Onward to Linz and even further downstream

After an overnight cruise from Passau to Linz, we began the day with Linz hillside biking.

After lunch on the ship, Cris and I took the excursion to Český Krumlov. Back across the "non"-border to the Czech Republic. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It is also THE place to be! It was on my "must see" list because of the Bear Moat.The Český Krumlov Castle was surrounded by a moat, but not filled with water. Filled with bears!

It was a really hot day.


The castle gardens were beautiful.

Floating down the river past the castle built right into the cliff

The revolving outdoor theater in the castle gardens was a surprise. Cris and I found it while looking for ice cream. Check out that link, Deanna, it's quite interesting.

Here's a panorama of the whole town from the top of the tower. Okay, so it's not a great camera. Or camera-woman.

Day 4! We start in Melk. We had a long flat day of biking the Wachau Valley, through the vineyards where they grow Riesling (in the flat parts next to the river) and Grüner Veltliner grapes (on the steep hillsides). The first adventure was a spiral!

Around and around and around we go.

Miguel, Cris and I

Of course, I had to stop at this yarn store!

Again, trying to understand the ceiling, at Melk Abbey

The Melk Abbey has a library with hundreds of medieval manuscripts. No pictures were allowed. The library has survived centuries of threats from 1780 through 1938.

Another Baroque organ with thousands of pipes

Cris and I at the start of the vineyards

Kodak moment!

We crossed the Danube on a teensy ferry to get to the side of the river with Durnstein Castle where Richard the Lionhearted was held captive until the English paid his ransom. Apparently, he was coming back from a Crusade. He decided to sneak across land. While wearing a fancy royal ring and demanding fancy royal food such as roast chicken? He was in trouble with Duke Leopold of Austria because of some insult while on the Crusade, and one thing led to another. England paid perhaps twice its gross domestic product to ransom him. The Duke was excommunicated. Rome did not allow the molesting of knights returning from the Crusades.