Krems, Austria

It is a good thing that I take a lot of photos because seven weeks later I had a hard time figuring out when we had a quick tour of Krems. When I looked back at the photos I saw that the guide we had in Krems was the same guide for Český Krumlov. Our Wednesday March 4th was a full travel day starting in Austria and moving on by bus to the Czech Republic.

The Trinity Column was erected between 1680 and 1683 as an expression of gratitude for surviving various calamities including war, plague, and fire. The column was commissioned by Johann Franz von Prücklstein und Tobitschau, who served as governor during this period. He wanted to express his thankfulness towards God for ending these disasters which had plagued Krems an der Donau.

This type of monument is commonly found across Central Europe but each one carries its own unique story related to local events or traditions. In case of Dreifaltigkeitssäule in Krems an der Donau it represents deliverance from three major threats: Turkish invasion represented by Ottoman soldiers at base level; Plague depicted through St Sebastian & St Rochus figures; Fire symbolized by St Florian statue.

We started in the town square and one of the first things we learned was that Hitler gave a speech in 1939 on this very balcony. Not a fact that the town is proud of.

Krems an der Donau is the eastern gateway to the Wachau Valley, one of Europe’s loveliest river landscapes. It is also one of the oldest cities in the land. This history extending back more than a thousand years is evident everywhere – in the streets and squares, in the old monasteries and churches, in the town houses and fortifications.

The clock confirms it was in the morning that we visited.

This lion with wings and an open book caught my interest so I zoomed in.

In looking up statues of lions with wings and an open book, it seems this figure is attributed to St. Mark of the Bible. When we were in Woodstock England a few years ago, we saw this kneeler and 3 other kneelers for the 4 Gospels in the Bible as represented in the Book of Kells.

We also saw tile work of the 4 gospels in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh with St. Mark depicted as a lion.

The historical center of Krems is one of the most beautiful in Europe. Over the centuries, builders and architects have created a unique cityscape here that has been lovingly cared for and preserved. These efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 1975 Krems was singled out as a “Model City for Historical Preservation” and in 2000 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Our guide took us into this walkway where he showed us this nod to Mozart. The story goes that Mozart spent the night in Krems.

You can click on a button to hear one of his pieces in this courtyard entrance.

It would have been nice to have time to have a snack in one of the cafes in this charming town.

When we got back to the square where we began our walk, I zoomed in to the top of the Trinity Column.

The column features intricate carvings and statues representing various biblical figures and scenes.

We boarded our bus for the two hour trip to the Český Krumlov. That will be my next Danube River Cruise post.

Our Extravagant Creator

We’ve been working on our own personal part of earth for earth day. God was extravagant when he created earth and all it contains for us to enjoy.

Another Wednesday on this earth and Joyce has a fresh set of questions for us. This is Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. April 22nd is Earth Day…what’s the most ‘out of this world’ place on earth you’ve ever visited? Tell us something about it.

Greg said, ” When I was ten it was Disneyland.”

In our adult years I’m going to say Yellowstone or Badlands.

2. A favorite quote, verse, or song lyric with the word earth in it?

3. What’s the most trivial thing about which you have a strong opinion?

Where to park at Wal-Mart.

4. What’s your most commonly used kitchen utensil or tool? What’s the last thing you made using that tool?

I’m going to say my Chefs Knife. I made roasted vegetables for our family meal last Friday and the onions and potatoes and carrots needed to be cut. I also used it to cut ham to throw into our breakfast egg scramble on Saturday. I love a good sharp Chefs knife! I like all sorts of knives.

5. Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me a great book of 3000 questions, and I’m going to try to use one in our Hodgepodge every week. Here is today’s –

What is your greatest extravagance?

Our trips lately have been extravagant. Extravagance to me is something above and beyond and luxurious. These days I don’t like to penny pinch when we are traveling.

Nice hotels and nice restaurants are my choice. That is not to say we don’t enjoy a nice pub or cafe mixed in during travel. There was a time when we penny pinched and stayed in some sleazy motels and I have stories to tell.

I also am quite happy to be extravagant with our family.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of the beauty of our earth. I’ll be getting back to our daily travel spots during our Danube River Cruise on Thursday, Lord willing.

Looking forward to your answers this week.

Still Leaning

Many in our little country town are taking note of this beauty leaning more and more each year.

We wonder when the collapse will happen.

We’ve been wondering for at least five years. If and when it collapses, we will document it.

I’m leaning a bit more myself. Yesterday was a glorious upper 70’s day and we worked outside while our hired teens worked for 3 hours on our acreage to clean up as much of the debris that they could from the powerful windstorm that occurred while we were on our river cruise.

This pile is larger than it looks on camera.

I weeded this area while the teens raked and hauled.

We’re continuing with the work today, another sunshine filled day predicted with temps into the 70’s!

My work will be short this morning because I have a massage scheduled for 11am. I schedule these far out and my gal is booked out for months so I can’t change the appointment. Pretty sure after more work this morning that massage will be what my old body needs!

We are tackling large limbs that fell, too.

The windstorm of winter 2026 will go into the books!

Have a good day!

Tiny Tiger is Seven

All the usual suspects gathered for JJ’s Taekwondo/Korean themed birthday party on Saturday at noon. Another amazing cake with a green stripe belt in honor of JJ’s promotion that his mom created.

Two pros helped all of us tie our belts.

JJ showed me his moves.

The food was Korean themed.

JJ enjoyed opening all his presents and he didn’t forget to thank each one of us for his gifts.

There was a high kick contest! I won for low kick!

Last but not least, our Taekwondo pro taught us the 14 moves he is tested on. Everyone was a good sport but none of us got a prize for doing this correctly.

We had glorious sunshine and blue skies for our celebrations.

We moved on to our home for dinner and another birthday celebration.

We celebrated Andrew and by the way, he won high kick earlier in the day!

The weather was beautiful and there was a lot of fun playing ‘tag’ out doors.

We slowed down long enough for a family photo but then played games into the night. We all met up at church on Sunday morning and Addy played a special number during the service, Unashamed by Matthew West. I’m adding the chorus below.

I’m unashamedOf the gospel of Jesus ChristAnd the truth that changed my lifeFor the name above all namesI’m unashamedAnd I will live my faith out loudTake a stand and stand my groundFor the One who took my shameI’m unashamed

After church we all went to our own homes. For some that meant 5-6 hours on the road. Another wonderful weekend celebrating together. We don’t take that for granted.

The weather on this Monday is supposed to be unseasonably warm. We have a couple teens coming to help with our windstorm yard clean-up!

I hope your weekend was good and peaceful and that your Monday is starting out well.

Victory in Jesus ~ Hymn

Victory in Jesus

I heard an old, old story,
How a Saviour came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me:
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood’s atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.

Chorus:
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him,
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing power revealing,
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, “Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit.”
And somehow Jesus came
And brought to me the victory.

I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory,
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I’ll sing up there
The song of victory.

Words: Bartlett

We sang this hymn this past Monday at the Memorial Service for one of our friends at First Baptist Colville. He requested this hymn to be sung at his funeral. He is with his Lord and Savior. See you later, Peter.

Al Fresco, Chef’s Table and Jimmy’s

This is my River cruise Food post, three of our special dinner evenings and other meals on board the AmaMagna. When you board the boat at the beginning of the cruise you can choose and make reservations at these special dinners that serve fewer folk than the larger Journeys Restaurant. The specialty restaurants are Al Fresco, Jimmy’s and The Chef’s Table. You need a reservation for these restaurants at the dinner hour. Journey’s Restaurant is always open to everyone without a reservation. Lunches are available at all the restaurants except for The Chefs Table. You will never go hungry on a river cruise!

These meals were from March 4th to the 7th.

We were seated alone for the Al Fresco Dinner (which was a disappointment) so I took more photos of the food we ate.

The following night we enjoyed the Sip and Sail hour before our meal at the Chef’s Table. Sip and Sail was a daily event an hour before dinner.

For The Chef’s Table we sat with a couple from Texas. They were regular cruisers.

Here are other fun desserts and savory dishes we had on board.

On our last night we had dinner at Jimmy’s Restaurant.

Weinerschnitzel

Back to the Present:

All our kids are here for the weekend to celebrate. Our Westside kids arrived on Friday. Today is Saturday April 18th, this afternoon we have JJ’s Birthday Party. Tonight we will have a full house for dinner to celebrate our Son-In-Law, Andrew’s birthday, too. We like to pack it in when we are all together. We will be together at church tomorrow morning and then our Westside kids will drive home.

Hope your week has gone well. Thanks for visiting.

Truth for Today #183

Friday April 17th

On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s continue to dig deep into God’s truth.

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you!

Philippians 2:5-11

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking on the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed o him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

From Gail:

Job 28:12, 27-28

But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? …

Then He saw it and declared it. He established it, and also searched it out. And to man He said, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and in departing from evil is understanding.”

From Vera:

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭32‬:‭4‬ ‭ESV

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” ‭

From Karen:

II Samuel 22:31

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

Melk Abbey

All my photos are from the outside areas of the abbey. We did tour several indoor rooms as well as the library and church. No photos were allowed inside the museum, library or church.

Stift Melk (Melk Abbey) is a renowned Benedictine monastery in Austria, located on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube River. Founded in 1089, it is a significant, UNESCO-listed Baroque architectural masterpiece that operates as an active monastery, school, and cultural center. The term Stift means abbey or foundation, and it represents a major center of faith and history.

The history of Austria is closely connected with the history of Melk Abbey. Some of the first rulers of Austria, the margraves Heinrich, Adalbert and Ernst are buried in the collegiate church. Also buried there is the first patron saint of the Babenbergs, St. Koloman, who was the patron saint of the country until the 17th century.

Melk Abbey is one of the most beautiful and largest unified Baroque ensembles in Europe. Its magnificent architecture is known worldwide and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The baroque building (1702 – 1739) on a rock above the Danube is one of the most visited art-historical sites in Austria.

Known for its active Benedictine community following the motto of Ora et Labora et Lege (pray, work, and learn).

The italicized parts of my posts are information from the Melk Abbey website.

Our group from the river cruise were divided into two groups and we were the only folk at the Abbey at this point in the late afternoon. Our group went through the Abbey last and our tour guide locked up each room as we exited the room.

The Prelate’s Courtyard forms a trapezoid, 275 ft. long and 138 ft. wide. On the cornices on each of the four sides are statues of apostles and prophets. In the center of each cornice is an area framed by a round arch. These originally contained Baroque frescos by Franz Rosenstingl but, unable to be restored, were replaced recently (1988) with more contemporary forms by Peter Bischof and Helmut Krumpel.

The four murals in the courtyard represent four virtues: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.

Time to walk up all those stairs to our bus that would take us back to the AmaMagna for dinner. We turned right at the stairs and took the elevator instead.

This was the night we were slated for a smaller dinner group in the Al Fresco Restaurant and I’ll share that dinner event in another post.

Taxes and Tulips Hodgepodge

Get your muck boots on and tiptoe through the tulips with me.

It’s not taxing to answer Wednesday Hodgepodge questions, thank you, Joyce!

1. Big week in the US of A…do you do your own taxes?

We don’t do our own taxes.

I am in charge of the books for our well that four properties share and I have to file an annual nonprofit tax form and I’m patting myself on the back for getting that done.

What’s something you’ve found ‘taxing’ lately?

Exercising.

2. When it comes to travel are you a last minute packer or a lay it all out a week in advance type?

I don’t lay it all out but I do think about it and make lists.

Do you struggle to pack light?

For our trip this past March we packed very light and proved we could do it so we will be packing light for any trips in the future unless it is a road trip.

Share a packing tip that has worked for you.

Pack your socks inside your spare pair of shoes that you are packing.

3. April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Hmmm…who knew it got its own month? Do you like a grilled cheese sandwich? What ingredient do you add to take yours to the next level?

We do enjoy a good grilled cheese sandwich. A good slice of salami can take it to the next level.

4. There’s a well known quote that says-

‘A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” John A. Shedd

Is constant growth necessary or do you think it’s more important to prioritize stability and peace in your life?

As a Biblical Christian I am admonished to grow. Grow in my knowledge of the Word of God. Grow more like Christ. Grow in my love for God, my Savior. My peace and stability come from walking with God and knowing Him more and growing more and more like Jesus Christ. This does not happen overnight, it is a lifelong process of Sanctification.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:17-18

5. Let’s wrap this up with a fun spring this or that-

daffodils or tulips ~ first daffodils and then tulips!
lemonade or iced tea ~ lemonade
gardening or hiking ~how about walking
ladybugs or butterflies ~ butterflies
umbrella or raincoat ~raincoat
floral patterns or polka dots ~polka dots

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of tulips, you don’t have to travel all the way to Amsterdam to enjoy amazing tulip fields. When we lived in Kenmore, Washington we tried to make an annual trip to Mount Vernon, Washington for the tulip festival. That was just an hour to an hour and a half drive. It was worth the tulip traffic and dodging all the people like us who wanted to enjoy the glorious fields of tulips.

I could go on and on with the photos I have but this will give you a good taste of the variety and massive industry of tulips from this area of Washington State. Besides the fields there are several gardens to enjoy with many more unique varieties of tulips with gift shops, etc.

Dürnstein, Austria

On Tuesday March 3rd we had a one hour walking tour of the little town of Durnstein before we continued by bus to Melk Abbey. I’m breaking up the posts on this day because of photo overload.

You could tell our tour guide has been doing this tour for a long time. Her younger sister was also another tour guide.

Dürnstein (German pronunciation: [ˈdʏʁnˌʃtaɪ̯n]) is a small town on the Danube river in the Krems-Land district, in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is one of the most-visited tourist destinations in the Wachau region and also a well-known wine growing area

The town gained its name from the medieval Dürnstein castle, which overlooked it. The castle’s name derived from the German duerr/dürr, meaning “dry”, and Stein, “stone”. The stone castle was dry because it was located on a rocky hill, high above the damp conditions of the Danube at the base of the hill. The modern town stands between the castle and the river.

Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192 when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, after their dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart had offended Leopold the Virtuous by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the duke suspected that King Richard ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Jerusalem. In consequence Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold for capturing a fellow crusader. The duke finally gave custody of the king to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle.

I don’t know if this is the kind of Copy Right I would want to market with. The chocolate covered treats and the apricot bits were good, though.

I enjoyed the signs for the shops and restaurants.

Interesting architecture and the cobbled streets were distinct.

In the vibrant heart of Dürnstein, our estate stands proudly, nestled beside the historic town hall and set against the tranquil backdrop of the lightly traveled village street. A charming courtyard leads you up a stone staircase into the embrace of an ancient gem, built in 1453. On the first floor, you will find cozy guest rooms with private bathrooms and modern TVs, as well as direct access to a dreamy garden paradise. Here, after an eventful day, you can unwind in an oasis of tranquility or lose track of time while savoring a fine glass of wine.

This little town boasts a 5 star hotel, Hotel Schloss Durnstein. Entrance to the courtyard above.

I posted several photos in another post of this blue tower when we passed it earlier on this day. While we were in Durnstein we didn’t walk to this former monastery but after the fact we realized it was a big part of historic Durnstein.

History of Stift Dürnstein

Stift Dürnstein was founded in 1410 as an Augustinian Canons monastery. It was part of a larger spiritual and religious network that played a significant role in the medieval region. However, Dürnstein was already famous by the 11th century, particularly due to the imprisonment of Richard the Lionheart, who was held captive in the nearby castle of Dürnstein.

The monastery experienced its golden age in the 18th century when it was rebuilt in the Baroque style. Under the direction of renowned Baroque architects Jakob Prandtauer and Joseph Munggenast, the monastery was transformed into the magnificent structure seen today. The distinctive blue-and-white church tower, visible from afar, has become one of the iconic landmarks of the Wachau Valley.

In 1788, the monastery was secularized, and the Augustinian Canons left. Today, the monastery serves as a venue for cultural events and is a popular destination for visitors eager to explore its rich history and Baroque splendor.

We headed back to the bus for our trip to Melk Abbey Visit. After our visit to Melk we would be bused to the AmaMagna that was now docked in Melk. We would reach the boat in time for dinner and on this night we were scheduled to enjoy the Chef’s Table.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage