Passau and Hotel Wilder Mann (Wild Man)

Europeans know how to travel. I participated in a woman's birthday party today, on the train. There were five older women traveling together on the train to Vienna, one of them had brought muffins and napkins and a birthday candle which she lit with a lighter and sat on the table between them.They all ordered coffee (I can't stand the instant kind on trains and had a mineral water with fizz.) Can you imagine this happening on a US train? Cause for a terror alert.



I arrived in Passau at two and immediately got turned around using the iPad map. FYI. I had taken a screen shot of the map, but neglected to add the written directions. Besides, I've never been able to find a place on the first try. I kept on walking and found my way, first through the pedestrian zone, later along the Danube. Instead of walking for seventeen minutes, I walked for thirty (that includes occasional stops to work on my scoop of blueberry ice cream).






My hotel is, as I said on Facebook, "cool". It was opened in its present form, along with its widly known Glass Museum, by Neil Armstrong. Since then many famous people have visited, including presidents, authors, cardinals, Gorbachow, Kissinger, and many others who are named on a long list in the lobby. The place was first mentioned in 1303, was once the town jail (that's why the name "Wilder Man") and became a renowned hotel in 1844. In 1862 Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, Queen of Bohemia and Croatia, spent eight days there and returned in 1878. I knew here better as "Sissi" from a very romantic film in the 1950s with Romy Schneider. And I had picked the hotel because I like wild men.










The interesting thing is the price for the rooms - my single room is only 50 Euros.








Tomorrow I will visit the largest organ in the world and the grave of the Blessed Gisela, the first queen of Hungary.



I found this sign rather interesting; restroom, Mayor's office, and my name all in one.

As a side note, I think I am the only iPad toting person in Europe. I know I am the only 73 year-old carrying a teddy bear around.



Sent from my iPad by Gisela Foster


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