Cruise Day 8 - Krems and der Donau

Boy, are we getting spoiled today!

This morning, we took a guided walking tour of Krems, a small town with a charming Old Town full of cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, and the famous Steiner Tor city gate. It has a cozy, fairy-tale feel, and we were able to explore the main sights in under an hour. Our guide, as always, was excellent—though keeping up with all the names, dates, and stories over the EarPods is getting tougher at my age!

After the town visit, our bus took us about 10 kilometers into the hills to Lillis Marillengarten, a family-run apricot farm. (Apricots are called Marillen in Austria.) The fruit was fully ripe, and we got to pick some straight from the trees—sweet, juicy, and delicious.

Lilli, the owner, gave us a short presentation about the farm and how her family turns apricots into jams, schnapps, and other treats. You could tell she takes a lot of pride in their hard work. After a short film and tasting session, we moved to the little shop, where I picked up a nice souvenir to take home.

We were back on board the Excellence Princess just before noon. Once everyone was accounted for, we set off toward our final destination: Passau, Germany.

I skipped lunch and all the other offers on the program today—still full from last night’s big gala dinner—and spent most of the afternoon resting in our cozy cabin. Still dealing with a bit of a cough, so it was nice to relax and not be a nuisance to the other guests on board.

The open-air concert with Gion & Claudio on the sun deck was fantastic! Gion plays the acoustic guitar and writes his songs and music. Claudio plays the electronic keyboard. The sound and echo as the Excellence Empress passed through the concrete walls of the lock in Melk was quite an experience!Read more