Tuesday, June 16, 2015 Melk Abbey, Wachau Valley, and Vienna

When we first looked out the window this morning at 7, the terrain was again more flat with lots of agriculture. However, by the time we stopped at Melk Abbey about 8:30, we were again starting to get into hills. The captain pulled off a pretty cool manoeuvre to do a 180 degree turn to dock at Melk.

We had breakfast on our own this morning. We learned later that our friends had taken their breakfast on the outside terrace this morning so they could watch the approach to Melk. We have been careful not to wear out our welcome, but they keep inviting us to join them. They are interesting and fun and we have much in the common with kids, grandkids, aviation background, life experience, and outlook, so we are getting along very well.

Here is the lock just before the Melk Abbey.

Here is another Viking Cruises ship at Melk.

The abbey and church were pretty interesting and impressive, built in the ostentatious Baroque style. We had a very good guide that kept up a steady patter of history and culture. After the tour we walked down the hill back to the ship.

Here we are about to begin the abbey tour and here again are our new friends Don and Sherry.

Here is the village below the abbey.

Soon after leaving the abbey we entered the Wachau Valley, a wine producing area with much history that has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Again, there were steep, heavily wooded hills on both sides that often came right down to the water’s edge. Unfortunately, the heavy overcast detracted from the potential beauty of our pictures. We spent a good portion of our time outside and the rest by the windows while our Program Director provided commentary over the public address system as we passed interesting features. One place was the castle where Richard the Lion Heart, King of England, was held for ransom while returning from the crusades. The ruined castle is at the upper left.

After emerging from the Wachau Valley the terrain was again mostly fairly flat with a few hills until Vienna. We were held up for about an hour at one of the locks because some malfunction had slowed things down, causing the cancellation of one of the optional tours that was time sensitive. Then we also had to make an unscheduled stop to let people off for another optional tour that they would have been late for if they did not depart before Vienna. Our Program Director was kept scrambling making alternate arrangements.

This afternoon we had an opportunity to book a tour of the wheel house with the captain in groups of about 8 or 10. Here is a peek.

Another low bridge.

The scissor lift for the wheelhouse.

We have often seen swans along the river bank - sometimes alone, often in twos or threes. Here is an unusually large group.

We had dinner at 7:30 with our usual companions and a couple from New Hampshire and docked in Vienna shortly after 9.

Weather was overcast until early evening, temperature about 72 F 22 C.