Our Little Corner of the World...visiting Melk-Krems, Austria!!!

Entering the courtyard of the Melk Abbey in Melk, Austria.

The Melk Abbey is a 900 year old Abbey built on sheer cliffs above the Danube.

The original building was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt in the 18th century...

...that's still a good 300+ years!!!

Inside the Abbey is a museum with artifacts collected over the years

including old vestments.

Now...take a good look at this ceiling...

...it looks domed, doesn't it?

Nope!!!  The ceiling is perfectly flat.

The illusion is all in the perspective of the fresco!

A lovely view of the city below...

A glimpse of the Danube from the Abbey...

A stunning staircase...

It's amazing to me how with each Church or Cathedral we visited

they became more and more intricate and spectacular!

This is the Melk's Abbey Church.

Pretty spectacular isn't it?

Next stop...Vienna!!!




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Our Little Corner of the World...visiting Passau, Germany!!!

A little touch of the new world in an old world walk way...

Such a charming road to walk along...not so sure about driving though!!!

....an artists rendition of????

I'm thinking...breakfast...coffee...

...or a glass of wine...

...and definitely with friends or that special someone!!! 

Just another interesting and beautiful building!!!

I'm thinking he's carrying wheat stalks?

So perhaps a bakery???

Passau is a city in lower Bavaria and is located at the junction of the Danube River,

the Inn River and the Ilz River.

Over the centuries, the rivers have risen and flooded the city...

Each mark on the wall notates the date of each major flood, and the height the water reached...

 1501 was the worst...with 2013 second!

Just a lovely street scene...

St. Stephen's cathedral...

 We stayed for the organ concert...

amazing acoustics...

renowned organ...

Incredibly beautiful detail...

Our last stop was at the top of a hill at a Bishop's residenz...

where we found a small cafe, with a nice selection of local beers!!!

The view of the city...

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Our Little Corner of the World...visiting Regensburg, Germany!!!

To get into the town of Regensburg, we crossed this 12th Century bridge...

Yep...you read it right...12th Century...

...and still functional!!!

 Our heavy construction engineers and builders could learn a thing or two from

the builders in the 12th Century!!!

I certainly wasn't expecting to hear someone playing a Didgeridoo on a
12th Century bridge in Germany!!!

Regensburg from the bridge...

Such a beautiful spot to sit and enjoy the sunshine and the view!

Regensburg is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.
It is considered to be one of the best preserved Medieval cities in Germany.

I found myself doing more people watching here!!!

We ran into these girls here, and later in the Bier Garten!!!

We think it was a bachelorette party!!!

TheChief's favorite building!

Have you ever seen such giant bubbles?

I recently tried to use a large bubble frame with my granddaughter...

the soap solution kept popping before it even had a chance to form the bubble!!!

St. Peter's Cathedral...

Quite beautiful...

This guy was quite entertaining!

Then back on the ship and cruising past a sister ship!




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Our Little Corner of the World...cruising through the Lochs of the Main-Danube

Leaving Nuremburg we headed through more lochs...

more magical in the evening light...

This one happens to be the Leerstetten Loch...

It was one of the more daunting loch experiences!

If you've never been in a loch...

the sides of the River Cruise ship were merely inches from the sides of the Loch.

For a little perspective...
to the right of our friend Sean is the measurement of the water height etched into the stone.
(enlarge this to see the measurements a bit better)

Takes awhile for the water to rise...

...and then...all the gate opens and we're sailing into the next level!

And on to the next Loch...

and the next...
and the next!

Then breakfast...in another Loch!!!

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