Melk to Vienna via the Wachau Valley

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Hi Friends,

We started Thursday with a trip to the famous Melk Abbey. Although the abbey is just above the village, finding the parking lot was no easy task. In fact, we gave up after driving all through the village twice. We parked in public lot about half way up the hill and walked in.

The place is amazing. First, it is huge. Second, it is old. It was established as a fortified Benedictine abbey in the 11th century. It was lost to fire only to be rebuilt in the 18th century. It is full of old stuff.

The most amazing part of the abbey is the old library. It is full of lots and lots of old books. Then the church itself was stunning too. Lots of gold plated stuff. But the best was the views from the church to the surrounding area. If you come to Melk, you have to do this tour. Only, if you plan to do a self-tour, get ready to struggle your way to get by all the Japanese tourists and their guides.

After our tour, we drove towards Vienna along the Wachau Valley on highway 3. It is on the north shore of the Danube. Also, along the road was a bicycle path full of cyclers all the way to the city of Krems. But the best part is the vineyards along the way. We were surprised to see so much cultivated and terraced grape vines. We stopped at several and tasted. Of course, we are still tasting as we purchased a few bottles as we went.

We arrived at Vienna about 2:30pm and checked in. We like the Best Western Kaiserhof Hotel that we found. It is a short walk to the Opera House and many other sites. As we were really too tired to do much, we did decide to walk up to the TI, tourist info, offices to start our research. On the way the bottom fell out of the sky. We had umbrellas but we still got soaked. We had a great dinner and returned to settle in for the night. That gave me time to type in the blog.

Tomorrow will be another great day.

PS. I am having trouble uploading photos. It appears to be a problem with my internet connection at this hotel. I will issue this blog with only a few and hope that the problem is solved after today. Stay tuned.

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