Got Melk?

We pulled into Melk this morning around 10:00.  Our ship is the far white one; there are two Viking longships together in this picture.  

Melk is home to the Melk Abbey or Stift Melk.  It became the site of a Benedictine monastery in 1089 and since then, for more than 900 years, monks have continuously lived and worked here.  It is also home to a school for local children; our guide had actually attended high school here.  It is a huge baroque building with four courtyards and a famous library with an enormous collection of old manuscripts.

 The ceiling of one of the rooms in the monastery

Above is the exterior of the church and below is the high altar.

We walked out onto the balcony just before entering the library and caught a magnificent view of the little town of Melk.

We walked back to our ship through the town, stopping at the market for pictures.

 Once back aboard our ship we had an Austrian picnic lunch of cheeses, sausages with mustard, cured meats, breads,  and pastries.  We were sailing down a beautiful part of the river this afternoon so after lunch we all headed to the top deck to hang out, take pictures and watch for castles, little towns with their maypoles (they all have them), terraced vineyards, church steeples, and red-roofed houses.  This length of the Danube, known as Wachau,  is considered the loveliest portion of the river.  Our ship's tour director gave a narration along the way, pointing out all the ruined castles, medieval towns, and palaces.  We were all grateful for the beautiful weather. 

 The town of Krems, Austria

 We would come around a bend in the river and there would sit a castle.

Sitting on the upper deck and going under bridges was a rush!  As the bridge approached, the captain would lower the wheelhouse so he could pass under and we would watch, wondering if our heads would clear!  Of course they did but it was wild imagining they might not.  Lynn and Shan are going to try to touch the bridge!