Melk

As we cruised to Melk, this imposing mansion was on the river. It was breathtaking.

You can see the Melk Abbey at the back of the picture. It was originally the home of the Habsburgs, the ruling family of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. Built in 1089, it has 500 rooms. It was donated to the Benedictine Monks to use as an Abbey. It is still an active Abbey. It also houses a Catholic school.

The most intriguing part for me was this library. Well there are actually 12 libraries and the house 100,000 books, many of them hand written manuscripts from the middle ages. Being baroque in style there are cherubs all over the room. It was unbelievable and the desire to take one of those books off the shelf almost overcame me. The books can still be used--under supervision.

The Abbey church is in all red, orange and gold. The gold is 14 ct gold leaf--of course. The pulpit is hand carved.

And of course what would be a church----without----a mummy?

Frescoes on the ceilings, well this isn't' exactly a fresco but it was beautiful beside the fresco.

This was the stairwell--I only had a quick second to snap this (illegal) picture when the nun wasn't looking. It seems to go down and up forever. I have no idea how many floors down or up it went. It was intriguing.

Jeff and Renie were our very special cruise friends. We met them on the first night of the cruise. They were so much fun--haven't laughed that much in ages. We are planning another cruise with them.