Melk Day 15

Today we arrived in Austria, in the small delightful town of Melk. It is on our itinerary because of its Benedictine Abbey. The abbey is amazing to look at, but we also learned a bit of the history and philosophy of the Benedictines and that was even more interesting than the complex.

                                      

                                          Houses along the Danube

The abbey was built in 1718 on the site of a former castle, therefore it is high up on a hill. It is according to our guide, built in the baroque style, translate very ornamental or in simpler terms, angepatchked.  It was built with Numerology in mind. There are seven courtyards, for the days of the week and a total of 1365 windows for the days in a year. I'm pretty sure that there are other significant numbers as well, but I can't remember them. Maria Theresa was the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (which was neither holy, nor Roman) at the time and more than half of the abbey was set aside as the imperial quarters for her highness and her small entourage of 300. There is no furniture in these rooms because, Maria Theresa brought all the furniture she needed on her visit. Although she reigned for forty years, she visited the abbey only twice.

The abbey was restored I don't remember when, but it was not restored to its original grandeur. Whatever could not be fixed was replaced by its modern equivalent. Therefore there are modern sculptures in the courtyards, frescoes in a modern style on some of the walls and stylized paintings of flowers on the bases of the altars. The reason?  The Benedictines are forward looking and roll with the times. It was very disconcerting seeing these modern elements beside the very baroque.

                                        
                                            
                                            Baroque nave with modern painted flowers

One of the rooms looked like it was made entirely of marble, but it was actually stucco painted like marble. Although it was more expensive to install, it was easier to maintain and warmer as well. This is not the only trompe l'oeil. One of the ceilings looks like it is vaulted, but it is entirely flat. It is the way the columns in the room are set and the way that the ceilings are painted that give the illusion of vaulting. 

                                               

The library was incredible and the only place we could not photograph. It contains only 9000 books in 17 different languages. The rest of the 17,000 books are stored elsewhere. All of the books in the library were rebound in leather so that they all look alike. This is a functioning library. The books can be used for study and research but they cannot leave the premises. The complete contents of the library are also online. One interesting fact, there are secret doors that swing open to allow in fresh air and light. Another, no fires were allowed for heating. Heat was provided in an indirect method to keep the books safe.

                                        

                                            The staircase to the chapel

Today the abbey houses a public high school of which our guide was a graduate. At its inception, there were 99 monks. Today there are only thirty, the youngest being in his thirties. It was a fascinating visit. Then we climbed down the winding stairs to the town itself. It seemed much less a tourist trap than some of the other towns we have seen, with lovely winding cobblestone streets and stores selling apricot products. Apparently, every garden in the town has an apricot tree. You can buy apricot jam, jelly, wine, beer, liqueur and schnapps. The walk back to the boat was through a beautiful wooded area. Gila stopped to take some pictures and lost track of time. The tour manager came out looking for her. The gangplank was being taken up as we arrived. The boat would have left even without the tour manager if we had not arrived when we did.

                                                  

                                                       On our way back to the ship

The afternoon was spent sailing through the Wachau valley. It is the wine growing area of Austria, mostly white wine. It reminded me of the Rhine, with it's terraced vineyards and castle ruins high up in the hills overlooking the valley.  

                               

The weather was beautiful and we sat on the sun deck listening to a running commentary about the sights as they came up. Later in the day there was a lecture about the Habsburgs, in power for 600 years, it should have been diverting. Instead, it was not only boring, but annoying as well. The Internet proved to be a better source.

                               

At dinner we docked in Vienna. All we saw were the bright lights of a big city. After we ate, we boarded a bus into Vienna for a concert in the Auerspear Palace. The Palace was a huge disappointment after the abbey. It was almost austere by comparison. There were statues in niches, some fountains, and had semi ornate cornices, but no paintings, no chandeliers, little marble.

                                                     

I thought it was a public concert, but it was one in a small room (more ornate than the hall) reserved for us and another tour group. It was a pastiche of the music of Vienna, a little Mozart, a little Strauss, senior and junior, a little ballet (on a 5 by 4 stage) and a little opera, followed by a sip of champagne at intermission and ride home via Ringstrasse. 

                                         

                                                                       

                                       The concert stage, the ballet dancers, the opera singers

At the ship, they were serving goulash for the late night snack. The thought of food at any hour on this trip, at this point, was nausea inducing. Too much food too often. I think everyone on the cruise is on a seefood diet and will have to follow a lessfood diet once they are home. Tomorrow we have a full day in Vienna.