But, besides that... other breaking news: The weather was nice... really nice. The sun decided to show today, but it didn’t get too hot. Even though parts of Passau were said to be flooded, as long as it wasn’t raining, I knew it was going to be a good trip.
The ride to Passau was comparatavely short; only 45 min. so, we didn’t have to be at the school any earlier than the normal 8 AM. However, today none of the Germans could come with us because they all had big tests to take. So, I took a new spot on the bus:
...and looked at my Pause food:
..which was just bread with only some sort of meat inside.. I have no idea what it was... it didn’t taste like the usual pork, chicken, turkey... but I’d say turkey if I had to... and a Cola Lolly.. which tasted just like Coke, without the caffene. Anyway... since the bus ride was so short, there was less talk and more of my Gameboy. I just happened to be at an important part in my game, so I brought it for the bus.
When we arrived, this was the first sight I saw:
The thing about Passau is that it’s the city where the 3 rivers combine... the Danube, the Ilz and.. some other xD, so it was basically a hill in between waters. Just from where the bus stopped, we could see the flooding had gone down enough to take the boat tour still.
Before that though, Frau took us up to the St. Stephan’s Dom of Passau...
Although the one in Wein looks cooler on the outside, I prefered the inside of Passau’s more... Though, both of them were under renovation. The one at Passau was just getting a paint job...
..not just because the archetecture seemed fresher, but because, inside Passau’s is the largest pipe organ in the world!
..imagine the sound of that bad boy. Actually, the church was only open in the morning because every day near the afternoon, there are concerts inside. Also, according to one of the Germans that I talked to later, the biggest organ is actually a compilation of 5 different organs that can all be played from one set of keys. The pillars in that last picture kind of block the other parts of the organ. There was also a cool golden staircase thing inside:
Here’s another shot of the murals, looking directly up from one of the very last benches:
It was pretty cool... it might have been the sunshine, or the fact that Passau’s St. Stephan’s Dome wasn’t under construction in the inside, but I of all the churches, I liked this one the best.
Anyway, after that we walked back down to the docks...
(going up and down slopes would become a trend for later).. When we were right next to the dock area, we could see Passau’s Rathaus:
Which, upon closer inspection actually had a record of all the hights of the flooding that had occured.
Some of those dates are just mind boggling for someone from a 200 year old country. Also near the boat, above us on the mountain was a castle with crazy numbering:
This says 1499 btw. Those crazy logical Germans... half of an 8 makes 4! Anyway, the boat we boarded was nice:
..Named after the river? Oh well, we took a place on the top of the boat’s cafe thing:
..which was only a little wet... but then noticed we were sitting a little far from the others, so we moved closer, and Iva sat with us.
..and Maddie tempted us with her iced coffee...
The atmosphere from the boat, and the fact that the sun was out was nice. We got plenty of shots of Passau, too. Here’s one of the skyline:
Since the ride was long, and all of the tour was in German, we had time to eat our pause food and mull over how little money we had. When we were off of the boat, we were free to go.
So, our group split again... along similar lines, except today we had Reid with us. First thing we did was try to get ourselves into an adventure/lost, so we follwed the yellow+white brick road!
..and it did the trick, because it split up somewhere in the middle and we followed it to its death near what seemed to be the center of the city. From there, we only walked a little before we made a stop at a souvenier shop on one of the many slopes of Passau’s streets and alleys:
It was then that Sarith and Iva asserted that they wanted to sit around today. xD... so we compromised and walked a little more to a shop (where Chris finally found a suitable hat) and then dropped Iva off at the center where the benches were:
...and decided that we would get her when it was lunchtime. I would just take Sarith to nice spots in the city to sit. So, we wandered around the small little paths, which was really lots of fun for some reason. There weren’t even a ton of sights to see in Passau, but the whole experience was very pleasant. I mannaged to lead us to a few nice courtyards...
..and even farther back to the river area, except at this river area, there were benches! What a great spot...
I guess the even better part was that it was quiet... and that we had the time to just sit and relax. While we sat though, the man a few benches over had a nice dog that made sure to greet us:
The thing about Europeans and dogs is that they usually don’t use leashes. I’ve only seen a few, but even with no leashes, all of the dogs still stayed with their owners. Here’s another shot to give an idea of the awesome spot we were resting at:
..I like that picture. Anyway... once we got up, we only had to walk a little ways farther to see more things, like the extent of the swollen river water:
A few more meters and we found a mini beach...
So, we took another break to play.
After that, we decided that it was time to wander some more, find Iva, and eat. So, when we got back into center of the city, we got her and walked to an inexpensive lunch counter we had passed earlier and grabbed some food... but, I bungled my order and only got a thing of french fries:
..instead of the meat and frenchfries that I tried to order... but oh well. It wasn’t the healthiest, but it was cheap and filling! We ate our lunch in the alley right next to the lunch place.. just because it was convenient.
After that, we talked a bit, but then Iva had to go to the bathroom... So, Iva and I went to go find the public bathroom.. but I accidentally took the really really long way around.. so, by the time we got back to the lunch place where we had left the other three, it was getting to be about time to meet back at the bus.. which was the area we had just come from!
As we navigated back (the correct way!), we stopped at a few more shops, met up with Frau randomly, and found our way back. Of course, the journey wasn’t quite over yet... instead, we had one last stop... up on the other side of the river.. just for the scenery.
It was a nice shot, too. We could sit and rest up there as well...
After that, we hopped in the bus and went home... though, Sarith was displaced again.. because of miscomunication, so Vio and I took her home where she got to see the house, and then took her back to the school with the intention of her taking the bus... but after we were there at least 30 minutes, the bus never came! So.. we had to get a hold of Lisa so that she could come and get her after all (30 min drive). Still, I had fun waiting with Sarith because we just played around, singing and refreshing eachothers’ knowledge of folkdancing.
Then, we went back home... and Vio got ready for our Friday night outing. Though, tonight we dedicated it to remembering Michael Jackson. So, Krissi and Ingrid came over:
...and we went out!
One of their ideas for remembering MJ was to write it on their hands.. haha, so here you can see:
They also got me a Dönner Kebap from the local place!
... It was pretty good, although they said that it was missing the best part, the purple lettuce (I forgot what that’s called.. and so did they!)
While we ate the dönner kebaps, we were outside enjoying the weather... but then, rather suddenly... it just began to downpour! I guess with the darkness, we couldn’t see the clouds coming in.. but it wasn’t looking good xD! Krissi was the only one who had brought an umbrella and it was pouring... luckily, MC Chris (lol), Krissi’s boyfriend who we had met up with earlier said he could drive us back home... so, we didn’t get as absolutely soaked as we first feared we would...
We were just happy that it was Friday, and we could sleep in! (Especially Vio – she had been up all the night before studying!! What a beast!) Anyway... tomorrow we have family day... but Vio’s dad has a photoshoot in the Bavarian forest, so... we’ll be out during the day doing that.. and then later, Steven wants us over for a BBQ. I hope I can go to town and buy stuff though.. like stamps!! I really need to send postcards! .. or get a dictionary....!
Oh well... Later!
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