We spent most of today planning our next month. We needed to do this because by not planning, we have come north east of where we want to go next - a move that will cost us some time and petrol.
We really want to see the town of Český Krumlov in south west Czech republic - I had though it was in the north east. So I kind of stuffed up a bit, but it is not all bad because we will see a little more of southern Czech Republic getting there. Could only be one hitch - there is a big international Music Festival on there at the moment and rooms are at a premium. Bugger - should have been there from last night - being the middle of the week it would have been easier. Oh well que sera sera!
So, after consulting our trusty AA Atlas, our Lonely Planet Eastern Europe and Western Europe guides, and Kate and her TomTom route planning software, we finally decided on the route we will take. We will travel through the Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Germany, to Amsterdam, Brugge in Belgium before I leave Michael in Béthune in France and meet up with Hels in Paris! I know it sounds crazy - but it is do-able. Only 3,164 odd kilometres in the month!
And then I hit the internet to first find, and then book accommodation. And as I upload this at midnight, I have only managed to get confirmed bookings as far as Auschwitz done with requests out for Krakow and Warsaw. Hopefully they will be confirmed in the next 24 hours.
We are leaving here after an early breakfast in the morning to have a look at Brno before we head over to Český Krumlov. And wait till you see where we are staying there! This aparthotel (its a new category of accommodation) is quite nice. A four room apartment that is cleaned daily. It has a small kitchen (and Michael cooked again tonight), two bedrooms with a sitting area in each and a bathroom. But you can't get this sort of apartment everywhere yet. We've been lucky enough to get them a few places. Accommodation is expensive at the moment as it is the European summer high season and a lot of Europeans are travelling at the moment - especially Italians and Polish mainly.
I got me a new bestest friend today! Thanks ever so much to 
Judith at Haarteam Mohr (hairdressers) in Melk, I am now so much lighter and more comfortable, being unburdened from all that hair! She has given me a lovely cut - the best I have had since leaving home. I was a little disappointed that the man at the Hotel Der Post did not tell me of her hairdressing shop when I asked him for directions to one - she is across the road and down one shop - he however, directed me to one much further away. And while I was being 
pampered, Michael took a bit a stroll and got some pics.
We are driving down the Danube River and it could so easily be the Rhine. One either bank there are crops of corn and sunflowers and then grapes. The small towns are almost within a cooee of each other and there are castles and ruins on almost every high outcrop! Turns out that the tolling and taxing of passengers on the Danube was carried out pretty much the same as it was o
n the Rhine - complete with the Robber Barons!
At Schönbühel, not long out of Melk, we see a fortified buildng overlooking the River, but when we go up to take a look, it is a private residence! Gee, they must have very long arms and short pockets - cos the upkeep on such a place must be incredible. We travel a little further and see another one much higher up and oh shit, there is the turnoff - very quick turn to the right! we have happened
upon Burgruine Aggstein - Austria's best known medieval castle.
It sits 320 m above the Danube, and the road snakes up through the forest on roads of 20% slopes - part is sealed, part not. It's been a while since I have had to take a hill of any length in 2nd gear! But believe me, the trip up was definitely worth it. Built in the early 12th century onto and into the rock on which it sits, 
the castle commands great views of it's approaches and the Danube Valley.
And while it looks impenetrable, this castle was beseiged a number of times during its life, destroyed twice and rebuilt from the ruins. In the early 15th Century, the castle was owned by one of the barons who, once realising that the cargo of the ships he 
tolled was worth considerably more, took to robbing them, using a iron chain across the Danube to halt their progress. In the late 15th Century, Duke Leopold III captured the Baron and took over the castle to stop this practice.
The castle is very indicative of the layout and purposes of a castle of its age. It had a deep well to ensure safe drinking water for its inhabitants, a chapel to minister to the spirital needs, a 
large (knights) hall used for ceremonies, a dungeon, and living quarters behind a second fortification. Only one of the areas in the castle was heated - meaning that winters must have been a bleak and miserable time. Even on a warm day like today, you get the benefit from the high position over the river and it is quite pleasant.
Today, the Knight's Hall can be 
hired for functions, the chapel for weddings, and there is a small restaurant in the main courtyard. Owned by the State, this must help to offset the large upkeep bill! We enjoy an apfelsaft-gerwist (apple juice with sparkling water) and a cheescake. Or at least we tied to - the bees liked it all just as much as we did! Little, long, yellow and black banded ones.
So, cooled down and with the yummy cake 
down, we headed back down to the Danube and our trip to the north where we are now passing lots and lots of stone fruit orchards and grape vines. And while there are a few roadside stalls, I am surprised we don't see more. Oh, and did I mention the beautiful scenes with crops and river and picturesque towns? (hehehe - sorry guys)
It really is as pretty as a picture postcard. We pass through small towns with amazing graffiti (the old style) on their walls and then through the outskirts of the city of Krems. Like Melk, there was an Abbey established here and it is 
nearly as large. But having just seen Melk, we feel no compulsion to go off our route to see this one. The day is getting on and we still have a little way to go.
Before too long, we have reached the border with the Czech Republic. And straight away you notice the difference between the wealth, both public and private of 
the two countries. We have gone from small individual farms to broadacre farming at its best (or worst?). Lots and lots of sunflowers and still some corn. So we now know where all our sunflower oil comes from - Slovakia and the Czech Republic! And despite the revolting rotting smell that comes from the very ripe sunflowers, they paint a beautiful picture, don't you agree?! The flower on the far right was huge - about the size of a dinner plate! And the bees 
all over them are much fatter - two varieties - a plump furry fat one and a sleeker banded one.
The housing changes dramatically and there are the usual signs of social boredom - the graffiti covered public utilities like this bus stop on the highway about 20 kms from Brno. But as we enter the City, there is plenty of new building work too. The tram 
system is getting a major overhaul which from the look of the rusted rails and overgrown sidings, is not a moment too soon. As the Czech Republic's second largest city, you really would expect nothing less!
And then there are the perennial roadworks! I couldn't help feel a little déja vu when I read this 
article from our local Fraser Coast Chronicle back home. However, there really doesn't seem to be the same level of assurance for roads workers here in Eastern Europe. Even before I read this article, we have commented a number of times on how WH&S standards are so different here and the lack of protection that is given to workers on the roads.
We are staying in a new apartment 
hotel in the centre of the City, but not in the Old Town. In fact, it is on the edge of the commercial area, bordering on an industrial zone. But there is secure parking under the building behind a locked automatic door and we get space and a kitchen to cook, so we feel it is OK. There is a park outside our window and I see local youths (well, some of them are youths, others much younger) hanging out smoking cigarettes.
But out the window from the front 
corridor, there is an amazing view of Špilberk Castle and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul that we will have a look at tomorrow. Michael heads out to the supermarket for some veges, chicken and noodles for a stir fry for dinner. Gosh we need those veges! He changes €20 for Czech Kroner - this gets him 518.90 Kč! And he still comes back with 200 Kč change from that!
We are staying at the Hotel Drei Kronen which is close to the City centre without being right in it. The room is very comfortable and nice and airy. The WiFi connection is fast and stable, and breakfast this morning looks very delicious. Looks delicious? Well, given that we ate so late last night, we are not very hungry! Scrambled eggs on seeded bread sounds just right, along with an orange juice and coffee.
The rain has really set in, so rather than spend half a day walking around in it, we opt to set off to Melk a little earlier than we originally planned. So, adieu Vienna. You will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Our journey through to Melk while not far takes us a good couple
of hours. Because we have decided to leave earlier due to the rain, there is no need to hurry and we choose the non-motorway route – I mean we saw the motorway when we came from Salzburg to Vienna. We travel through the back suburbs of Vienna next to a fast flowing canal. The weather is dismal – at the best, raining lightly and overcast, at worst, raining so heavily that we have trouble seeing the road markings. It is nice though to see that Vienna’s stunning architecture extends out of the city centre and in to the outer suburbs.
Past the stunning summer palace – the Shönbrunn Palace, complete with the ‘royal’ yellow paint job and a pair of royal but rather surprised lions sitting guard at the entrance to the plaza. We don’t go in today – we are a little of the impression that seen one grand palace filled with gilt and glass and china, seen them all. And we still have to see the Palace of Versailles 
with Hels! We do however later see an impressive castle high on a hill and decide we might stop and have a quick look, but despite all our attempts we can’t find the road up to it. So we turn to Kate who seems to find a route – good old Kate! Alas, the road is blocked with a sign saying the castle is closed. Ah, well.
The road we travel is through lots of small villages – most of 
them between 500 metres and 2 kilometres apart. It’s starting to feel a bit like England! And here as we have found further east, the crops of the moment are corn and sunflowers. The sunflowers are getting closer to maturity and there are more and more of them standing tall with their sunny faces following their namesake. There are lots of quirky little touches in each of the towns. Such as: 
+ the robot outside a mechanic’s workshop
+ the chemist shop displaying all the herbs used in their cures (supposedly!)
+ a local sign for an upcoming carwash – fundraising maybe?
We are now getting very close to Melk and I expect to see the magnificent Abbey around every 
corner. But no, we are coming in to the town from the back and we actually reach the car park (that we could not get in to when we came through here a couple of weeks ago) without yet seeing the Abbey. So we park the car and set off. The first view we get today of the complex from above the entry gardens. Down a stepped stairway with carved balustrading into a formal garden with sculptured hedges and fir trees. And up close it is just as stunning as from afar –
although you don’t get the full view as the complex is so huge.
We have tickets for an English guided tour at 2:55 pm. But it is only 1:45 now so we decide to have some lunch first. There is a restaurant at the Stift Melk and the menu seems OK. I am determined to have schnitzel at least once before leaving Austria so I order the Weiner Schnitzel served with parsley potatoes 
while Michael has the Austrian braised beef with roast potatoes and fried onion rings with a butter and chive sauce. While one of the local equivalents of fast food, they are surprisingly good. The Schnitzel is huge, only lightly breaded and the meat cooked to perfection. And Michael says the same of his beef.
It is nearing 2:50 when we arrive at the meeting point for the 
tour. We don’t have long to wait for our guide who collects a very large group and heads off with a “All the people for the English tour follow me” at a fast trot across the large quadrangle towards the guest wing. Once there, we are split into two groups thankfully and she remains with our group while another guide takes half of the group. And so our tour is with the lively ‘local’ guide Angela. She speaks a beautiful English with the clipped accent that denotes it is not her native tongue. Angela is knowledgeable and eagerly and enthusiastically shares what she knows. She is happy to take and answer questions in English. I tell her that she is lucky to work in such a beautiful place and she genuinely agrees. We 
move up the Imperial Staircase to the Imperial Corridor were the much loved Maria Theresia stayed here with her retinue of up to 300 people, as well as Napoleon and his army of more than 1,000! While we don’t see into any of the individual guest rooms, the high baroque decorations and the magnificent art works set along the walls of the 196 m twin arcades are truly beautiful.
The Abbey is home to a community of 30 Benedictine Monks. In fact, it has been continuously home to this order for 900 consecutive years! Presently there is a contemporary exhibition on the history of the Abbey that only survived the reforms of Emperor Joseph II in the 18th Century because of its school. To this day it houses a school for 900 pupils between the ages of 10 and 18. It is a private Catholic school – but a very affordable one at only €80 per month – gosh, that is so much less than what it cost us to school our children at St Marys in Maryborough!
Today, only half the monks live at the Abbey while the others work and 
live in 15 of the parishes that belong to the Abbey in the surrounding towns. The historic exhibition moves through the good times and the dark times of the Abbey in a very sympathetic way with rooms lit by coloured lights to represent Benedictine symbolism. It displays many of the treasures held by the Abbey community including the most exquisitely embroidered cope, stole, gloves, hat and shoes worn by the Abbot responsible for the restoration of the Abbey. But this is more than a showpiece – it is brought out every Easter for the Easter Mass. (Oh, the gloves and shoes are not worn – they were custom made and don’t fit the present Abbot!)
Our tour then takes us through the Marble Hall that 
was used for lavish royal dinners and the like. It is interesting to note the door frames and gables above the doors are made from real marble, whereas the walls have been lined with stucco marble. In the centre of the floor is a massive grate where hot air was forced into the hall for heating. Similar to the other rooms, the frescoes are just as impressive with images depicting heroes of the Classical period and angels as the balance between good and evil. One fact I found amusing was that the Classical images were representations of the Hapsburgs who liked to see themselves represented as these gods and champions – oh, woe to the Heroic Age!
Angela then leads us out of the Hall and 
onto The Balcony which connects the Marble Hall and the Library. Walking onto The Balcony one has a commanding view over Melk, as the balcony is like the prow of a ship. However, when you turn around towards the Church facade you are smitten by an amazing sight. I don’t quite know whether these edifices were erected for the glorification of ‘God’, man or just purely to intimidate. Whatever the reason the façade is quite impressive as architecture with its imposing towers reaching towards heaven and the dome purely dominates the monastic complex. Between the two towers (…no, nothing to do with Mordor or Isengard) is a monumental stat
ue depicting Christ carrying a cross flanked by two angels.
Leaving The Balcony we are ushered into The Library, which is no less impressive than the previous rooms. The bookshelves are inlaid and the collections of books have matching bindings, while peering down from its lofty ceiling – you guessed it….frescoes. This library boasts a collection of 100,000 texts, 1200 manuscripts 
from the 9th to 15th centuries and 600 manuscripts from the 16th to 18th centuries. The collection includes globes of the heavens and earth that were designed and constructed in 1690.
Here the tour ended and Angela suggested a visit to the Church would prove most interesting. However, she did point out that all the gold decoration in the Church is not solid but gold leaf. 
Mind you, only 4kg of gold leaf was needed to apply the decoration. Acting upon Angela’s recommendation we entered the church and were just taken aback by what we saw. There is just insufficient space and/or time to provide any adequate dissertation. So, our picture of the Church interior will provide some idea. One rather macabre inclusion are two sarcophaguses that contain the skeletons of martyrs from the Roman catacombs. 
As we left the Church and made our way towards the exit, we noticed a sign indicating there is a movie depicting the history of the Abbey. We settle ourselves to watch the presentation when about halfway through it an employee enters the small auditorium, advising us the show is over and the Abbey is closing! Like good little sheep we all hurriedly exit. Obviously the Abbey operates to a very tight schedule, so we make our way back to the car park and set a course for the hotel.
The Hotel Der Post is in the main street of Melk. With the size of the Abbey, we had expected that the town would be larger, but no, it is quite small. Again the room is sizeable and thankfully the beds comfortable. But no matter what I do I cannot connect to the internet connection – which is frustrating because I always book accommodation that says they have good connection – and 
here, at €8 an hour, it is not cheap either – we eventually return the access cards and get our money back! Will check email on their connection in the lobby, but the blog uploading will have to wait until we get to Brno. Yes, tomorrow we are off to the Czech Republic for a week or so.
Neither of us is hungry, so we forgo dinner. In fact, I am just 
plain tired after a few very busy and long days so at 9:30 pm I go to bed and by 9:32 I’m asleep. Michael braves the continuing rain to dash out and get a few photos of the Abbey lit at night and I am sure you will agree it is impressive to say the least!
The Jugengästehaus Youth Hostel in Salzburg has been renovated and th
is shows clearly that they are working hard to dispel any images of dark, seedy places, infested with bed bugs or worse. In fact, this one is one of the better ones we have seen – bright and hip, open 24 hours with a coffee shop and all mod-cons needed for today’s traveller. Once we had finished breakfast and packed the last of our things, and I had caught up with Hels, who is delighted at the apartment we have managed to snaffle in Paris, we head into Salzburg.
Trouble is, so has everyone else. Now, parking is a pain in the proverbial in most European inner city areas, but Salzburg takes the cake. The fortress castle sits high on a hill with the old city laid out in a ring around the base. The streets are narrow – designed many hundreds of years before for a population that walked and rode horses. Even the horses and carriages that at exorbitant prices are doing a roaring trade cannot pass side by side.
And the dilemma is that everything we want to see today is in that tight ring around the rock. So it is in to one of the four paid parking stations we go – well, we try to go! We end up having to wait for 40 minutes in a queue. The car parks are all full and will only issue a ticket and open the boom once someone else has driven out. So, with Frances unable to help, we have to wait it out! Once parked, there is still a bit of a walk to get in to the main plazas.
We walk in past the Opera performance stage – it looks so ordinary in the bright light of day! Once in the main plaza, the sights we want to see are all close. We opt to begin with the Cathedral. The first cathedral on this site was in 746 and later more than doubled in size in 1177, but was totally destroyed in a fire in1598. The current Cathedral dates from 1614. The US Air 
Force dropped a bomb on the church in 1944, destroying the dome and much of the interior was badly damaged. It was fully restored and re-opened in 1959. To look at it today, you are looking at that piece of art from the 17th Century. Today we are incredibly lucky. There is an Organ Concert about to begin in the Cathedral so we pay our few euros and join a couple of hundred other people to hear Master Organist Heribert Metzger perform pieces from Bach and Mozart. We cannot see the organist who sits behind a screen. But we feel his might! There is nothing like sitting in a grand cathedral with your eyes shut while the air around you reverberates with powerful music and the vibrations come up through the floor into your feet. 
And while it thundered inside, so too did it outside! But by the time we were out, the rain had stopped and we were able to continue on our journey of discovery. Our next stop is at St Peters Abbey – the only Romanesque church in Salzburg. This church is smaller, yet just as ornate as the Cathedral. Its minor altars are set between the columns supporting the walls – quite unusual. You know, there is a sense of sameness to the churches we have seen recently. They are very ornate, generally in the baroque style and heavy with gilt and in Salzburg a focus on the four founding Fathers of the Church. And yet there is something unique about 
every one.
In the cathedral it was the four minor organs that frame the choir, and its sepia coloured frescoes.
In St Peters it is setting of the side altars, its very wide main aisle and detailed baroque scroll-work. Oh, and its ancient cemetery and catacombs that are set into the rock, way beneath the fortress. My brother Michael had told us about the cemetery, urging us to have a look – and we are not disappointed!
The next stop was at the Franciscan Church. It has a dark Romanesque nave built in the 12th Century, solemn and sombre, and a light filled gothic choir supported by five huge stone pillars. And although the high altar is ornate, the surrounding nine minor altars that are set in a semi circle behind it are quieter. The overall effect is a less gaudy church, much quieter and what you might expect from the Franciscan order!
Back out into the streets we go and inadvertently head through the Res
idenz Platz – home to the Residence Palaces of the Prince-Archbishops. And in the centre of this wide open space surrounded by elegant buildings stands the largest baroque fountain outside of Italy – the Residence Fountain. From here, we turn into the main shopping area of Getreidegasse – a narrow street even by those days standards, filled with the shingles of the myriad of traders. It passes by the Rathaus with its 
elegant clock tower.
Its now well and truly time for some lunch and a sit down for a while. Elbowing our way through the throngs, we find a little arcade that houses a small but very busy restaurant – Fabrizi Espresso, and find the last empty table. The menu looks inviting and we finally settle on a Greek Salad for Michael and Three Sausages 
with Kraut and Potatoes for me. They were fulsome and tasty and very very enjoyable. But what is that? The people at the table behind us have just finished a dessert and when we asked our waiter what it was he laconically replied ‘Salzburger Nockerl’ and advised that it takes 20 minutes to cook. So although we really didn’t need dessert, we order one. And true to his word, 20 minutes later the most exquisite soufflé is delivered with a flourish and served to us along with 
Himbeersauce (raspberry sauce – made with fresh raspberries). It melts on your tongue and yet holds its shape for a surprisingly long time. This is a Salzburg speciality and a real treat not to be missed! When I go to the toilet before we leave, I pass a kitchen smaller than ours at home with only the addition of a second stove, and while we were there they not only turned out a range of meals, but no 
less than 11 of those Nockerl!!
The last on our list of must sees today is the Collegiate Church. Turns out it is opposite the other end of this arcade! This is quite a different church – a brighter, lighter and less severe church. Presently undergoing major renovations of the high altar, we can only imagine how beautiful it is. The side altars stand out because most of the rest of the 
church is quite plain in whites and creams. Outside the Church, the Grünmarkt was in full swing with bakers, butchers, flower sellers, fishmongers and confectioners plying their wares to locals and tourists alike. Walking back to the car we find a small souvenir shop selling the cutest Austrian girl doll that yodels music! Had to have one for a special little girl!!!! AND she had a stuffed kangaroo sitting under the Alpine hats – so while all others say there are no kangaroos in Austria (and Michael has a photo of the tee shirt to prove it), she says yes, there is!
Its been a day of churches – and so well worth it. Now, these churches are literally within spitting distance of one another – were the predecessors here more pious? Or did they live their lives in such a way that they felt the need for more ‘saving’? Guess we will never know for sure! Michael must be well on the way to a conversion – LOL, but no, seriously, he is right when he says that you can tell so much of the history of a place by studying its churches. And they are so close to each other that it is impossible to take a photo from the ground where you can get the impressive domes and steeples of them all in the one photo – thankfully Michael got one yesterday from up at the fortress. Oh and we did get some as well from Untersburg – but there is no detail to those – they are so high up!
As we go back to the car to leave, I stop by a small market store and get some souvenirs – Mozart chocolates and apricot schnapps! We could easily have filled another week here, but must keep moving. Then we take our leave of Salzburg – or try to. Seems that just like this morning when everyone was trying to park at the same time, they are now all trying to 
leave the city together as well. It takes us forever to get out on to the motorway with Kate frustratingly giving us new arrival times every ten minutes, while also telling us “You are still on the fastest route.” OK, ok, I get it!
The route we are going is on a mtorway. I had looked at taking an alternate route, but it would have added 2 hours to the journey and as we have left more than an hour after we had planned to, we opt to just do the boring bit and go straight through on the motorway. While much of the journey is behind those big barriers they up to minimise noise, we get glimpses of scenery – the beautiful Lake Mondsee with the high mountains behind it, rolling pastures and healthy crops of corn and various smaller plots of cabbage, lettuce and other vegetables. We smell that acrid smell of cow poo fertiliser, just sprayed and still brown on the tips of feed grasses. 
Austria is right in the heart of Europe and we pass under a number of directional signs that not only point the way to Austrian towns and cities, but also finger the way to the surrounding countries – Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary! Cool.
We would have 
been happy to just get to Wien (Vienna) but OH. MY. GOD. What is THAT? We see this amazing amazing sight to our left on a hill. And then we are crossing the River Melk. Damn, I had forgotten to leave time for us to go and have a look at the Abbey at Melk. Bugger getting to Wien in a hurry, we turn off the motorway - this we just HAVE to see. I was hoping (desperately) that we might have been able to get really close, but no, we get to the car park - all abandoned and closed up snug for the night - oh well, it is just before 6 pm! But the
re is still enough light to get some photos, so we drive in to town, trying for the best possible vantage point. The trouble is that it is just so big that again we have trouble getting it all in one photo.
It is so impressive that it literally takes your breath away. High above the town, the sheer size of the complex is stupendous. This is one of the grandest pieces of architecture we have seen yet! In his book 'The Name of the Rose', Umberto Eco named one of the monks, Adso of Melk, as a tribute to the amazing library here of medieval manuscripts. Today, the buildings house a school for 900 pupils. Gosh, we must try to get back here and have a look at the buildings and the museum they contain. Sigh, if only we had more time! We knew we were never going to see everything in just one year, but boy oh boy, how we wish!
So back out on to the motorway (heading in the wrong direction for a little while [she blushes], but, honest to God Kate got it wrong - directing us to another road - soon rectified by a determined me!) On to Wien in the now waning light.
We hit Wien right on dusk - not a good time to arrive when you are looking for street signs etc. And we are coming from the opposite direction to that we arrived in 2006. Through the seedy side of town - the red light district. An interesting trip for sure with all the 'show' buildings and massage parlours. To early for interesting street trade though! We find the Youth Hostel fairly easily which is great because it is now well and truly dark. And joy of joys - our room ony contains bunks! Still, they are quite comfortable.
Michael goes in search of something light for dinner and comes back, two hot dogs in hand. Ah, but don't despair for us - they are not those plastic things on a sweetened roll, these are hearty sausages on long crusty rolls with the yummiest mustard pickles. Quite delicious! And so at the end of a day where our brains are bursting with the images of so many beautiful places, we hit the sack.
PS Antony and Amanda have hit a Kangaroo on their journey home to Darwin. Don't worry - we are told that they are OK, even though the car is very definitely not OK. We will update you when we have more info.
