We caffeinate while making plans to do laundry later and explore Melk and its abbey, which are a brief drive down the road we take after wiping out an ATM we find after a bit of wandering in Spitz.

The baroque Melk Abbey is a monster of a place rebuilt in the early 18th century imperiously high and wide above the town. Some of its Benedictine monks even became Freemasons. A 150 year old oak statue of St. Coloman, crusader son of an Irish King, and martyred on the way ‘cause locals thought he was a spy, stands in a corner of the courtyard.

There’s a lot to see and we spend most of the day seeing it all.

One of 8 paintings that make up an altar piece. This one the “Scourging of Christ”.

More detail…

The library has over 100,000 volumes which are available for study.

There are many beautiful rooms including the Marble Hall. Red marble pillars.

Across the gardens is a pavilion with coffee and frescoes.

On the way home, we decide to have take-out pizza for dinner, so we stop at the good-ol Spitz Spar for salad fixings and tonic and lime, and order a few platitudinous platters from the pizza joint just down the road.

“Dinner in” works especially well because we make a mean salad and open and demolish the wonderful red Clos Victoire Chateau Calissanne. A gift from Bernadette.