Luminary, Melk and Dürnstein

Good morning, Austria!

It's an early morning arrival and at 8:30, we are on the buses to take us to the top of the hill for our visit to Melk Abbey. It's a short drive through the Wedding Wood, where they plant a tree every time someone gets married. They don't tell them which tree, in case it doesn't work out and they want to rip the tree out!

The Melk Abbey is at the top and it's an impressive looking baroque building...

We go into the main courtyard where we meet Lee, our guide for the blue headsets. 

The Abbey was reconstructed and they couldn't redo the frescos so they asked a modern artist to paint them - they are still in the style and theme of the old ones but in a modern style, which reflects that the the Abbey is up-to-date. Didn't manage to get any photos of these!

There is a school here too, apparently all the Benedictine abbeys have great schools. Lee sends her daughter to this school, it's affordable and a nice school.

We head in to the exhibition section, up a baroque-ish staircase, with typical pink and yellow colours - pink symbolises marble and yellow symbolises gold.

Sadly, no photos from here. They have an exhibition with a series of rooms all representing the Abbey from the beginning to present day. They have some really old artefacts in here, books that are 1,000 years old, old vestments. There is a book (not the original, but a handwritten version) with all the rules of being a monk - the first and most important is 'listen'. They only show a video of one of the most treasured relic - the Melk Cross, which is supposed to contain a fingernail-sized portion of the Cross of Christ.

The baroque room is all mirrored and the pieces are extremely ornate - apparently the people had grown tired of having a hard life and being told it would be good when they got to heaven - they wanted it to be good now, and so the baroque style...

There are two small statues of a common man and common woman in amongst the gold, ornate cups and trinkets, indicating that the poor could not be a part of the beauty, or something like that...

The last room of the exhibition has some very detailed paintings of the story of Christ - this was so the poor, who couldn't read and write and didn't understand the Latin of the services could follow the story.

We go next to the reception room, which is very ornate as they entertained all sorts of heads of state and important people. There is a music room next door and round windows up the top between the two rooms, they could open each of the three Windows fully or halfway to control the volume of music coming through. The ceiling was painted in an optical illusion to look like it was curved, very tricky.

Then outside to the terrace - we can photos again, of Melk village.

Then into the library, no more photos, where they have very old books from theology, physiology and a few other ologies... There are also two globes - baroque symmetry. It is an active library and you can borrow books - they have to remain within the Abbey, you can go to a reading room. And if you're not a monk, you have to have good reason to borrow, and be given permission.

Here's a photo from Google, it's an impressive room!

The librarian was actually in the smaller room we went into next - he is a monk but was on regular clothes, not robes, and he was just returning some books. 

Next, down a spiral staircase - it was another optical illusion, with a mirror at the bottom so when you looked over the rail, it looked like it went on forever. Then into the chapel itself - the most astonishing chapel ever! So gold and ornate and huge and just amazing! No photos in here either but here is a google picture that almost gives the idea...

Amazing! We did wonder, though, how the monks are supposed to keep the vow of poverty when they have surroundings like this. They say that God must have the most elaborate house, apparently.

From the Abbey we went through to the gardens, these were fabulous too.

There was a lovely summer house type building as well...

Then a walk back through the cute little village of Melk...

As we headed back to the ship, a look at the Abbey looming from above, and a building with the flood levels of the Danube recorded on it. And misteltoe, growing on the trees! The little ball in the middle of the branches.

When you come back onboard, the crew are there to greet you, "Welcome back!" And they give you warm towels and a hot drink - so lovely!

The Danube is not blue at all. Apparently Johan Strauss was drinking pálinka and after a few of those, he saw it as blue and composed the Blue Danube Waltz...

We are in Austria now, a population of 8 million and there are 9 provinces and every province has its own signature cake!

From midday, we are sailing into the Wachau Valley, Nancy gives us a commentary and the place is beautiful! First thing we pass is a castle built in 1819 and known as the Watchman of the Wachau.

There are a lot of castles around this area. A lot of people bought them, planning to use them for bed and breakfast places but didn't check the zoning first and they weren't allowed to do that, so now they have a castle...

The Danube begins in the Black Forest and runs through ten countries. When the Romans came, yonks ago, they thought the Rhine was a masculine river - reliable, strong, able to be navigated 365 days a year, and they thought the Danube was a feminine river - tempermantel, difficult and only able to be navigated 341 days a year. The Rhine is a lot busier with cargo traffic.

Past more monasteries and vineyards, (not together...!)

We pass Aggstein Castle, where the Robber Baron lived. He used to put a chain across the river to stop craft passing and demand money from them. If he knew they came from money, he would take them hostage and out them up on an outcrop to wait for the ransom to be paid. If it wasn't paid they either starred to death or could jump...

Lots more pretty sights...

And then we arrive at the town of Dürnstein, also known as the Pearl of Wachau. Sissi spent time here - she married Emporer Franz Joseph and was the Princess Diana of her time - married young, establishment didn't like or understand her, was the people's princess and helped change the monarchy. And Princess Diana stayed here too, the hotel won't say whether or not Dodi was with her. It's a beautiful town with a unique church that either inspired or was inspired by the porcelain...

It is said that Richard the Lionhearted was kept prisoner her during the Crusades. The people of Dürnstein say he was a guest. He and his faithful manservant, Blondell, are well represented here in street names and pub names and in a statue.

After the ship docked, we stopped for a quick coffee and another amazing donut! These are the best donuts ever!

Then for a walk into the little town - very cute, two streets and lots of photo opportunities!

Then back to the ship to relax for a while. They handed out champagne and nibbles and the captain and navigation staff came in to be introduced and say thank you.

Then dinner, with Laura and Sue, two American girls we have spent a lot of time with.

Then a game of trivia before retiring for our last night on the ship.