Stift Melk and Midterms

Whoa! Look - I was in Austria! Jk! :)

-Sam

OOoopps. I just posted this on the wrong blog. Should be located at Jamie's blog, www.ontheartofeatingpopovers.blogspot.com

I took way too many shots of the monastery from this little cemetery where I spent the better part of an afternoon in solitude enjoying the view and October weather while cramming for mid-terms. I needed to get away, I needed to be alone, and I needed to study. This was perfect! It was a great day!





The triumph of St. Benedict
A really cool old globe in a really cool old library.
The town of Melk. I got there at 10:30, and Mass was half-over. They were celebrating the Austrian tradition of the Harvest Thanksgiving. The whole church was filled with baskets of vegetables and bread, and they had made a giant tiara wreath that they processed through the town.
Spires of Melk that I had seen so often from afar and now finally up close
A miniature of the entire abbey
A very Austrian depiction of God's blessings on Stift melk: Sts. Peter, Paul, Leopold, Benedict and Colombo - patrons of the abbey - interceding for blessings on the abbey through a sunflower, marked with an A for the new Abbot Adrian. I thought it was cool.
While waiting for the train at Kienberg-Gaming, I took a picture of the little mountain I climbed on thursday with Jon. It was the best of the immediate area i have seen yet....but i havent climbed all of them yet!
This is from last monday. John Paul, (officially now a wine conesuier, after spending a weekend making wine in Spitz) presenting the Reisling to the birthday girl, Caitlin.
We made a TON of food. We should have birthdays more often. Liz and Caitlin, then Rob, Phil, Jon, and Brendan all in a row.