Europe Day 5

Woke up on the ship still docked in Vilshofen Germany. We were able to spend a couple hours wandering this cute little town. Came upon a little German portrait studio and there were GIANT prints in the window of naked maternity pics! We had a laugh. Here we traded dollars for Euros at a little street bank and got to see a cute little catholic chapel {the one that went off all night on the half hour lol} There were people in there singing during their service. It was really beautiful. We boarded the ship at noon and set sail for the first time as they served us a Bavarian inspired lunch since that's the "state" we are in. They literally had a giant cooked Pig- head, ears and all at the buffet line that the chef cut pieces off for you. It was DELISH. All the waiters had cute aprons with the state flag on them. They go all out here! We went through a "lock" where they take our ship into a sort of holding room thingie and lower us into the lower river level REALLY slowly. I guess we are supposed to go through 12 throughout the course of our cruise. We are going to video the next one cuz it's super fascinating. We spent some time on the top deck watching the cutest little water front homes go by with goats on the hill. We docked at 2:30 and were able to spend the afternoon in Passau. CUTE CUTE little place, of course. Most fascinating was that there was a flood here only like 3 months ago- A HUGE flood. And so our tour guide was showing us all the water damage levels and it was CRAZY! The allies here are SO cute with long wire doorbells and bikes chained to the walls. EVERY house out here has flower beds in the windows! We passed a cute children's park and toured ANOTHER gorgeous Catherdral. St. Steven's Cathedral houses the largest pipe organ in the world. It was STUNNING! Again, more detail that you can imagine. Warren and I found a cute little colored pencil store. yes- it was SO COOL! And just down the street from that we bought the most darling little traditional German dress for our baby girl- complete with a little apron and all. These places look so different and yet function just as we do back home. People going to and from work, shop owners selling their stuff, mom's out pushing their babies in strollers and teens hanging out in front of the coffee joints. My favorite thing is all the doors. They are so ornate and so old and so freaking cool. We also bought some REALLY cute souvenirs for our family and friends here :) So then dinner was at 7 and both Warren and I had the poached Salmon. Dessert looked like something in an art magazine. When we returned to our room I had TWO German chocolates on my pillow- Warren just had one :) The cute housemaids here are already our friends and are so cute about making sure I am comfortable with my pregnancy. The staff on this ship is STELLAR. We had read some reviews about the ship prior to leaving and didn't believe all the elaborate talk of the "family type staff" but seriously- they are so nice and take time to really get to know everyone on board. We feel like royalty on here LOL. They had the staff pianist put on a sound of music mini serenade tonight but we came back before it started to Skype with the kiddos :) Miss them! Warren and I won't need a date night for a long long time after we get back. lol Every meal has been a nice retreat for us to be able to just chat uninterrupted. :) Tomorrow is going to be a super fun day! We are heading to Salzburg Austria {sailing through the night and arriving in the morning} with Steve Berry to talk with him about the geographical details that lead to his new book coming out in a few months. We are tired but excited! Nighty night.

Taisley {and Warren}