WACHAU, MELK

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I know it sounds redundant, but it's true. Another wonderful day, learning and discovering the wonders of Europe. We set 'sail' at 3am on our way to Melk. As a side note, I have never seen 'old people' eat that much. They have a buffet breakfast and it's almost like it's going to be your last meal.....they just eat and eat and eat. Finished breakfast at 9:30 and they were running in at 11:45 for lunch! Please, dear God, don't let me end up like that!!! Yeah, maybe wine, but not food! And would you believe, there were a couple of men who wanted hamburgers....come on, you're in Europe...Hamburgers???? Please shoot me if I get this way!

As a side note on Vienna...the transit system is basically an honor system. You buy your ticket, stamp it on the way to your train, and then that's it. Use it all day, or more if that's the type of ticket you buy, and just go on your way. I know last year in the Czech Republic there was a guard who asked to see it, but this time...nothing.

Back to today. They decided to give us a fire drill....we had our seats picked out to watch the scenery through the Wachau Valley and had to go get our life jackets, so after spreading our 'stuff' all around, we went and got our orange neck rests.

Finally, we started seeing some of the small villages along the Danube and there is no way that you can fully comprehend how beautiful it really is, even though there are no leaves on the trees, or that the grapes have not yet started to grow.  It was so cold out, and raining, but I had to run out every 5 minutes to get another awesome picture. I'm sorry that I can't post them all....right now I'm up to 300 (thank goodness for my IPad.The Wachau Valley is BEAUTIFUL! One village after the other, one castle on this hill, one on the other...it just never stops.  

On to the Melk Abbey. Built in the 11th century by Benedictine monks to act as a fortified abbey, it was almost completely destroyed in 1297 by a fire and was rebuilt many times. Now you might say 'what's so great about an abbey?' I thought the same thing. WRONG!!! MAGNIFICENT.

We started the tour with a history of the abbey, walking through down a 600 foot portico and rooms showing apparel, relics, and beautiful paintings.  

The library alone is beautiful and has over 85,000 leather-bound volumes. 

Then we walked through the door to the library. WOW!!

After the library we headed into the church.
 I thought I saw beautiful churches in Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary....this just blew me away. UNBELIEVABLE!!! 

After taking in all the wonderful altars, gold-leaf statues, and so much more we were entertained by an organ recital. The organ has 3,553 pipes and sounded wonderful.

We walked through the village which is very small, considering the immense size of the Abbey. We continued on back to the ship and will be setting sail around 7pm.  We didn't do anything 'stupid' today. Guess we were too cold and wet.

 (I'll have to post pix later...not having much luck right now)