Passau!

One of the benefits of living in Bavaria (as compared to some other German states) is Bavaria has 13 public holidays. For comparison, Berlin only has 9. However one main difference between Germany and the US is that here, if a holiday lands on the weekend, too bad for the employee. And lucky employer. As an example: in the US, if July 4^th falls on a Sunday, we are used to getting July 5^th off. That would not be the case here, and not just because July 4^th isn’t celebrated outside of the US. The good news for Noah and me – 2012 is considered a year for the employees. Only 1 of the 13 holidays lands on a weekend, and it was New Years – when we were still back in the States. And 2013 is the same story – 12 out of the 13 holidays land on a weekday. Hoorah!

This past weekend was our first extended weekend thanks to these ‘extra’ holidays – both Friday and Monday were public holidays. Noah and I took this opportunity to finally get out of Munich for more than the day. We took the dogs, hopped on a train, and headed northeast 2 hours to Passau. Passau is a small Bavarian city that is located where the rivers Inn and Ilz meet the Danube. (Go ahead – click on the photos – then you can see them full screen!)



Best photo we took of the rivers meeting. In better lighting, you can really see the difference of the colors.

We picked Passau randomly – we opened up our ‘Munich and the Bavarian Alps’ guidebook we brought with us, and flipped through the pages and found the small entry for Passau. We really had very few expectations for our weekend getaway. We were in for a treat – the city (or the area we stayed) is actually a really beautiful medieval-ish place, bordered by the Danube and Inn rivers. You could walk from the south bank to the north bank (is that correct terminology?) in about 6 minutes. And the city itself is full of interesting cobblestone passageways that curve in all directions. Most of these ‘streets’ wouldn’t fit a car – perfect for us and the pups.

3 examples of the narrow 'streets'.  Just in case one wasn't enough.

Well almost perfect. The one downside – it was very hard to find grass! The whole town was paved in the cobblestones. While it gave the place a really neat look, it wasn’t good for our dogs. We had to go to the tip of the city where the 2 rivers meet to find a small park for the dogs to do their business. The other downside was the weather wasn’t idea. It was grey clouds and light rain most of the trip. But we didn’t let that get in our way - all four of us still had a great time. It just means our photos aren’t as great. And since we brought the SLR bag and lenses, but no camera, we wouldn’t have had the right equipment to capture the city on a beautiful day anyways.

Me and the pups in our raincoats 

Now for some photos and a ‘tour’ of the city!

Passauer Rathaus. Translation is not what you think - it means Town Hall.

Spazierweg on the river Inn

Tons of interesting old doors around the city

One of the narrow passageways we took, and we ended up at the river

Panorama of Passau from across the Danube

Proof we were both there

The Veste Oberhaus. It was quite a hike up to get here. The photo on the right is what it would have been like if the weather was cooperating. Sadly, the photo on the left is the real one.

Hiking around the Veste Oberhaus. It was really awesome - you could just wander the grounds on your own.

Our three two dogs

Another shot of the Veste Oberhaus, in case you didn't know what it looked like already

Me being 'artsy' - shot of Passau

An overexposed shot of the family - Rita hates being picked up. The next shot taken was her flailing crazily (not posted).

Cute little houses on the river Inn

One last panorama of Passau. Hopefully we make it back when the weather is nice, though that will probably be just a day trip.