AMA Waterways Christmas Time Cruise - Melk/Maria Taferl/Linz, Austria Day 4

December 19th - Day 4
After a pretty good night's sleep we docked in the small town of Melk, Austria. Melk has been an important spiritual and cultural centre in Austria for over 1000 years.  It was first the residence of the Babenburg family and since 1089 it has been a Benedictine monastery founded by Leopold II.  For over 900 years the monks have lived and worked in the Abbey following the rules laid down by St. Benedict.  The busses took us up to the famous Benedictine Abbey which is one of Europe's largest Baroque Monasteries.  

At the Melk Abbey, Austria

We had a nice hour long guided tour through the Abbey seeing many of the Imperial rooms as well as the unbelievable world famous library that inspired Umberto Eco writing his book "The Name of the Rose."  There is a school at the Monastery for children ages 6-18 and we saw many of them as they tapped on the windows waving hello to us! It was a beautiful place and so very large.  

We had some free time to wander the town and stopped into Toms Cafe for some super tasty cappuccino and Apfel Strudel where we chatted with fellow passengers Waleska and Dr. Denis from Puerto Rico.   

Tom's Cafe in Melk for Apfel Strudel and Cappuccino's!

We made a pit stop in a beautiful little town called Maria Taferl where we went in another magnificent church.

Inside the baroque church in Maria Taferl

Maria Taferl is the most important pilgrimage destination in all of Austria. It was just a quick stop, long enough for pictures and a few snow balls to be thrown. It was quite icy in the little tourist town so all of the local people were wondering why two large busses made their way up there! The coaches took us back to the ship where we had lunch and the rest of the afternoon to relax. 

Enjoying the Danube as we cruise to Linz

We spent time in the lounge, reading, emailing, and chatting over cocktails before dinner.  After dinner a group of us headed into the city of Linz to get some fresh air and explore. 

Shopping street in Linz, Austria

Dave, myself, Jerry & Elissa from FL, Paul & Tracy from NY and Weleska & Denis from Puerto Rico walked up and down a main pedestrian/shopping area before finding our way into a local pub that served Stiegl Beer which we recognized from the brewery we went to in Salzburg.   We had such a fun time, enjoying the conversations, beer, and kind of enjoying the apricot schnapps that we drank too much of. 

Denis, Tracy, Waleska, Shawna & Elissa cozy around a table of beers and schnaaps!

We headed back to the ship lounge for a night cap that turned into a few more plus more laughs! The cruise director, Christian always seems to manage to sit with us and chat it up with his German sarcasm and funny sense of humor. 
Before we went to bed we had to put one of our shoes outside the door because the "Christkindt" was coming to visit us on board!  He is the European version of Santa that comes to the children on the 6th of December. 

Everyone puts shoes outside the door for the "Christkindt"

And when we woke up we found two very large chocolate figurines wrapped in foil, must be we've been good this year!

LINK TO MELK, MARIA TAFERL & LINZ PICTURES