Hotel Restaurant zur Post Melk

... having trouble coming up with a question, so that’s what I will probably spend the weekend doing, along with reading. I can’t believe I’ve been here 2 weeks and I have yet to actually study, but there just wasn’t anything to do until now.

Webster took us on a 1 hour tour of the Vienna highlights on Tuesday, which was a nice opportunity to get our barrings and know what we all wanted to see. On ...

... bed-and-breakfast) for €40. Had a delicious dinner of hirschragout (venison stew) and a couple of glasses of the local rotwein, within sight of the gatetower, built in nine hundred and something, at the entrance to the old town.
This town is at the start of 'The Wachau' which claims to be the most beautiful stretch of the river, so with some scepticism, today I boarded the 'Prinz Eugen' for a 1.5 hour voyage (note ...

... Great view of the town and countryside from the terrace. We went back down to the town to wait for the buses to take us to the ship. The bus ride was nice, passing through villages along the river. Our boat was waiting for us at the town of Grein. As soon as the last person was onboard, the ship was pulling away. Had a nice leisurely dinner with some friends we have made from Pittsburgh. Then had a chat with Tunde on Skype and I worked on updating my blog.

Continuing our tour of the Wachau valley, we visited a castle on the very edge of the Danube (Schloss Schönbühel) but it appeared to be closed to the public. We walked around the exterior a bit and stood on the riverbank, admiring the river and surrounding valley. The sun had disappeared and it started to rain so we got back in the car and headed to Burgruine Aggstein.

This is a great castle ruin. It is very high above the ...

... The colorful, ornately decorated nave is breathtaking and nearly everyone stopped in their tracks upon entering. Altogether it was a fantastic place to visit and I am really glad I had the opportunity. We spent some hours there before walking back down to the town centre below for a bite to eat. We sat outside in the gorgeous weather where we could see the towers of the abbey not far from us.

... That in a combination of no dryer means we have clothes laid out all over our room and everytime we go to put on our clothes is us going around to feel, which ones are the least wet. Umbrellas are no match for the rain here.

When we got into Melk on Sunday afternoon, we checked into our hotel and went out to investigate the town. Melk is very small so that didn't take us long. We went out for supper at a great restaurant that had traditional ...

... a lot.  At 9.30am the barman came and asked if we wanted a drink but even I had to say it was a little early in the day but come back later. At 10.30 it was happy hour.  Never had happy hour in the morning but who is arguing.  We were served bloody mary's and if you did happen to have a sore throat it would clear in a moment.  Lots of laughter of course but after a while we did go to the lounge, it was just a little bit cold and because we are going through ...

After leaving gorgeous Vienna, we took another beautiful train ride about 2 hours through the Austrian country side to a little town called Melk. The town is famous for biking along the river and lucky for us, the hotel had plenty of bikes...unfortunately, we picked a bike without brakes. Life is never dull for us traveling fools. So off we went to bike up to the famous ...

... We stayed out late not wanting to go back to our hostel, and unfortunately for us the night at the hostel only got worse, as the walls were paper thin and people were coming home at all hours and singing, one of my pet hates is how inconsiderate people can be! You don't go back to a hostel in the middle of the night and then break into a sing a long! Sunday Budapest Anyway up and off to Budapest! Where we had the best bus ride ever! A really flash ...

... as those poaying 75 euro! i even got to tryt and dress up a bit.....ruined the look with my balack shoes and pick laces!!!ooops! i decided to book another night here as i like it...and maybe just have a realxing afternoon in the garden here. i am really falling behind on my journal...too tired at the end of the days....but i did finally find an austrian flag for my pack....now to sew them all on...i've only got UK and irlenad on so far...he he... only 15 sleeps till ...