We woke this morning docked in Passau close to the city centre.
Passau (previously Latin: Batavis or Batavia) is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north.

Passau's population is 50,415, of whom about 10,000 are students at the local University of Passau. The university, founded in the late 1970s, is the extension of the Institute for Catholic Studies founded in 1622. It is renowned in Germany for its institutes of Economics, Law, Theology, Computer Sciences and Cultural Studies.

We boarded our coach for a 2 hour drive to Salzburg, the home of 'The Sound of Music' and Mozart's birthplace.We passed a number of points of interest including:
- Passau - John Deere major manufacturing operations, a major employer in Passau;
- Arnsdorf - where, in 1818, Franz Xaver Gruber composed the melody for 'Silent Night'. The lyrics were written by a young priest, Father Joseph Mohr in 1816. The song was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at the St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf. (which we saw).
- Branau - where Adolf Hitler was born;
We drove around the foothills of the Alps, but low cloud obscured our view of them - that pleasure was to come later.
We arrived in Salzburg and began our experience starting with a walking tour of the significant points of interest including those from 'The Sound of Music' and the life of Mozart:
- the gardens which were the setting for a number of scenes including where Maria and the von Trapp children sang 'Do Re Mi';
- the cemetery used as the model for the setting where the von Trapp family hid from the Nazis during their escape;
- The Festival Hall where the singing competition was held and the Captain and Maria sang 'Edelweiss';
- the house where Mozart was born (Jan 1756) and lived. He died in Vienna in 1791.
- the coffee shop where Mozart regularly met with friends and played cards - the shop still exists today.
We had free time to meander through beautiful Salzburg and experience the atmosphere. We joined in the festivities of St Rupert's Fair (equivalent to Germany's Octoberfest). As is local tradition lunch took the form of sausages and pretzel or bredzel washed down with a jar of unfiltered wheaten bier - decadent I know but we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.
The return bus journey to our ship in Linz took us along the lakes Mondsee and Attersee. The lakes' blue/green water (Alps-fed), tree-lined shore and Austrian Alps as a backdrop was nothing short of breathtaking. We went to the avenue at Mondsee (Moon Lake) where the children hung from the trees as their father returned from his trip to Vienna and the Mondsee Catholic Church where Maria and the Captain were married. This area is by far the most beautiful landscape we have ever seen. Our ship was late so our bus driver took us on a trip around the lakes.

Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria. It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately 30 kilometres south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is 191,501, and that of the Greater Linz area is about 271,000.
Three extensive bombing raids on Linz during WWII reduced the entire city to rubble. Most of the buildings are relatively new having been built post-1944.
Dinner in the Amarverde's five-start retaurant and an early night as we prepare for Melk and Durnstein tomorrow.

Today's insights:

• Hitlers mountain retreat 'Eagles Nest' is just over the Austrian Alps near Salzburg.
• The score for 'Silent Night' was originally written for guitar as the church organ at Arnsdorf was broken.
• Mozart wrote his 'Linz Symphony' while living in Linz.
• George Joseph Handel (1685 - 1759) lived for a short while in Salzburg.