The trip up the Danube to the Benedictine monastery of Melk was unbelievable today. Most people take a combination of train and boat, and that’s what we did, zipping up on the train then cruising down the Danube on the way back. The banks of the river are covered with two things: Gothic churches and vineyards. Words cannot describe the experience, so I will just post as many photos as I can.

The organizers of the trip were Jim and Alan, the featured guests on my blog today. I think I have mentioned them both before; Alan gave two dynamite lectures on comedy and Don Giovanni which I plan to rip off almost word for word next year, and Jim teaches at Woodinville HS and is the reason I am here. Aren’t they cute?

Every night in the summer they play outdoor movies here in Vienna, but usually not just any movies. Tonight they are showing L’Elisir D’Amore, which you will recognize as the opera in which the heroine is called Adina. So I’m off to see it.

This last photo on the lower right is a castle we saw on the Danube, where Leopold of Austria imprisoned Richard I on his way back from the Crusades and held him for ransom. After he was released, he supposedly came back in disguise to meet - you guessed it - Robin Hood!

Addendum to this blog: just got back from the Rathousplatz where we watched L'Elisir D'Amore on a huge screen with thousands of people. The moon came up over Vienna as we watched. There was all kinds of food, kind of like Bite of Seattle, and beer, but nobody got rowdy or made a mess. They just sat outside watching a beautiful opera on a giant screen. Could you imagine something like that happening in the US?