Salzburg

[gr'aunt]

Debra,

Enjoy your trip, and I can not wait to read your details of the trip. We leave in 16 days to do the Holiday Market Cruise with Vantage. I am ready for the snow, just hope I stay warm enough.

Also, Steamboat, it is wonderful seeing the web links that you do. They are super and very informative. Have helped out a great deal. Thank you!!!

Sue

 

Truffle Lady/Sue:

It looks like you live on the east coast, so you are probably used to winter. I am SO looking forward to a change of climate/culture/scenery. I hope you have a great trip too! We are traveling on Amadeus Amelegro. Some recent past passengers said the ship wasn't charging for internet access due to spotty reception. Each stateroom has it's own computer. If time permits, I will try to post something from the ship.

Debra/gr'aunt

[boballen]

my DW, I and 26 Radio listeners are traveling Budapest-Nurenburg Dec 8th on the amalegro. cant wait and we too can't wait for the snow. Christmas markets WITHOUT snow!!?? :)

[gypsy lady]

We are taking the Uniworld River Christmas cruise in a few days and will be flying into Munich and bused to Passau. Can anyone tell me how far it is to travel between these two cities? And buy the way did you say you already have snow? WOW! I live in Florida and can't wait for this trip. Thanks for all the info in advance. Gypsylady

[steamboats]

gypsylady,

 

Unfortuantely the snow is gone again :( . But there´s plenty of snow in the Alps.

 

The bus ride from Munich airport to Passau is about 1:15 to 1:30 h.

 

steamboats

[G.M.T.]

Ron,

 

Fortunately I can leave that part to our "Hausmeister" (caretaker) :D .

 

And I think I saw some snowblowers at Hornbach or Obi (our version of Home Depot).

 

steamboats

Steamboats,

 

You are lucky, I'm my own caretaker.

 

Ron

PS: All the snow has melted, raining and mild at present.

[G.M.T.]

We are taking the Uniworld River Christmas cruise in a few days and will be flying into Munich and bused to Passau. Can anyone tell me how far it is to travel between these two cities? And buy the way did you say you already have snow? WOW! I live in Florida and can't wait for this trip. Thanks for all the info in advance. Gypsylady

gypsy lady,

 

BY bus it will take between 1.5 and hours depending on the traffic / weather conditions.

 

There are two docking area in Passau, direct in the town, everything within easy walking distance, or in Lindau / Passau (new docking area - built because if the river is in flood the new generation of ships have difficulty passing unger the suspension bridge. Lindau / Passau is about 2 miles outside of town, Passau can easy be reached by local bus.

 

Have a good cruise.

 

Ron

[gypsy lady]

Thanks for all the great info on Passau! We leave Friday and I've been checking the weather.....can't wait to see all the Christmas Markets as well as the Alps! Gypsylady

[gypsy lady]

Just got back a week ago from our fabulous river cruise down the Danube from Passau to Budapest. Uniworld River Empress does an excellent job. First let me say this was my 1st River Cruise and I loved it. The River Empress is quiet nice, we were in a room on the top floor with ceiling to floor windows (which was wonderful), the room is about the size of an inside room on the bigger cruise ships, but very well laid out. Lots of storage under the beds for luggage, lots of drawer space, shower was supprising larger than I had thought it would be (still small). All the ports were great, wonderful English speaking guides, the Christmas Markets were great. Each day we had a shore excursions, free time to shop and some type of musical concert/onboard local musicians. The food was good, breakfast and lunch was buffet style, something for everyone. An egg station, bacon,sausage, toast, fruit, cereal, pastries, juice, coffee etc. Dinner was not as good. Usually only 2 choices of main entree (except for Capt welcome and farewell dinner, then a pre-fix menu with no choices) I am a picky eater and have learned over the years, that if you ask the waiter nicely...he will ask the chef to make something from what's on the menu for me that I will eat. The staff on the boat was excellent, very friendly and family like oriented. The weather was exactly what we had expected. Cold, rainy and damp.....take lots of layers, long johns and warm clothes...umbrella is a must....And by the way......no US money in most of the ports....only Euros...our cruise manager had told us that some of the places would except US.....We did not find any on our 9 day trip. The reception desk will change some of your US to Euros if you need extra. If anyone has any other questions, I would be happy to answer them if I can. Merry Christmas! Gypsylady

[G.M.T.]

Gypsylady,

 

Glad your enjoyed your cruise.

We have just got home from the Passau Christmas Market, it closes tomorrow (23rd.). It is now bitterly cold, 22F during the day, I don't know what the temperature is at night and I don't intend to find out. :)

 

Ron

[steamboats]

Gypsylady,

 

Great to hear that you enjoyed your cruise!!

 

No, since we got the EURO there aren´t many places accepting anything else. I remember days when at very touristy spots all vendors had prices listed in Deutsch Mark, Italian Lira, Austrian Schilling, USD. Some McDonalds and Burger Kings are still accepting USD but the exchange rate is very poor. Due to the weak USD there´s no one interested in being paid in USD over here.

 

steamboats

[trufflelady]

We just got back late last night from our wonderful Christmas Market River Cruise. We loved it and had a marvelous time. We were on the River Explorer and saw so many lovely Christmas Markets. We went to eight of them, and Passau was one of our favorites. We even managed to hear an organ concert in the church in Passau. That was fantastic, and well worth the admission charge.

Does any one have a good recipe to make gluhwein? We fell in love with it and had it at every market that we stopped at. Also a collection of the mugs. If someone has this recipe and would be willing to share my family would really love it.

We were also able to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary on this cruise, so it was extremely special to us.

To everyone we wish all of you a very 'Merry Christmas'. It was also so nice to see and hear the German/ Austrian traditions for celebrating Christmas. We still do many of them, and it was so nice to be able to really understand the connections and why we never put up our tree until Christmas eve.

It was very cold and my silk longjohns were perfect. We had snow showers only on a few days, some fog, but no rain. So we really had a perfect cruise.

Sue

[letsgo39]

Glühwein - German Mulled Wine Recipe

Guest Author - Paula S.W. Laurita

 

This is a German version of mulled wine.

 

 

When I was 18 and stationed in Heidelberg, Germany I encountered a cold that was strange to someone from southern California. Fortunately I found glühwein. It was a joy to walk into a warm bar and order this tasty mulled wine, bursting with spicy flavors. Here is one of my favorite versions.

Ingredients

• 4 quarts dry red wine (zinfandel, merlot, burgundy, etc.)
  
• 1 pint brandy
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 6 cinnamon sticks
  
• 12 cloves, whole
  
• 1/8 tsp allspice
  
• 1/8 tsp mace
  
• 2 oranges, sliced
  
• 1 lemon, sliced

Directions

1. Pour the wine into a large pot and begin heating over low heat.
   
2. As it begins to warm, add sugar and spices. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
   
3. Add the brandy.
   
4. Heat thoroughly, but do not allow to boil!
   
5. Add the lemon and orange.
   
6. Steep for about 1 hour over low heat.
   
7. You may add more sugar during this time if desired, stirring well so it disolves.
   
8. Serve hot and garnish with orange slices. A stick cinnamon could also be used.

See also: Mulled Wine Note

[G.M.T.]

We just got back late last night from our wonderful Christmas Market River Cruise. We loved it and had a marvelous time. We were on the River Explorer and saw so many lovely Christmas Markets. We went to eight of them, and Passau was one of our favorites. We even managed to hear an organ concert in the church in Passau. That was fantastic, and well worth the admission charge.

Does any one have a good recipe to make gluhwein? We fell in love with it and had it at every market that we stopped at. Also a collection of the mugs. If someone has this recipe and would be willing to share my family would really love it.

We were also able to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary on this cruise, so it was extremely special to us.

To everyone we wish all of you a very 'Merry Christmas'. It was also so nice to see and hear the German/ Austrian traditions for celebrating Christmas. We still do many of them, and it was so nice to be able to really understand the connections and why we never put up our tree until Christmas eve.

It was very cold and my silk longjohns were perfect. We had snow showers only on a few days, some fog, but no rain. So we really had a perfect cruise.

Sue

Sue,

 

So glad your enjoyed your cruise and the Christmas Markets especially Passau;) .

 

Today we have had about 1/2 inch of snow (just enough to cover the ground) but at least we have a white and still very cold Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas to you and your DW of 38 years.

 

Ron

[steamboats]

Sue,

 

Great to hear you had a wonderful cruise!!

 

There are numerous recipes for Glühwein (over here we get "tea bags" having the spices in it or you can get bottled Glühwein and just heat it). As spices you need cinnamon, cloves, star-anise, mace or nutmeg. Red wine (dry one or you take less sugar) is the basis. Add orange juice (and slices), lemon peel (and a bit of juice). If you like more alcohol you can add a bit of rum. But with the sugar the red wine is more than enough! Some recipes even add some raisin. Some add apple slices too. Heat all ingredients but don´t get it to boil. Heat it for about 20 min. Then put out the spices (some put them into a tea egg/net as it´s easier to remove them). The sugar is added now. I don´t like it too sweet. You can leave the fruit in. It´s usually served without the fruit but you can add it to the mug too.

 

steamboats

[trufflelady]

To Steamboats, Blu*Donau, and letsgo39,

Thank you so much for the wonderful recipes. I am looking forward to trying them. Also adding the extra brandy and rum seem to bring up the punch into the wine.

We are looking forward to making the wine and sharing with our son and daughter in law. that live near us.

We have no snow here, so our Christmas day is going to be green. The temperature is near 40 degrees. To my husband and myself this seems like a heat wave compared to what we had on our cruise.

Again, Merry Christmas to all and we are enjoying our fond memories of the cruise. I will be writing a summary of our trip. The pictures that we took are on the computer and soon we will be able to really see all that we did. Now off to roasting the turkey and making the stuffing.

Sue