I woke up annoyingly early considering that Melanie and I stayed up late chatting with another guest and a couple crew members. But we had to be ready to leave by 8:15 so it was for the best.
After breakfast we headed to Göttweig Abbey by bus. The Benedictines have had this abbey for nearly 1000 years, although a good part of the building burned in 1718 and had to be rebuilt. The entire complex has been renovated, including the roof. It is still a working abbey and they are responsible for around 30 parishes. There are also retreats for lay people and church services daily that are open to the public.
The abbey is beautiful. The “Imperial Staircase” is under an amazing fresco and the church is painted mostly in shades of blue. The abbey owns most of the surrounding lands and rents them out for commercial or leisure use, but they do cultivate grapes and apricots and make great things from them. We were given apricot sparkling wine (or juice) when we first arrived and had a tasting of wines made from the regional grape, both of which were delicious!
After our tour and extensive spending in the gift shop, we went back into Krems to check out the town. We walked the main shopping street for a little way before ducking into a side chapel, and suddenly I found myself facing a familiar sight:
Yes, I was suddenly back on the Camino! Earlier we’d passed a backpacker and I had resisted telling him “Buen Camino” but maybe I should have said it!
When we got back on board, we were just in time for lunch and a quick nap. In the afternoon we had a leisurely sail along the Danube to take in the scenery while listening to informative commentary and drinking wine spritzers. The scenic tour part of our sailing was abruptly cut short when the pouring rain began. For a while we thought the captain would outrun it, but no such luck. Most people fled downstairs, but Mom, Dad, and I stuck it out under cover despite the thunder and sideways rain.
Eventually the rain tapered off and Melanie replaced Mom on deck. We admired the views a while longer before heading to the lounge where Mom had watched a strudel making demonstration. We arrived just in time for the best part—eating strudel! They like to make sure we don’t ever run out of sweets on this trip.
Melanie and I read for the next while—life on board is so tough—before the briefing for tomorrow. Our activities director showed up in a dirndl and the hotel manager in lederhosen, because that’s just how they do things here I guess. We had a “Taste of Austria” buffet, so naturally we ate even more than usual. After dinner, we got to take a tour of the kitchen, which is fairly small for feeding 185 guests. But they do a fabulous job with what they have.
This evening we had a game night in the lounge, but we didn’t win this time. We did have a lot of fun dancing after!
Tomorrow we have a long day, so it’s good night for now!
here, there, and... 