Posts Tagged With: Passau Germany

In Vienna Austria September 22

Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Passau Germany and Melk Austria

Passau is a town of about 50,000 people of whom about 12,000 are university students. The town has three rivers converging here and the old town area frequently experiences flooding. In 1662 Passau was destroyed by fire so there are no buildings that predate that time currently in existence.

As one would expect there is both a fortress and a major cathedral here. Our tour took us through old town, along the river, and finished at the Cathedral. The cathedral organ has 17,994 pipes, the most of any Catholic cathedral. The frescoes are undergoing a five year restoration process.

After the tour we visited the Passau Glass Museum, a real surprise. The museum has over 30,000 pieces of glass made in Europe between 1650 and 1950. It has the largest collection of European glass in the world. The museum is housed in an old hotel and spreads over five floors of large rooms and small, almost hidden alcoves.

The afternoon was unscheduled with some people taking an optional side trip to Salzburg-which was rained on heavily.

That evening we resumed cruising and Wednesday morning we docked at Melk Austria to visit Melk Abbey. Pictures are not allowed inside but it is an extensive building complex for a Benedictine abbey that has reached out to its local community to educate students and staff parishes. Monastic, cloistered abbeys were shuttered by Emperor Frank Joseph. The interior has amazing frescoes and paintings. The library here has over 160,000 volumes representing a trove of ancient works that have been kept safe for hundreds of years.

In the afternoon the ship cruised the Wachau Valley of the Danube, a grand vista of river, bluffs, small towns, and castle ruins.

Ed and Chris

Vienna, Sept 22