Last day of Cruising the Danube

Alas, all good things muct come to an end. We spent a rather disoriented day today what with all of the best made plans being affected by the Bavaria Ironman Competition (second year only). It meant that we did our touring in the morning rather than the afternoon so that we could quickly get back in cue to get through the Main-Danube canal/locks (the man-made portion of the Danube). What it meant is that we did not seem to have as much time to spend in Nuremberg as we might have liked. The tour up to the Nuremberg castle (dating back to 1040) was very interestsing and we are looking forward to doing a comparison with the castle in Prague.
Once we got back to the boat around 2:00 pm (via a series of backroads because of detours and a bus driver who had a tendency to get lost in the back country!), we sat up on deck with drinks and enjoyed the sunshine (about 27-28) and the ride through the last lock before we began to go down the other side - crossing the so-called continental divide on the Danube. From here we empty out into the Black Sea (hope we can call you from a Russian gulag).
We continue to have interesting conversations with people from USA, Ireeland and Ontario and everyone onboard is really quite friendly and sociable.
Special invite from Captain Vlad Voinea to dine at the Capatain's Table this evening - after meeting him at the Bar in the Lounge before dinner. Just rubbing shoulders with the Upper Crust (I think everyone got the invite - darn!).
Tomorrow we disembark and hop on a bus ride to Prague, hopefully to arrive around 5 pm. As much as the day tours were worthwhile, it really was quite nice to simply sit on the top deck and simply watch the scenery go by. Sorry David, we didn't get to see any of the Ironman competition and we really didn't have any time to find any type of jerseys or other stuff.
Well, we are just entering the lock to begin our downward journdy on the Danube (the wall outside our stateroom - we can open our balcony door - is only about 8-9" away! yikes)t - however, we only go down to Nuremberg, dock, stay overnight then off to Prague.
Still promising some pics tomorrow but given the novice nature of our techno skills - don't hold your breath.

Hope all is well back home. Don't tell Mom, but I do miss all of you and as wonderful as this holiday is, it will be nice to get back home, even if it has been raining cats and dogs.

Dad