June 24, 2013.  Today we are waking up in Vienna.  We last blogged on Friday the 21st.  We have been vey busy.  We spent the afternoon with Rita’s Aunt Lisel on Friday.  Had a great time.  Shared photos, family history, good stories, sad stories, laughed and cried.  We also met Lisel’s son Sigfried, his wife Peggy, and their daughter Alexandra.  Shared coffee and other pastries with them, took photos and said our “good-byes.” The entire afternoon was made so convenient by a young German man, Fabian, that we met in a restaurant and ended up being our interpreter for the afternoon.  We would have been lost without him!   We have posted photos for you to see.  Of course, Rita looks just like her Aunt.  If I have forgotten anything about the visit, Rita will share it when she gets up this morning!  We left Landshut on Saturday morning June 22nd, Rita driving and me navigating.  As soon as we entered the motorway, Rita increased our speed to 120 kilometers per hours.  Everyone, trucks, buses, motorcycles were passing us like we were standing still. So, Rita gradually picked it up to 140 KPH.  But, the Mercedes and BMW’s were still whizzing by us.  Before long, we were going 160 KPH at which time I converted the KPH to MPH on my IPAD and realized Rita was cruising along in the slow lane at 100 MPH!!!  Know wonder the German countryside was a blur!!!  We had no problem driving on the motorways in Germany.  We were headed for Vienna, but we decided to make a side trip to see Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and dates from the 13th century.  It has a castle and a beautiful church.  A small river runs through the village and lots of Czech’s were rafting and enjoying the 27 degrees celsius weather which I converted on my IPAD to 80 degrees fahrenheit.  From Cesky Krumlov, we drove to Melk Austria where there is a Benedictine abbey called the Stift Melk Abbey dating from the 1089!  We arrived in Melk in the evening.  It had only 3 hotels.  None had air conditioning.  So, we chose Hotel Zu Post, and it was not too bad after an evening rain cooled things down a bit.  The Danube flooded the old town of Melk two weeks ago and the waters came right up to where our hotel was located.  On Sunday June 23rd, we attended Mass in the Abbey.  It has been totally restored and is an excellent example of Baroque Architecture.  The size of the Abbey is overwhelming, as well as the beauty of its ornamentation.  It has over 500 rooms just for the monks,  10 libraries, a museum, several chapels, a school that has over 900 students, and many other rooms that were off limits to the public.  We will post photos because it cannot be described in words.  It has been the most beautiful site we have seen on our trip to date.  Well, Rita is up and we are ready to work out, get breakfast and see what this city has to offer.  If I have missed anything about Landshut, Cesky Krumlov, or Melk, Rita may supplement my report.  Today is my sister’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Sis.  I love and miss you.  Everyone is in our thoughts and prayers.  Love and miss you all.  –Norm & Rita