Steigenberger Avance Hotel Krems

... the town, I was being spat upon again. Time for a quick salad and frittatensuppe (clear beef soup with strips of pancake) before hopping on a bus for Durnstein.
Durnstein's claim to fame are the ruins of a castle on the hill above the town, where Ric*************heart was apparently imprisoned in 1193 while on his way back from one of his frequent Crusades. I doubt that he was very comfy there, but he certainly had a spectacular view ...

Woke up to beautiful scenery as we passed through the Wachau Valley. Picturesque villages, castle ruins, old churches and many vineyards on the terraced slopes of the mountains rising on both sides of the river. There have been vineyards here since Roman times.
When we arrived at Melk, the Captain announced that due to low water (20 cm below keel) there would be a change in plans. While we are touring the Melk Abbey, the ship would continue on and we would go ...

... on the Danube river. Every passenger was on deck as we left Melk to watch (for 2 hours) the most dramatic and beautiful scenery slowly float by (which included acres and acres of vineyards which nicely complimented the wine tasting event on the deck). The people on the river are fun too .. waving and doing crazy stunts!

Sunday morning we left Salzburg and it was still raining. We did not end up having good luck in Austria. It rained the whole time we were in Salzburg and then again the whole time we were in Melk. Justin and I would be in our hotel room and I look outside and ask Justin, 'hey hon, guess what it's doing outside??' 'Raining!! Yeah!!' The rain normally wouldn't be so bothersome but we have a very limited supply of dry clothes, especailly warm, dry clothes ...

... hello to various people on the trail as you do. In the end I got into Krems about 4pm. At 56 miles its decent day (after yesterdays disaster). I do need a rest day; the washing situation is desperate and my hands and muscles are feeling it. But they have great maps outside town so you can see how to get to what your looking for. Excellent. So I go straight to the camping but they don't have wifi so I head for the hostel. Which is ...

... ran out the door. As i was walking to my bus station a bus passed me and i was like 'No! Please dont be my bus!!!' fortunatly it wasnt but because i didnt know where my bus says its going i had no way to know. But i did get on the bus and i had to stand for the 40 minutes because all the seats were full. During class i would randomly hear 'Die Holly' so that was a little annoying that i knew they were talking about me but i had know idea what about. Then the teacher said 'Die Holly' and ...

... that will be very nice. I also learned today that i will have my own very new computer and a cell phone so im grateful for that. Also in St. Pölten we went to store where me and my brother Julian went and shopped a little together. He tried on this big jacket and said 'is this gangster?' in a joking and funny way. I laughed and showed him the gangster way to wear his hat and how to walk it was so funny. So overall everything has been wonderful and ill be writing more soon! HollyDay

... said a funny quip and sent the rest of the car in an uproar of laughter. Every 10 minutes or so, David would look back at Miriam and me and quickly repeat a few words of the conversation in English. It was never as funny as they thought it was, but I'm sure that was because my rampant motion sickness was perpetuating my irritation. I forgot how much I hated being in a car. We arrived at the Festschloss Hof (castle) and ...

... and the air - as there were a lot of pollution and car fumes we were coughing lots, and chocking! Drinks and food seemed cheap and this was our cheapest hostel at £10.50 a night, and people seemed nice. There were hardly any tourist around at all and not a lot of English spoken! How do we always end up in those places I hear you all ask as it is a bit of a common theme, no English spoken, well you can blame Tim he likes to do things out of the ...

... and interesting. There are so many beautiful things in it and it was never completed since WW2 came along. Some spires originally thought of were never added. The tour guide did a really great job and was clearly in awe of the building. He was eager to answer any of our questions. Had Thai Chicken Satays on the street for supper and went back to the hotel to pack. Janice would be returning to Germany to meet up with Marco and I would be flying out the next day.