Melk to Durnstein

As we left Passau we entered Austria.  Actually, our Passau guide hopped on her bike at the end of our tour and pedaled 4 kilometres to her home in Austria.  Melk was our morning stop and we took a bus after breakfast to the abbey at Melk.  This is one of the largest Benedictine Abbeys and was an incredible site.  The edifice itself is nearly as long and broad as the Bavarian town that sits below it.  We toured through the vast building but I was a little disappointed.  Inside the magnificent facade was a series of rooms that comprised a modern museum of antique artifacts.  Kind of a strange contradiction of terms.  each room was lighted in a different color to signify a different stage of the life of St. Benedict.  Representations of various articles and some rather mundane actual articles of monastic life.  The library was very interesting as it contains something like 60,000 volumes all carefully catalogued and in pretty much matching spines and covers.

The gardens were quite beautiful but were green gardens with some roses around the pavillion but we most enjoyed the walk down from the hill perched Abbey back to our ship.  Wonderful quaint shops, a weekly farmer's market and lots of sidewalk cafes and biergartens.  We quite enjoyed the morning and returned to a sundeck Austrian Picnic.  The Weiner Schnitzel was my favorite.  I discarded the sausages and had secons on the schnitzel.  We then relaxed in the warm sun, drinking weissbeer and seeing the most magnificent castles as we floated through the Wachau Valley which is 24 miles from Melk to Kremes.  These castles are more of the fairy tale type than those on the Rhine.  And the weather was perfect!  Bright blue skies, warm sun, and nude bathers all along the Danube.

After a short afternoon we arrived in Durnstein.    We walked ashore and to a lovely quite river town,  Yes, this means that all the streets were cobbled, uphill climbs. All of the shps were open.  No national holiday, not Sunday, and not after hours.  My friend Madeline found several things and I bought Christian a tee shirt that is quite popular here in Austria.  He has the right sense of humor for it.

The church tower quite reminded me of Wedgewood.  We stolled back and the only frustratio I am feeling is that I missed some beautiful photo opportunities becaus emy camera batteries are not taking a full charge.  Dinner was again quite good and the talk this evening was on how to order Vienese Coffee...(unless that was last night and tonight was Mozart!)