Bavarian Forest and Staubing

Last night was a late night as we had music and dancing. At one point I think we had everyone from the lounge up on the floor!
Our  8:30am tour seemed very early. It took about 45 min by bus from Deggendorf up through the hills covered by pine and birch forest. Low clouds with the temperature about 6C "warming up" to 9C. This area practices sustainable forestry, so only a few trees well spread out are cut each year. We stopped at Theresienthal glass factory, one of the few places where they still make glass the traditional hand-blown way. Interesting, and some incredibly beautiful glass! There was a glass museum as well, which had examples of glass from Versailles, the Romanov court, and the German Royal family. We then drove to a National Park with a nature preserve. They had aurochs, which are the ancestors of modern cows, wild horses, and wolfs. These are the animals that originally roamed the forests. The preserve has a series of trails through the forest with viewing platforms . We had about a 45 minute hike here.
It took longer getting back to the boat then we had anticipated, not getting back until 2pm. We were certainly ready for lunch! I had booked another biking tour this afternoon, and when I saw the weather I was having second thoughts. Most cancelled, just 8 of us headed out in the drizzle. I'm glad I did go. The guides were so enthusiastic about showing us their town, the agricultural area with the farms growing barley, corn, strawberries, asparagus etc. The town where we stopped for a beer at a local pub. And last at the cemetery which is one of the oldest in Europe. No one is buried there anymore, and nature has taken over. I'ts so interesting with the old graves, the church and the chapel. If it hadn't been so cold and raining I could have spent hours there.
Back to the boat about 6pm. Everything is wet, so time for a hot shower and a glass of red wine before dinner.