town of three rivers - passau, april 2013

april did not only bring me a holiday in england, but also a reunion with my lovely turkish friend özge. we first met on the internet way back in the mid-nineties, saw each other in person for a day in budapest in 2002, then in vienna in 2006, and in istanbul in 2010, when heinz met her for the first time. this time we chose to meet in passau, a beautiful town on the german-austrian border, which neither of us had been to before, roughly halfway between vienna and where özge was staying at her boyfriend patrick's during her german language course.

i'd heard good things about the town, which is situated where three rivers meet: black-looking ilz, the smallest; the green river inn; and the often bluish danube. and it turned out the rumours are true. we arrived on friday evening, when it was pouring down (i seem to bring bad weather with me just about everywhere i go this spring!). still, after our happy hellos, we ventured out to café innsteg - a definite recommendation for anyone who intends to visit passau. delicious food, nice and fun company - the four of us had a great evening.

saturday was rather cool, but at least dry. we took it easy, walking along the inn, strolling through the old town with its narrow streets, beautiful buildings (cathedral, old town hall, churches, colourful houses ...), taking tons of pictures, talking, being silly. we stopped for cake in the café next to the cathedral - özge was in heaven! tough to choose only one thing from all those yummy-looking cakes, pastries, tartes, ... my rhubarb cake was ... well, mmmmhmmmm! :)

we walked up to veste oberhaus, quite an impressive fortress, which dates back to the 13th century. we also climbed one of the towers to be blown away not merely by wind, but also by gorgeous views of the town, the rivers with their three distinctive colours, and the surrounding area. another lovely dinner at an italian restaurant rounded off a wonderful day.

heinz had to leave very early on sunday, he had a hockey match scheduled for lunchtime. shame, too, especially because sunday was actually just that - a picture-book sunny day. we strolled around most of the town, then decided to take a short cruise on one of several boats. sitting on deck in the sunshine, being carried past colourful houses that reminded me both of certain parts of venice and of ceský krumlov ... bliss! a cruise makes you hungry, so we sat outside a nice little restaurant, soaking up more sunshine, watching the people - and there were plenty of them, because there was some kind of running competition on, enjoying our food and more conversation.

after such a lovely weekend, we were actually quite sad when we had to say goodbye around 4 pm. but we were also very happy about this chance to meet up again. yay for old friends!


old friends



wow! it's a banana!



rooftops



three rivers



nighttime in passau



train on the bridge



almost summer feeling



veste, anno 1299



skyline


song of the day: now or never by rachid taha feat. jeanne added.