Day 6 (7th July): Melk in Honeymoon

Today is much more laid-back compared to previous days, when we spent the day in a big city. Come to think of it, they were all capitals - Amsterdam, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna. This time our ship stopped for a few hours at Melk, even though I think of today as the Wachau Valley day.

By the time I woke up, it was already 8:30, and the cruise program director was giving a running commentary on the scenary around the Wachau Valley. It lasted til 11:30 or so, and was entertaining and informative. The Wachau Valley is pretty, and we took a lot of pictures, but I don't think it's as beautiful as the Rhine Valley... though it may be just primacy effect. I just noticed that most of the Vineyards are on the north shore of the Danube, and I wonder if there's a reason. Travelling by ship is a great way, probably the best way to see the scenary though; I very much look forward to the Rhine Valley leg of the trip.

Because I woke up so late, I'd missed breakfast altogether, but I didn't eat a big lunch, because the menu didn't appeal to me. We took a bus up to the Abbey after lunch, at around 1. We got a tour of the Abbey, which had since converted the Imperial wing into a museum. It was quite impressive, especially the room where the house decorations. (They have places where the house body parts of saints, which was a bit disturbing... these are Benedictine monks, so they are a bit weird.). It just happened that there was a Welsh choir from Australia that was performing in the church. So we stayed to listen. They were a terrific choir, and we got to hear the organ in action. It was a great visit. The church itself was impressive too - imposing architecture and ornate decorations. I can't fathom the amount of time and effort that got put into building it.

After the Abbey tour, we walked back to the ship dock via the old town. Even though it was hot (in the 90s), it was fun to walk down the quaint cobble stone roads. La Professeure got the opportunity to take souvenirs as well.

We left Melk at 4. We actually got back to the ship earlier, so I managed to go to the library and practiced a little bit on the upright they have there (actually La Professeure wanted to record "Happy Birthday to you" for her god daughter, and that's the excuse I used to go to the library). One of the people in the library actually knows someone in New York who is also an amateur classical musician, so I got to spread the word about the amateur musicians group around. That was neat.

We then went to a demo made by the head chef on the ship about how to make the apple strudel. I didn't catch a lot of it because we were going through a lock and I was enjoying the view of a ship going through a lock from the point of view of the ship. But they gave out apple sturdels afterwards and it was tasty.

After dinner we went upstairs to see the ship go through another lock, and then hung out with the Memphis couple. In this trip we are meeting a lot of interesting people, and that is the biggest surprise for me. I was expecting a lot of middle-aged wealthy banker type, but it turns out we meet a lot of people like us - with the exception that they are retired.

Tonight I am a little disappointed because we are going through Linz and we don't get to stop, but we should have another nice day tomorrow at Passau.