Today’s 16.4 mi (26.2 km) was again nearly all next to the Danube and with the temperature reaching nearly 80, next to the water felt refreshingly cool. As I left Melk, I passed through its quaint square and once at the bottom saw the magnificent Benedictine Abbey that was founded in 1089. I had visited it on several prior occasions, hence no effort to visit it again. Today’s beautiful Baroque Abbey dates to the early 1700s and is well worth a visit.
I also saw my first of the 18 Danube power stations (9 in Austria)/locks. The Danube just upstream of the lock seemed so glassy calm. The town of Pöchlarn was a surprise in that it’s home to one of my favorite expressionist painters, Oskar Kokoschka. Wish I could have visited his house, but felt I had a schedule to keep (not time, but energy),
And last of the surprises was my first view of Lower Austria‘s majestic (and highest) 6811 ft Schneeberg of the northeastern Border Alps. With the 75-mi long pipeline, it provides Vienna with the world’s best drinking water—yes, I was spoiled growing up.
