Blogs from Lower Austria, Austria, Europe - page 7

...vielleicht sollt ich mir jetzt mal überlegen, was ich alles mitnehm? Aber Gunther hat gemeint, außer einem Sonnenhut, einer Hängematte, einem paar gscheiter Wanderschuhe und einem Fotoapparat brauch ich nix mit. Na dann, brauch ich auch nicht großartig was einpacken;-) Auf besonderen Wunsch von Yasmin hier die Eckdaten meiner Reise - zumindest mal die ersten zwei bis drei Wochen. Alle Angaben sind ohne Gewähr: 9.2. Abflug Wien 11.2. Ankunft Darwin 12.-13.2. Kakadu National Park 14.2. Katherine Gorge National Park, vielleicht Mataranka 15.2.Litchfield National Park 16.2.Flug nach Alice Springs 18.2. Kings Canyon 19.-21.2. Ayers Rock 21.2. Flug nach Sydney Rest: who knows...? Und dann freu ich mich auch über jeden Tag, den ich mit Yasmin (und ihrer family) verbring:-)... read more

The slow regional train took 1.5 hours from Vienna Westbahnhof to Melk, the start of our Wachau valley bicycle tour. Austria had a similar bike rental system as Hangzhou in China, with locked bikes parked in various areas throughout the country, for cyclists to use. It helps that we are in one of the favourite cycle ways in Europe, as the Wachau valley is but one small part of the 365km long cycle way from Passau in Austria to Bratislava in Slovakia along the Donau River. Lucky we were only doing the 41km from Melk to Krems today, not 365km! We rode on the south bank of the Donau. Before long we came across a little church built on the river bank with its dome high over the water - this is Schonbuhel. The Donau is ... read more

We have been here in Austria for more than 2 months now and things are going pretty well. A few weeks ago I was really struggling with a feeling of isolation. It has been difficult for me to stay at home while Melissa goes to work during the day. However I think I have found several outlets to these feelings, and have been doing much better this week. Melissa is loving her teaching job and has even taken on more hours at a school in Guttenbrun which is about 15km from our home. A friend of ours has lent us a car to use while we are here which has been really helpful to us, though we still walk or bike most places. Last week a friend of ours from back home contacted us and said ... read more

Durnstein On the way to Durnstein we passed more castles along the Danube. Durnstein means on dry rock. The ruined Trifels Castle above Durnstein is the one where Richard III was held captive until discovered by his servant who was searching for him. At each castle the servant posed as a wandering minstrel would sing or whistle the King's favourite song. When Richard sang back the servant knew he had found his king. It was said that Richard was released after payment of the largest ransom ever. The pedestrian entrance to the town appears to be under buildings and perhaps the old city/castle wall. There we entered a courtyard on our left leading to a ticket booth, an art gallery and the Monastery. Perhaps the art gallery building with its ornate ceilings was more interesting than ... read more

Melk It was getting dark as we left Linz and some buildings were brightly and colourfully lit. One changed colours from green to blue to pink. We stopped at Melk so that we could visit the Benedictine Abbey. It is on a 60 m rock and was used as a fortress by the Babenbergs when they ruled Austria before they went to Vienna in 1089. It was burnt in 1297 and took 100 years to rebuild. It was reconstructed in 1702 to 1739 in baroque style with 400 rooms and 1,365 windows. The exterior is painted yellow because that was the cheapest colour. We were in the secular section that had 3 floors and 60 guest rooms. Austrian Empress Maria Theresa stayed here 3 times, but her husband only once. There are 29 monks here but ... read more