons a full fire outfit.
On the way back to the cabin from the drill, I spotted the herb garden and some solar panels - there is shuffleboard and a putting green on the
sun deck too (on our first cruise, the Danube Waltz, we saw a
large chess set on the sun deck).
The weather was cooperative enough that most of these shots were taken from the sun deck or the bow area in front of the lounge while underway
(rather than inside the lounge).
We were on the Elbe, below Bastei, and we can readily see from this vantage point where we were a few hours prior - including the
overlook platform (which looks pretty empty now, not like it was when we were there - and zooming in on the more-stright-up image
it looks like the guy on the platform is taking our picture) and the walkway.
The ship makes a decent wake.
Bastei was now behind us, but we still had a way to go to the next port. I stayed on the sun deck and or bow for most of the time as it is
possible to take pictures of sights on either side of the ship, not just those on our room side. And by not staying in the lounge, there
is no issue with glass or reflections either. Alas, the last couple shots are from the room.
We were informed by the technology overlords that we used all high speed international data for the month. Silly us - at some point(s)
we didn't put the phone(s) on wifi mode when we were on the ship, so we had to deal with "regular speed" data - which really wasn't an
issue anyway, and saved us however much it was - $35 each? - to get a data boost.
During our port talk tonight, the crew was dressed in apropos German attire as tonight was German night and tonigh's dinner was the "Taste of
Germany" buffet. There were many jokes shared about how uncomfortable the attire was, especially for the captain since his outfit "shrunk".
When we arrived in the dining room, we found the tables adorned with German breads and sausages.
For an appetizer, we had beef cabbage soup.
The buffet had salad, German salads, dried meats, sauerkraut, sauerbraten, spatzel, red cabbage, sausages, chicken schnitzel,
asparagus with holandaise, bread dumplings, mustards and sauces, and desserts.
We had arrived in Dresden. I went to the sun deck - though at night, is it called a moon deck? - to get some city night shots. And walk
off a tiny bit of dinner. It isn't too often that night city shots are possible on the ship because it is frequently underway / moving,
or we aren't in a "city".
Somewhere in the distance, I heard music. It was as loud as it was here, I can only image how loud it was at the venue.
And before going back to the cabin, I saw the atrium from the sun deck and the wheelhouse.
It was another long day - like most are. We finished getting situated in our room, relaxed a little, washed up, and went to bed.