Austria

Linz, as many other places on the Danube was established as a Roman garrison in the second century. We arrived in the late afternoon and so did not visit any historical sites. We strolled the main square and street which is lined with trendy shops, name brand stores and lots of restaurants, just like the shopping areas in most large cities. The difference between most of the European cities we visited and North America is that there are still many family run businesses, bakeries, butchers, fabric shops, etc, and you can buy a lot of products that are still made in Europe. 

Our big excitement in Linz was a protest march of some kind on the main street. There were lots of police in front, down both sides and following the march. We disappeared down a side street until it passed. 

The Benedictine Abbey in Melk rises over the village and the Danube valley as a huge yellow structure that has visions of a royal palace. Once the home of Benedictine monks, with large wings reserved for the royal Habsburg family, it is now home to primary and secondary schools, open to students of all religions. There are seven courtyards of various sizes surrounded by interconnected royal quarters, cathedrals and the required supporting structures needed. Built around a centre building with two wings that are some 900 feet in length the Abbey occupies the total hill it was built on. 

Throughout the trip, when visiting the old parts of town I wondered if the two and three story housing was of recent construction or from the past. One painting hanging in the Abbey, era 1500, showed that the housing of Melk looked exactly as it did out of the adjacent window. So those homes were built years ago, have had the outsides upgraded from stone and brick to plaster and stucco, but otherwise the original structures, amazing!

The village itself, is warm, charming and a place one could definitely spend more time.

A future trip trip here that consisted of a few days each in Regensburg, Passau and Melk would be awesome. We then sailed down the Danube through the Wachau Valley to Vienna. The valley varies in scenery from natural forest land to vineyards and orchards to quaint villages and farm sites.

What can one say about Vienna, home of Strauss, Mozart and other classical musicians, it is one of the greatest cultural and historic cities in the world. While we had intended to go and watch the Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School we arrived too late in the morning and had to settle for a stroll past the arena and stables where the horses are kept. One stallion did bless us by coming to the paddock door and gave us the once over. It rained hard while we were in Vienna and after our walking tour past the castles of the Habsburg and other places of interest we ended up in the tourist and local shopping area, which being Sunday everything was closed.

Vienna was not destroyed during WWII and was not really occupied by either the Nazi or Allied armies. Austria and Vienna were quartered up and governed by the USA, France, England and Russia and they all gave control of the country back to the Austrian elected government in the mid 1950s and allowed her to govern on their own.

Our plan to wonder the streets of Vienna on our own where dampened by the rain and that on Sunday all the shops, businesses and most cafes and restaurants are closed. So we went back to the boat and on down the river to Budapest and Hungary.