Blogging
From Abroad

Yesterday was another exciting and action-packed day that began rather delayed, but ended quite nicely. I had intended to go to the Melk Abbey and catch the 11am tour, but missed my train and had to wait until the 2pm tour (at Melk Abbey). Train lesson for me: arrive early, they leave on the second! I took the opportunity to delve into my forest pathology reading that was assigned the day before.

For those who have not heard of Melk Abbey, it is a Benedict en monastery situated in the small town of Melk. Melk is approximately 85km west of Vienna, and like Vienna is situated along the Danube river. When we arrived by the train, it clearly dominates the landscape, sitting high above the town. As this photo illustrates, it is a classic example of Baroque architecture from the early 18th century.

Since I arrived in Melk early, I took the opportunity to explore the old town and situated myself at a cafe for a few hours to kill time by reading (as well as to sip on a “Kaffee Melange” and eat an apfelstrudel). I made it back up to the Melk Abbey just in time for the tour to start. It was nice to have an English-speaking tour guide as well! We made our way from room to room, I stopped to take a photo of the “Marble Room”, I think you can see why!

Take a closer look at the marble; it is not real! During this period, it was common to make “fake marble” out of rubble and paint. Believe it or not, as told by our tour guide, it was often more expensive for this fake marble than the real stone! We were also told that at this time, money really was not a problem. Also note the fresco on the slightly curved ceiling, pretty cool optical illusion with the columns when you stand in the center of the room!

Next on the tour was a small look at the old book collection held at Melk Abbey, which was quite impressive. 1,200 handwritten books, over 100,000 books altogether and one book that is 1,200 years old! Directly past the library was the “crem de la crem” church. Like all works from this time, the craftsmanship was exquisite! No small detail was left unnoticed, frescos cover the ceiling, an impressive pipe organ with 4,800 pipes, like many churches during this time.

The tour ended after the church and I high-tailed it back to Vienna to meet up with Becky! We meet her at the Kolar, a cool pub situated near the Stephansdom. It was a pleasure for me to finally meet her for the first time! I also met up with other students from Vienna who had studied at WVU previously, some nice reminiscing about Morgantown! Look for further blogs about Becky and myself in our endless European adventures!

They don’t build them like this anymore! This is a shout out to all those who enjoy cool houses :-)

Bye!