Danube Waltz Viking River Cruise
Day 5: Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - Krems, Austria
Though Linda had egg benedict for breakfast almost every day, this day was the one she didn't. But she didn't stray too far off course because she had salmon egg benedict (instead of Canadian bacon, it comes with salmon). She felt the salmon was a little too strong for the dish, so she didn't get it again for the rest of the trip. I had the egg benedict, with a side of yogurt with blueberry reduction on top. We also had pineapple juice and coffee. Today we ate with Walter and Kathy from Tennessee, and Will and Rebecca from Muncie, Indiana.
We were in our room at first.
We were still traveling through the Wachau (vac-how) Valley and Daniel, the Program Director, gave us some commentary about the
sites we were seeing. We were in the lounge, at least initially, as it was cool outside - so some images are through glass and may have reflections or other crappy imperfections.
These stones are mile markers - for the river. They appear frequently along the river, but not quite everywhere (that we could see).
Some step agriculture, mostly used for vineyards.
An interesting fog / cloud effect.
A ferry used to get from one side of the river to the other - because the bridges are so far apart.
A sculpture of a nose. Yes, a nose.
It was reported that this was Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed's favorite hotel.
Lunch time! Linda had some of the market fare appetizers, a cheese sandwich, and flan pie.
I had the market fare also - though a little more than Linda had - braised beef roll, and the flan pie.
We ate with Dave, Phil and Jane from Richmond, VA, Dave, and Will and Rebecca.
All the walking on this day was localized to the Abbey and the winery - nothing map worthy.
Our excursion today was to the Göttweig Abbey. There are 17 monks in residency, and 42 total associated with the Abbey. The majority
of the site burned down a long time ago and was mostly rebuilt.
In addition to their wine, they Abbey is known for their appricot products as well. We received a sampling of apricot juice or sparkling
wine upon arrival.
Some of the architecture of and other sights at the Abbey.
A heating oven. There is no door in the room, as servants serviced the oven from the hallway to keep noise, soot, and smoke out.
Views from the property of the Abbey.
The inside of the main church at the Abbey.
There was a "lower sanctuary" area as well, where one took stairs to get to an area below the main altar.
In one building, the ceiling had an amazing fresco. It was painted with the workers standing upright
(Leonardo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling lying down).
Here are some close-ups of the fresco, including the King as Apollo. Pay particular attention to the last
image - I'll have something to share after you look at it.
In the last image, which might actually be hard to tell, the curve of the ceiling at the edges is painted. It give the illusion
that the ceiling curve is maybe three feet deep. In reality, it was one a little more than a foot... neat trick, eh?!!?
There was a small cemetery on the grounds as well.
Coming back from the cemetery, we came upon a small zip line. While this visitor took a ride, picture some monks doing this.
There was a small chapel that survived the fire. Here is what it looked like inside.
After we finished our viewing, we made our way toward the exit, which sent us back into the building with the fresco on the ceiling.
We went down stairs, and came out by the back door where there was - a gift shop. Of course there was a gift shop.
But before browsing, we were treated to a wine tasting. There were only three wines that were produced by the Abbey, and they were
all pretty good. But rather than deal with a bottle of wine, we purchased a small bottle of apricot liquor from the gift shop that
we shared with our freinds.
The grounds consisted of 13,000 acres, of which only 65 are used for grape production.
After the Abbey visit, we headed toward Winzer Krems for a wine tasting. In the parking lot was this (I am told) '57 Buick.
Our on-site guide told us his name was Manfred Winkler, but said to just call him Fred. We got off to a shaky start
because he didn't know how to use the Quiet Voice system, but "someone" came to the rescue. He was absolutely
hilarious. Knowledgeable, but hilarious. We also experienced a 3D movie about the vineyard and wine making that
included smell-a-vision, and a fan toward the end to simulate a storm. In all we sampled six wines.
Here are a couple of clips of Fred and his presentations.
Some pics during the tour with selfies, including one with Fred (though I'm not sure why he only has his arm around Linda...).
We were there for about two hours before we headed back to the ship, just in time for dinner. We sat for our port talk and
chef's preview. Tonights meal was billed as a taste of Austria. On our way downstairs from the lounge to the restaurant,
we passed these musicians (I took it in the middle of the staircase amongst a crowd of people), and they later visited our table.
It was a buffet with a number of different foods including a variety of cheese, (what I called) spaetzle al fredo,
bratwurst, another sausage, saurbraten, roast pork, saurkraut, pumpkin seed encrusted chicken thigh, and other foods.
I watched the "spaetzle al fredo" being made. The chef dumped about a quart of heavy cream, a half pound of shredded cheese,
and a cup of grated cheese into the one pan of noodles.
Linda had salad, sausage, cabbage, pickle, and a couple other items.
And I had most of the items listed above - of course I did - including the spaetze with crispy onions on top (in a
separate bowl). Not too many veggies on this plate, eh?!!? I also got another plate with a little more on it too.
And an assortment of cakes for dessert.
We ate with Bob and Carolyn from Washington.
Also on this night we got a tour of the kitchen. It was surprisingly small for what they deliver - three course meals for 180 people.
When the wait staff takes our food order at the table, they enter it onto a phone device of some kind. That information is sent back to the kitchen and
is displayed on this screen (circled in this image). So the cooking staff knows instantly what they need to prepare and can get started right away.
We decided to watch the rest of the movie we started the previous day. It was Spinning Man, with Pierce Brosnan, Guy Pearce, and Minnie Driver, but it wasn't very good.
When it was over, we went to sleep.