One of the advantages of booking a tour with Vantage Deluxe World Travel is that when they say their river cruises are “all-inclusive,” they mean it.  Most tours are included in the price, whereas with other river cruising companies, more of the tours are optional.  Once our cruise and air were booked through Vantage, the only thing Bruce and I had to budget for was tipping, because even beer and wine were included with our dinners and a few cocktail parties.  Vantage also made it convenient for us by registering our credit card for the tips to be billed automatically at the end of our cruise.  We could make adjustments to the amount or allow them to charge their suggested rate to our bill.

Although we chose to book one of the optional tours (it was fabulous!), we decided to pass on an optional tour to a monastery when we arrived in Kelheim.  Having some time to kick around independently and at our own pace was a nice alternative for the day, and we thoroughly enjoyed it (even though it rained at times).

The River Voyager was tied up on the riverbanks just a fifteen-minute walk from the town center, so we enjoyed the casual walk through the neat and tidy residential neighborhood, admiring the gardens along the way.

In town, we were delighted by the colorful buildings and enjoyed just poking around.  It was also the perfect opportunity to stock up on Milka chocolate on sale at Edeka.  As an extra bonus, we scored an awesome money-saving coupon somebody had left behind on the shelf.  She scores!!!

Once again, Bruce was my willing “Sherpa” to carry the haul back to our cabin.  In the end, between Milka (Germany), Boci (Hungary), Figaro (Czech Republic), Clever (Czech Republic), and a bunch of other miscellaneous bars I purchased along the way, he counted an embarrassingly abundant load of 66 bars (many of them HUGE) that I loaded up in my roll-aboard, along with my laptop and other essentials, for the flight home.  Lifting the hefty suitcase into the overhead compartment was not Bruce’s idea of fun, as I surmised by the look on his face…

…But, I digress.

Kelheim!  (Chocolate has a way of getting me off topic.)  This cute little Bavarian town is small— just under 16,000 residents.  It is situated at the confluence of the Danube and Altmuhl rivers, and we found it to be quite charming and attractive.

Here are some scenes from our (at-times) rainy walk around town:

Next up:  Nuremberg