Remember on Friday when I thought that 56 floors was a lot to climb in one day? Oh how young and naive I was then…
Welcome to Dürnstein.
See that castle up at the tippy top of the hill? We climbed to that. And it was no joke. Check out the view from the top, more that 40 flights up according to the ol’ Fitbit.
After our climb, we walked through the adorable town of Dürnstein while drenched in sweat (or at least I was). I picked up a couple more souvenirs and gifts (and a pastel drawing of the town—this place is absolutely lousy with artists and I love it) and spent €2,90 on the most useful thing I’ve purchased yet…a hand fan. It’s black with white polkadots and I love it.
We headed back to the ship feelings quite accomplished. After a well deserved shower, we headed up to the sun deck to take in the sights of the Wachau Valley as we floated upstream toward Melk. We traveled through a bit of rain along the way, but the clouds made for some wonderfully moody photos.
I feel the need to mention that not everyone was on the ship. About 60 of our fellow passengers opted for a biking excursion and met back up with the ship in Krems. I had truly planning on joining them but the weather has been so hot and humid since we’ve been here that I just didn’t have it in me. We had a great lunch on board the ship and enjoyed a very leisurely afternoon, so I have no regrets.
We soon arrived in Melk and headed out to the Melk Abbey, or Skift Melk in German. The abbey was built in the 1700s (though part of it was destroyed during WWII and was rebuilt) and is still active as an abbey, school and church today. One of our Adventure Guides said this is his favorite of the sites we visit, and you can see why.
Ironically, considering the morning’s Dürnstien hike, today was one of our more low key days thus far. Tomorrow, however, we have to be on a bus for Salzburg at 8 a.m., so I am very excited to go to sleep. Gotta rest up for Sound of Music day!
Valerie Marino 