Munich to Melk Austria

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Today was Jackie's day. She was excited about finally getting to see her new car. We got up early and packed for the subway ride to the BMW Welt for the delivery. We always feel like we are in the TV program "Amazing Race" when we do these things. We feel success when we choose to take an alternative to "easy way" and find out our plan works. In this case, instead of taking a taxi we took the subway. And it worked.

After checking in at the Welt and getting briefed on the various options, we got to see the car. Jackie was so happy that the colors she chose looked as good in person as they did in the book. We skipped the factory tour and drove out about noon.

We programmed Heidi to take us to Melk, Austria. Heidi is our new car lady. She tells us what to do when we use the GPS. She is friendly and when she corrects you, she never gets upset. She must not be a married lady. By the way, we said goodbye to our old friend Greta last week. She was our GPS lady for four years and never once got upset with me. I'll miss her. As we ate breakfast at the hotel, then later at the BMW Welt, we decided to steal enough food to have a picnic on the way to Melk. We had beer, wine, bread, cheese, fruit, cookies, and water. Jackie even made a turkey and cheese sandwich for the trip.

On the way to Melk, we started looking for the right place to leave the autobahn to have our picnic. Suddenly, we topped a hill and spotted a beautiful lake (Chiemsee Lake) on the horizon. That was it. We needed to find a way to drive over. What happened next is amazing.

We took the first available exit and started driving towards the lake. We saw nothing but pastures, etc. Finally, I saw a road on the GPS that seemed to lead to the lake and took it. Jackie screamed stop, it is too small for my new car. I ignored her cry. We drove another mile or so and happened into a wonderful location. To our surprise we found a small restaurant that was adjacent to the lake. We purchased wine and beer and had our lunch. The view was spectacular.

The remainder of the drive was uneventful. The weather for the day could not have been better. Clear sky and in the 70s all day. We arrived at Melk about 5pm and checked in. The hotel was small and quaint and directly in front of the famous Melk Abby which rises about 200 feet above the city.

From the maps we could tell that we were very close to the Danube river. The clerk at the hotel gave us a map and said we could easily walk about 800 meters to the river. We did and along the way we noted a billboard, in front of a large canvas-covered amphitheater, advertising a concert called "LIKE A VIRGIN" that was scheduled for that evening. At the river we had a couple of beers and some wine and headed back for dinner. When we approached the theater we could hear a band playing some great music. We thought the show had started but there were almost no cars in the parking areas. We saw some people in front that explained the concert would start at 8:15pm and that the sound system was being tested. We checked and found that a few tickets were still available and purchased two.

By now it was about 7:00pm so we hurried back and had quick dinner and headed for the show. The show was fantastic and may be a highlight of our entire trip. It was music from the 80s built into a play that had four wonderful women singers and seven men. A large orchestra accompanied the singers. The venue was perfect as just behind the stage was the abby. The show lasted more than three hours. We got home after midnight.

That day will be hard to top as we continue on our 2012 adventure.

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