Home again...

I'm a week home from Europe, and starting to feel normal again after being gone for three weeks.

After a few days in bed with a bad cold (not helped by breathing smoke from forest fires), then a few days with family visiting from Colorado, I feel able to face the 1300+ photographs I took while on our river cruise, and begin catching up with my blog.

I hope you will take the time to travel back to the beginning of August, and follow along with my journey through Hungary, Germany, Austria, and The Netherlands. It was an amazing trip, and I look forward to sharing it.

And while I spend my evenings looking at pictures and writing, my days will be spent collecting seeds from the flower gardens, picking apples and plums and blackberries, cutting suckers from the fruit trees, and getting started on a medallion quilt for this year's guild challenge.

I can already smell autumn in the air... mmmm... my favorite time of year!

River cruise... Passau & Salzburg

We cruised overnight, and arrived in Passau about 8:00 this morning. It is a beautiful, colorful town right on the river. Today we'll skip the usual walking tour; instead, we're going by coach to Salzburg for the day. Jim and Julie are going with us.

I think this is a reindeer farm; look at the high fences

Arriving in Passau

Ready to moor

We hopped off before breakfast for a geocache

The other side of the river

After breakfast we went by coach to Salzburg. For the first time this trip, we all went our separate ways except for us and our friends, Jim and Julie. None of us has been to Salzburg on previous trips, so we couldn't pass it up.

Salzburg, Austria


Gate to the Mirabell Palace and gardens


Mirabell Palace gardens


Mirabell Palace and gardens


Mirabell gardens


Mirabell Palace and gardens


Green tunnel


Tunnel of trees, Mirabell Gardens


Walking along the river, heading to old Salzburg


The Love Lock bridge over the Salzach River


I love t all the elaborate wrought iron sign standards





The climb up the hill takes you through an old graveyard


Graves and monuments


DW heading down the hill to our lunch


Catacombs in the cliff above the cemetery


Jim and Julie at lunch, in a beautiful room...


... with a beautiful ceiling

River cruise... Wauchau Valley & Melk Abbey

Day 5 of the river cruise. This morning after breakfast, we cruised through the Wauchau Valley, with lovely small towns, terraced farms and vineyards, and castle ruins. Our cruise director gave a commentary of the history of the area, and of many of the castles. One thing I found fascinating was that many of the knights of the Crusades came here.

An hour west of Vienna, the Danube River winds its way through the Wauchau Valley

Low bridge

And...  we fit!

The town of Durnstein, with its blue-towered abbey.
The ruins of Durnstein Castle are on the hill above.

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Weissenkirchen

Hinterhaus Castle, near the town of Spitz.

In the afternoon we toured Melk Abbey. Perched high on a hill overlooking the Wachau Valley, Melk Abbey is easy to spot because of its position and its sunny yellow facade. The abbey has been home to Benedictine monks for more than 900 years.

The abbey is hard to miss from the river

It was hot again today, and I'm just getting over a nasty cold, so it wasn't the best day to spend inside a hot building, or outside in the blazing sun. But I toughed it out. It so hot in fact, that I really didn't enjoy the tour. All I wanted was to get outside, anywhere there was a breeze.

DW, walking to Melk Abbey

Ready for the tour

No photography of any kind was allowed inside the building, so I put my camera away and listened. It was a thorough tour, but getting outside, finally, let me breathe.

The Melk Abbey church

We walked around the spectacular terraces between the buildings and the drop to the countryside beyond, and enjoyed the great views.

Then we walked through the gardens, and checked out the garden building, and found a geocache. Then we met up with the rest of our little group for a cold beverage, which was very welcome!

A pretty special bit of garden art!

Lots of white-faced monkeys in the gardens!

There are lots of interior photographs on the internet, if you'd care to explore. I especially loved the library and the church. You'll see photographs of the spectacular winding staircase that joins the library and the church; we didn't see this on our tour. I've always wanted to lie on the floor under such a staircase and take pictures. Here's a particularly good shot:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melk_Abbey#/media/File:070526_Stift_Melk_09.jpg

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While we walked through Melk Abbey, our ship continued on. We will meet up with it in Passau.

River cruise... Vienna

Day four of our Viking cruise. We docked late yesterday afternoon; today is our much-anticipated tour of Vienna. We were in Austria in 1989, but never made it to Vienna. And since it's the home of the Spanish Riding School and the Lippizaners, I was excited to see the old city.
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After breakfast, our coach dropped us in the heart of the old town, and we were met by our local guide. She walked us through the streets, such beautiful architecture and statues, such history all around. The highlight for me was seeing the home of the Spanish Riding School. The stables, and the performance hall across the street, by the palace. There were even a few horses in stalls, which we saw from the street. One of my favorite horseman statues was in a nearby courtyard. We did this tour with Jim & Julie, which I really enjoyed.

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Breakfast is amazing every day. Choose from a huge buffet,
or they'll cook you just about anything to order.

This morning, the swans surrounded the boat...
waiting for breakfast, perhaps?

The architecture is amazing. To this architect's daughter, heavenly.

 

Painted staircase to the art museum.
Stairs and advertising in one place.

There are statues everywhere, even on the rooftops

A statue in the courtyard of the Spanish Riding School 

Chapel near the Spanish Riding School. Love the chandeliers.

The practice ring. Behind each archway is a stall, and a horse.
The performing stallions are away on vacation right now,
but there are horses in these stalls. Really.

When it's time for a performance, the stallions are ridden
up this ramp, across the street, and into the performance hall.

There are even horses on the streets.