Wachau Weekend

On Sunday, we got up early and took an hour's trainride from Vienna to Melk, a lovely town on the Danube. The town is nestled under the shadow of Melk Abbey, or Stift Melk, a Benedictine Abbey.

We walked from the train station, through town, and up many, many stone steps to get up to the Abbey in time for 9:30 Mass.

M and I found that people were friendly and welcoming. It was clear that most of the people attending Mass were local parishioners, rather than tourists. Everything was in German, but we did our best to follow along as we sang.

After Mass, we went out into the sunshine of the Abbey courtyard. We brought our new camera - A SERIOUS CAMERA - and fought hard to understand even its most basic functions. We had fun taking turns using it.

We thought about taking a guided tour, but decided we would scout out the place on our own and do research before coming again so that we understood what we were looking at without taking a tour.

Inside, one of the highlights was the extraordinary library.  No flash photographs are permitted, but I got a few good shots. M actually got much better photos using his plain, old camera than we did with the fancy, new one.

There were beautiful statues, staircases, and views out the windows.

Outside, there is a terrace from which you can see the town and the Danube.

After this, we walked into town toward the boat launch. Looking up, we got an impressive view of how enormous the Abbey is.

We waited to board the boat - there were lots of people waiting, many with bicycles. We decided that we would bring bikes when we come back in the fall.  Perhaps even a bike/winery tour. The cruise down the Danube was lively and scenic.

In Dürnstein, you can see the ruins of the castle where Richard the Lion-Hearted was imprisoned in 1193.

Below that is the picturesque town:

We took a lot of photos, but I'm not really sure what all of these places are. Maybe M knows and can tell me. Then I'll tell you. In the meantime, just enjoy the scenery (as I did).

We disembarked at Krems and walked our way into the old town.

First is the Steiner Tor,

Apparently, one of the inscriptions says 'AEIOU', which was the personal insignia of Emperor Friedrich III - “Alles Erdreich ist Österreich untertan” (English = “All the earth is subordinate to Austria”).  I didn't know this or see this when we were there, but the handy website (above) told me.

We walked some more stairs

to get to this church:

(the one in the background with the red roof with the clock).  It was small and beautiful.

We saw some other interesting things:

It was a wonderful day trip, and a great end to the weekend.

Out for a walk

So, here's a photo of the dish I made with the gorgeous chanterelles I got the other day at the Naschtmarkt:

I sauteed shallots, garlic and a sprig of thyme in olive oil and butter until they were just fragrant, then turned up the heat and added the chanterelles (cut into chunks).  After they'd begun to brown a bit (about 5 minutes), I gave them some salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I cooked a couple handfuls of pappardelle. Now, the plan was that this was going to be a SIDE DISH, but I'm terrible (always have been) at judging how much dry pasta to cook. It always seems like not very much. Anyway, I ended up with more than I intended. Once it was mostly cooked, I added it and some of the pasta water to the pan with the mushrooms and finished cooking it. The pasta water makes such a nice glaze-y sauce. A bit of grana padano on top. It was very good.

Yesterday's weather was gorgeous. Sunny, warm, breezy, without humidity.  I decided it was the perfect weather to take a book down to one of the cafes on the canal.  I took pictures of what I saw along my walk. Here they are:

U-Bahn station at Schwedenplatz.

Lovely, old, ornate building with a McDonald's.

A tram.

The canal.

The next two are a couple of strange sculptures - M & I have tried to figure out who made them and why they're here, but we don't know:

This is the Badeschiff - a ship with a swimming pool.

A bit fuzzy, but the sign points to the direction of Budapest.

I had no idea what this "Fairness Zone" thing was - I'd seen it a few times in different sections of the canal paths. After a bit of searching, I found this information: http://cyclingisgoodforyou.blogspot.com/2010/07/about-fairness.html.  Apparently, there are sections of the path that have resulted in conflicts between bicyclists and pedestrians and who has the right-of-way.  These notices on the ground appear to be in sections where bikes tend to go really fast, but it's hard for pedestrians to get out of the way.  Hmmm. I just try to stay to the right side of the path and hope that I won't get whacked by a bike.

There are a number of these cabanas, with dirty foam mattresses inside, all along a section of the canal. They seem pretty creepy.

At my destination with a delicious, cold drink and a book.

On my way home.

That was my afternoon.