After breakfast, we went up to the top deck where we saw all of our lonely luggage sitting on the dock.
It wasn’t long before we watched Viking personnel form an assembly line and move all that luggage into an awaiting moving truck! Great job, guys and gals! It was an “all hands on deck” kind of moment—even our chef was out there helping!
We bid a fond farewell to the Viking Aegir.
We hopped on our Viking bus and road two hours to the Goettweig Abbey in Krems, Austria.
The countryside was filled with vineyards and was absolutely beautiful!
This was our first glimpse of the Abbey!
We arrived and were taken to the outside terrace where everyone enjoyed a great lunch with a view!
Scho loved her wine,
and the rest of us loved the local beer that was served!
At the buffet style lunch, there was prayer for all to read,
which Google helped us understand! (Thank you, Google!)
Did I mention that the views all around the Abbey were spectacular? (Who doesn’t love wine country?). And it was all land owned by the Abbey!
Our tour began and it was extremely interesting and the buildings were all gorgeous!
We passed by their own personal apricot orchard!
The Abbey Church (which was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary) was a sight to behold!
After our tour we got to see how apricot dumplings were made! It is a specialty on the Abbey’s menu!
They were delicious! If you are ever in need of some dumplings, just ask John, Jan or I to help you! We are official dumplin’ experts!
And John was an official dumplin’ taste tester!
Flat Mary spent the morning walking through the vineyards but decided to join us for a picture proving she was there!
Sadly, it was time to get back on the bus to head to a dock in Krems where we would board our new longboat, the Viking Embla! (We weren’t sad about that! We’ll finally get to sail again!)
Once we unpacked we met on top and watched our departure from Krems. We had the perfect weather to sit back and watch!
This was our last glimpse of the beautiful Goettweig Abbey, way on top of that hill!
Scho and I enjoyed a cold brewski and some mighty fresh air! (Thanks, John Diedam!)
The views were AMAZING but what I loved the most were all of the people swimming, kayaking, boating, fishing on the Danube! It was so much fun to see them all taking full advantage of the river and enjoying every minute of it!
We passed by some amazing buildings, (both old and older)!
And vineyards were everywhere! They were planted in the most precarious areas on the mountainside!
Mary stopped walking around the jogging path to get in a quick picture with John and I!
John, Joe and Jan went inside for the port talk about tomorrow’s excursions, but I just couldn’t leave! I wanted to stay and watch the views for as long as I could. And I did—until John sent me this picture of what was being served during cocktail hour! (Who can resist a freshly baked pretzel?)
I raced to our room to change for dinner and continued to watch the river and the mountains! (We certainly enjoyed our room with a view.)
From our table in the Auguavit, we continued to see the sights as we passed by, all while
all while eating a delicious German dinner! (John was in heaven!)
Jan and I found John and Joe solving all the problems of the world, sitting in rockers at the front of the Embla!
Later that evening we gathered in the lounge to watch our Program Director, Mario (who came with us from the Aegir) perform. Apparently, he was a closet ventriloquist! He brought along his friends,
Herman the German and
and John Jacques, the Italian. The show was hysterical!
Then off to bed we went! What an amazing day we had sailing down the Danube and seeing the countryside! Thanks, everyone, for the rain dances you have done for us! Except for a couple of times when it felt like we hit bottom, they seemed to have worked! (And we are so sorry to hear about all the flooding throughout Central Indiana. 😳 Perhaps you should stop those rain dances for now!)
Good night all! We missed you, Steve! Happy you could join us today, Mare Mare!
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