Friday, 31st August 2018 The Pöstlingberg hill in Linz is 539 metres high and is served by the Pöstlingbergbahn, one of the steepest railways in the world. This takes you up to the top of the hill where there is a pilgrimage basilica, panoramic views and the Grottenbahn – a fantasy ride through the kingdom of dwarves. We enjoyed the panoramic views and had a coffee at altitude. A family in the basilica, possibly there on a pilgrimage, treated us to some beautiful a cappella singing, reminiscent of the Von Trapp family, filling the small church with harmonies. How appropriate since the phrase is Italian for “in the manner of the chapel”. Some members of the Herd, however, were disappointed not to ride on the Grottenbahn. The Mariendom [New Cathedral] has the largest seating capacity of any church in Austria and as the name suggests .. … and has an open and modern interior. The Lentos Kunstmuseum is a striking building and as there was an art and culture festival on in the town we were granted free entrance. This was probably just a well as none of us were captivated by the art on display. The art and culture festival also extended […]
Austria
Thursday, 30th August 2018 Melk is a picturesque town in Lower Austria overlooked by a beautiful and imposing monastery. On arrival we decided to forego the meal on the boat again in the hopes of letting Jaime have a choice of vegetarian options and set off for a day in the town. Between 2004 and 2008 the Waldzell Leadership Institute held annual meetings in the Abbey of Melk “giving international speakers from the fields of science, economy, art and spirituality a platform of dialogue with political and economic leaders“. The Waldzell meetings have welcomed renowned speakers like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Paolo Coelho, Isabel Allende, Frank Gehry as well as several Nobel Prize winners to share their knowledge and their visions. Now the Travelling Herd has followed in these illustrious footsteps and it was good to see Jaime getting up to her old tricks again. The views and the interior are spectacular, but no photographs were allowed inside the building. The second room of the library, which houses the Waldzell Collection, was particularly interesting, featuring the traditional two globes – one of the earth and one of the heavens. This room is also home to the Waldzell sculpture, shaped like the […]
Wednesday, 29th August 2018 The food on board offers very little in the way of variety for vegetarians and two three course meals a day is more than any of us require so we agreed that we would forego the lunch onboard and try to find something lighter and more interesting to eat at lunchtime. Having informed the staff we would not be back till after lunch, we were again first off the boat to walk into Vienna. The cathedral has an ornate geometric tiled roof but we were heading beyond here towards the Opera for Cafe Sacher to try the eponymous torte. Matilda was convinced Sacher torte would be very rich, having sampled some made by friends in the past and so only one slice was ordered. In fact, the original was less rich than she expected and we could perhaps have had more. Having finished the torte between us we headed towards the Naschmarkt near Karlsplatz. This offers fruit, vegetables, sweets, fish, olives, spices and much much more. It is close to the Vienna Secession – a building designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich at the turn of the 19th century to house exhibitions of work by the Secession […]