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.

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.

Jesus Prepares to Die…

On the Thursday of Easter week we remember the Passover supper Jesus had with his disciples and the washing of the disciples feet. Some of what Jesus shared with his disciples on this day in history is copied below.

Excerpts from John chapter 13…

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Artists have tried to depict the last supper and we’ve seen some of those attempts in person over the years in our travels.

While in England in 2014 year we saw two amazing paintings of the last supper, one in the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist in Windsor and one in the chapel of Magdalen College.

Above the stalls in the chapel hangs Giampetrino’s remarkable 15th copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, on permanent loan from the Royal Academy. In view of the bad condition of the original fresco in Milan, Magdalen’s copy on canvas is a piece of increasing historic and artistic significance.

This photo is a life sized artist’s depiction of the night Jesus had the Passover meal with his disciples, the event we call the Last Supper. This was taken at the Monumentale Cemetery in Milan Italy in 2013. “Do this in remembrance of me”

There seems to be only 11 of the 12 disciples which makes me wonder if the artist depicted the scene after Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, had left the meal.

The sculpture of Jesus washing Peter’s feet at the top of this post was taken in Thousand Oaks California at the Gardens of the World.

“Come, my heart, rejoice in the immunity that your Redeemer has secured for you, and bless His name all day and everyday.” C.H. Spurgeon

Easter week, remembering what was accomplished by Jesus on the Cross and in His resurrection, our redemption, is celebrated every week and every day for true believers!

Hero’s Temple and Jewish Museum ~ Budapest

We continued our tour of the Dohany Street Synagogue and other buildings on the grounds on Sunday, March 1st.

The Heroes’ Temple has become an inseparable part of the Dohány Street Synagogue.
The arcade and the Heroes’ Temple, designed by László Vágó, seats 186 people. It was built in 1931 and is used for religious services.
The Heroes’ Synagogue commemorates the 10.000 Hungarian Jewish soldiers who earned glory on the battlefields of World War I and died heroes’ deaths.

The museum was the last area we would visit.

The Stained glass windows featured Moses, David and Saul and the last one pictured also featured Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

Speaking of Moses…

We left the Dohany Synagogue property and walked back to the hotel.

On the way we saw a few interesting doors and buildings.

We stopped to exchange our dollars for some Forints, Hungary’s currency.

Hungary has not bought into euros.

The Hungarian forint (HUF) consists of six banknote denominations (500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 20,000 Ft) and six coin denominations (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 Ft). Banknotes feature famous Hungarian historical figures, while coins are used for smaller transactions, with the 200 forint being the highest-value coin. A 200 forint coin is what you need for public restrooms.

2000 forints converts to about $5.94.

We wanted to leave a tip for our room housekeeper at the hotel. It was hard to wrap our heads around such large sounding currency actually being such a small amount in our own currency.

We caught our AmaWaterways shuttle to take us to the boat for our embarkation. I took a video of us walking on to the boat instead of taking photos and never took photos of our room. I took a video of our room. Sad but true I cannot add those videos here.

We had a warm welcome when we arrived and made it to our room where we found our luggage waiting for us with welcome notes and other items.

Our room was one of the least expensive rooms and on the lower deck but we were impressed with the size and the conveniences it afforded. The bed was very comfortable and it was larger than a queen. Another notable thing is how quiet our room was. We never heard any noise from the rooms next to ours. We never heard load engine noises and anything of that kind while in bed for the night.

Our windows were at water level.

The journey would commence on the Danube as we were enjoying our first dinner aboard. We sat at a round table for eight and enjoyed getting to know total strangers that would become more familiar by the end of our seven day journey. We were told that the Captain would tell us when we were passing the Parliament Building in Budapest so we could go up on the upper deck and get some nice photos. I’ll share those photos in my next River Cruise post. This was more of an off season time and there were only 130 passengers on this cruise. The boat could have 190 if full.

Back to the present:

It is the last day of March and we are going full speed ahead to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I finally brought our Easter Bin in. I started a new puzzle this week that Josh and Laura brought last weekend and I don’t think I’ll be able to complete it by Easter. It is a tough one because of the coloring. I’ve done the easiest parts, ha! I’m using my new puzzle mat that Andrew and Katie gifted me for my birthday. It is one of those that you can roll up with the puzzle intact if you need to move it before finishing.

The Empty Tomb!

Thanks for stopping by. Goodbye March and thank you, LORD, for a wonderful month filled with blessings galore!

Panorama Look-Out, St. Stephens Basilica

To get to the panorama views of St. Stephen’s Basilica and Budapest, there was an elevator option and stairs. We took the elevator up but when it was time to go down again we chose the stairs. Thankfully there were good railings and it was an open airy space so we didn’t get claustrophobic.

Saturday February 28th was a beautiful sunny day. We were so thankful.

This view is of the square in front of the Basilica with the pedestrian street beyond that takes you to the Danube. Looking beyond small slice of the Danube you can see the Buda side of Budapest.

On our way down to exit the Basilica we stopped at the Treasury. This painting of Peter and the Rooster caught my eye, “the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times“. This experience of Peter makes me emotionally as I consider times that I’ve denied or not stood up for my Lord and Savior.

The “Holy Family” was painted by Murillo (1682).

An artistic depiction of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the well.

Not quite busts but these circular heads of all the apostles were on an arched ceiling as we left the Treasury.

It was a narrower exit and walkway and I wasn’t able to get photos of all the apostles because of other people pressing in.

We exited the Basilica and found our way to the Jewish District for our lunch meal at Mazel-Tov. I wrote about our eating experience in Budapest and this restaurant in an earlier post.

This was a day that we were up on our feet and walking for the majority of the day. I was thankful that my Plantar Fasciitis was not an issue for me during this trip. I thanked the LORD several times. I did manage to get a nasty blister on my baby toe, though, that I had to doctor and pamper the next few days!

St. Stephen’s Basilica

On Saturday the 28th of February we broke away from our excursion group to buy tickets to visit the inside of St. Stephen’s Basilica situated centrally in the Pest side of Budapest. This is a photo heavy post!

St. Stephen’s Basilica is a Roman Catholic basilica in Budapest, Hungary. It is named in honor of Stephen, the first King of Hungary, whose right hand is housed in the reliquary.

It was awe-inspiring to see this finished work of art.

It is one of the grandest buildings we have been in.

This is kind of creepy to me. This is the right hand relic of King Stephen of Hungary. King Stephen died in August of 1038.

Not being Catholic, this Basilica was not a point of worship for me and in fact holds some areas of veneration that are against my beliefs. I did appreciate the beauty and the grandeur of the building. The way the architecture and artwork draws your eyes upward is appreciated, too. It is an amazing collection of artwork and treasures but not something to be worshipped in itself.

I’ll share the views from the panorama look-out in another post since this post is already photo heavy.

It is going to take a while to share much of our Danube River and Cambridge adventures.

Blue Room Upgrade

We are in the midst of our Thanksgiving family time here in Colville. This post was prepared ahead of time to publish until I gather the current family photos from activities we are enjoying in real time.

A ‘before’ photo of the queen size bed and accessories in the ‘Blue Room’. We sold this bed complete to my cousin who lives here in Colville.

We have two guest bedrooms in our Country Bungalow. We call this room the ‘Blue Room’. The other guest room we call the ‘Play Room’ because that is where any toys and books are stored for our Grands.

The Blue room was ready for an upgrade with a new king bed set-up. It was fun to pick wall art and linens for a new look. Most of the wall art came from Hobby Lobby on a week when they were all 50% off. It wasn’t as much fun for Greg to assemble the platform for the mattress. It also was a complete clown-show for Greg and me when we took off the wrapping on the mattress that came in a box, rolled up tight. It pretty much explodes into it’s flat king size shape. We were tossed about until we gained control of it and slid it on to it’s platform! Whew!

Andrew and Katie arrived here on Thanksgiving and got to enjoy the ‘new look’.

Here’s a recent photo of Katie with her latest hair coloring. By now we have taken many family photos while celebrating the Thanksgiving extended weekend together. I’ll be sharing those soon.

And in other news we had our first wee snowfall of the season.

We hired a couple of young men from our church to come and clear our planters for winter. Little did we know when we scheduled that we’d have snow to deal with. Thankfully it was just an inch of snow that melted quickly. The guys persevered with freezing fingers and did a great job for us. I’m so thankful to have this task behind us in time for Winter.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name ~ Hymn

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name!

All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Let highborn seraphs tune the lyre,
And as they tune it, fall
Before His face who tunes their choir,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Before His face who tunes their choir,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye morning stars of light,
Who fixed this floating ball;
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God,
Who from His altar call;
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s rod,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s rod,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race,
Ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Hail Him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Hail Him, ye heirs of David’s line,
Whom David Lord did call,
The God incarnate, Man divine,
And crown Him Lord of all,
The God incarnate, Man divine,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget
The wormwood and the gall,
Go spread your trophies at His feet,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Go spread your trophies at His feet,
And crown Him Lord of all.

Let every tribe and every tongue
Before Him prostrate fall
And shout in universal song
The crownèd Lord of all.
And shout in universal song
The crownèd Lord of all.

O that, with yonder sacred throng,
We at His feet may fall,
Join in the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all,
Join in the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all!

Words: Edward Perronet, 1726-1792.

Feis Day Two

Day Two of the Feis was Deirdre Haran Abeid Day.

The Haran School of Irish Dance was founded in Kettle Falls by Deirdre Abeid over 45 years ago. Her daughters Caitlin Trusler and Claire Worley have continued in her footsteps, running the Kettle Falls and Spokane branches of Haran for the past 25 years.

All signed in and ready to dance

There are breaks between the soft shoe dances and hard shoe dances.

Both Addy and JJ appreciated Uncle and Auntie being at the Feis on Sunday. I appreciated it, too, as Laura could get up close and take photos and videos that I was not able to.

Soft shoe, hard shoe and then it was time for another soft shoe competition.

There is a trick to lacing the soft shoes!

When all the traditional jigs and reels and treble and Hornpipe were completed it was time for the creative water/sea dance. The dancers who wanted to participate in this dance had to come up with their own costume and dance.

This is the outfit conception that Addy came up with thinking about water, ‘under the sea’. Here was the completed outfit Addy and her Mom created.

It is so good to have the support team of mom and dad in the dancers corner.

Waiting for their solo performances. I wish I could share the video Auntie Lolo took of Addy’s dance but I’m unable to on my blog. It was a wonderful performance and we found out while we were out to lunch that Addy had received a 1st place for her outfit and dance!

We gathered for lunch before taking Uncle and Auntie back to the airport for their flight home.

After lunch on their way home Dan and Jamie stopped by the convention center to pick up Addy’s prize for her creative under the sea dance and costume.

Her 1st place trophy!

After getting home Addy donned all her awards from her first Feis!

Well done, Addy. Your hard work was rewarded. Hmmm, I wonder if she’ll want to sign up for another Feis?

Thanks for coming along and for all your kind comments.

Puzzle Highlight

Our kids left a puzzle for me last weekend. This was a fun one to put together and it came together quickly. I was happy to see the puzzle poster included.

A trip to the seashore would be lovely.

One last weekend ahead in March. It has been a good relational month for us. What was a highlight of March in your corner?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Art