MELK and DURNSTEIN, AUSTRIA

Approaching the courtyard to the Melk Abbey


The Melk Abbey Courtyard

Outside the Abbey

Who is that cute couple?

Inside the very ornate baroque Abbey

Inside the Melk Abbey

Melk, Austria

After visiting the Abbey we walked back through town

Photo taken at dusk on our walk back to the ship

I took this photo for Emma!

No swimming for me!

(The temp outside is really cold - 10 degrees Celsius (about 42 F )

Durnstein, Austria

So charming!

Narrow street in Durnstein

Another beautiful building in Durnstein

No chaining to this post for you!

(This is a place where people that had wronged their community were punished.)

Apricot harvest is big in the spring - There are many stores selling every product imaginable

made out of apricots!

Stroll in Durnstein among the beautiful autumn leaves

Part of the rampart of the old wall in Durnstein

castle on the hill where King Richard the lion-hearted was detained We are beginning our walking tour of Durnstein

HOPEFULLY THESE PICTURES WILL TELL A THOUSAND WORDS!

Again, it is a late night...almost 11:30 pm. I have been trying to get better from a cold/allergies. Crazy...with the sinus headache so bad yesterday. However, we did stop at the pharmacy in Melk in Durnstein and picked up some medicine for me. I am quite a bit better today. Thank goodness! I don't want to miss a thing!!!

This cruise and tour has been SO FABULOUS! We are seeing and experiencing so much. The Melk Abbey was is one of the most important buildings of baroque architecture in Europe! Wow, it is so ornate! Since 1089 the Abbey has been a Benedictine monastery, founded by Leopold II. Our cruise director in fact attended school there. They presently have 9oo students.

Durnstein is such a charming town that we both thoroughly enjoyed. The Kuenringer Castle ruins you saw in a photo is where the English King Richard the Lionhearted was held prisoner in 1192.

Well.....this is going to be the end of my post for now. The Internet shut down and I lost some of this post......look below this writing for a few more photos??????? love you all

view of the blue church
Durnstein, Austria

Our very young captain showing us the ropes