Apologies for the serious gap of blogging- exams have taken over my life for the last month or so!
But to pick up where I stopped- after Vienna, I ventured out to Krems an der Donau (the 'an der Donau' just means something along the lines of "on the Danube River"). It was a cute little town about an hour train ride from the capital, in the vineyard-covered Wachau region. There, we strolled through the town's medieval buildings and ate more schnitzel. It was so nice to be able to be out in the country (and on the water!). Oddly, Krems often reminded me of Laon (the little town in the Picardie region that I lived in the year after college). They are both small, unassuming European towns with rich history but somehow remain off the beaten path.
As a side trip from Krems, we trained and hiked up to Gรถttweig Abbey, which overlooked miles and miles of vineyards. It was borderline gaudy- in my mind, monasteries are austere places where monks pray in well-kept courtyards and... I don't know, grow peas? But this abbey was amazingly decorated- and one of the Holy Roman Emperors was married there (but it slips my mind at the moment as to which one). If you go, the walk is definitely worth the view- and there's a great restaurant that overlooks everything. And it serves aperol spritzers!
Here are some of the best pictures of the trip (or, as one of my friends called it- "my holiday from my holiday from my holiday year"):
Krems:
Somewhere outside of Krems (on an unplanned train pitstop):
Vineyards everywhere you look
The hike up to Gottweig Abbey:
Gottweig Abbey:
Me in (the mirror of) the Napoleon Room
Ducks on the Danube
And sunset on the Danube :)
No comments:
Post a Comment