Monday, October 5, 2015
We got to sleep in today and we did. We didn’t go to
breakfast until after 8am. We were scheduled to dock in Durnstein at 7:30am. We
docked next to another company’s boat during breakfast. It is against our
window. We have a city walk of Durnstein and a wine tasting at 10am. We should
sail again at 12:15pm. Lunch at 12:30pm. It is beautifully scenic here. The
Danube winds and turns among mountains planted in terraced vineyards. There
seemed to be a castle or castle/fort ruins on every other hill top as I looked
out all night. We will dock again in Emmersdorf at 3pm for the Melk Abbey
excursion so we should be able to have some nice scenic sailing. It is overcast
with fog/light clouds around the hilltops but it looks like temps in the 50-60s
F without rain. They need the rain!
We are back from our Durnstein tour. Only 2 hours here.
Still no Internet. It is a small village of under 1000 inhabitants. They are
connected to an unrelated village, Rossatz, across the Danube by some small
wooden ferries. The Wachau Valley is 16 km of a special microclimate and they
grow grapes and apricots here. I think both crops may be equally important.
But, I have heard of their Gruner Veltliners and Rieslings while I never heard
of the jam, marmalade and schnapps from the apricots. We had a guided walking
tour and was rather informal and then an unsuccessful attempt at a more formal
wine tasting in the old Durnstein Stift or monastery. It was a sad state of
affairs that mostly reflected poorly on our passengers though someone must have
complained because we had a different group division today and if anything it
may have made things worse. What are you going to do? People that behave badly
are going to be themselves no matter what. In addition to the 2 wines I already
mentioned, we also tried a red that is from a 1916 locally bred varietal and
the wine was Zweigelt. We didn’t care for it. We had been here before in 2003.
I remembered the stone ruin where Richard the Lionhearted had been imprisoned.
We approached before from the high road and tunnel above town and stayed up
there mostly. We did visit the church then, but they didn’t let us go all the
way to the river then! We had a completely different view. We saw a sign in
town for Eleanor of Aquitaine and we remember visiting the church where she
married in Bordeaux. It is amazing that people traveled so far back then. It is
hard enough now. It is time for Bavarian
Fruhschoppen for lunch. Then scenic sailing.
We spent part of the scenic sailing having the Fruhschoppen
buffet in the Panorama Lounge and out front. We spent the greater part sitting
up on top. The Wachau Valley was very scenic. We sailed past Willendorf, where
the famous figure called Venus was unearthed. This is some of the longest
continuously human-inhabited land on earth. We spotted a couple who had
reserved 2 or the boat’s 4 bicycles sitting on stairs near Aggsbach-Markt
watching for us to pass. They were here waiting to get their Melk Abbey tour
tickets when we walked ashore at Luftner’s private dock in Emmersdorf across
the Danube from Melk and the abbey. The abbey was just as impressive as we
remembered from our 2003 visit. I remember being so upset seeing the river
below it and thinking that we could sail it. Now we finally are!
We still don’t have Internet. Simona announced this
afternoon that they have an IT expert working on it. Clay claims they just need
to pay their bills to have the switch thrown to turn it back on. Could be.
We’ll see how long it takes or if they ever get it back for us. We are about 15
minutes past sailing time and I think I finally hear the engines starting to
go. Yep, I just stuck my head out and we are untied and pushing sideways. There
is supposed to be a port talk at 6:45pm. Since there are 4 different excursions
tomorrow and you can do 2 in a day and stay nearby or 1 of the other 2 and be
gone all day. I imagine that it will be confusing. I went up to take photos of
sailing past Melk Abbey and Simona announced it as well as that attendance at
her port talk is mandatory for at least one person from every cabin. We are
approaching a lock above Melk and I suppose that will happen at the same time!
Clay is not planning to budge before dinner so I volunteered to go. Dinner is at
7pm and is billed as a Pirates dinner. Last night’s Austrian Buffet had nothing
Austrian about it except the desserts. They even served French wines! I had to
ask for the Gruner Veltliner from the night before. Anyway….
Still no Internet, but in worse news… now no water in
rivers. Clay and I both went to the port talk. It was confusing and was made
even more so by Simona trying not to say what she had to say. Tomorrow should
go as planned with the variety of excursions. But Wednesday will involve the
forced removal of everyone from the boat for the day whether they booked any
excursions or not as they see how far they can get the boat upriver. Simona
said at some point (it was not clear where) that the river is closed to
navigation due to low water and high rocks. I am still hoping we can make the
canal at least so we can sail as far as Frankfurt. We’ll see. I’d say I’ll keep
you posted but without Internet, I won’t. I’ll just keep up with my notes here
and post to the blog when I can.
Pirate night dinner was actually pretty funny. We entered to
find the staff in ridiculous costumes of course but the funny thing was the
disarray. The tables and chairs were askew, the napkins weren’t folded and when
you picked them up all the silverware was just in a jumble under there. The
table numbers were moved and knocked over, the salt and pepper were separated.
It was funny. Well we have an early start and a long day tomorrow to visit the
Czech Republic. It will be my 74th country!
