Sebi and I see Melk

The initial plan for going to Austria was that I would spend a few days in Vienna and then a few days at my Austrian's place in St. Pölten (hereafter referred to as STP, as she calls it) before we would hotwire her dad's car and drive to France. This was a good plan until my Austrian got engaged right before we left. Now all bets were off as to when and how I was going to come to STP. Relatives had to be informed. Friends had to be visited. An appointment had to be kept at the Hochzeitshaus of Upper Austria. In other words, don't come until Saturday.
Fortunately for me, the Farlands are extremely generous and didn't turn me out to sleep at the Franz-Josephs-Bahnhof. Instead they graciously hosted me for the additional nights without any ado. [If you're reading this, another big THANK YOU] They even let me relive a bit of Berlin by staying up late chatting. Matt and I think the Farlands are one of the coolest couples we know - they have good taste, they are informed on many subjects, they have thought-out opinions and they have a great relationship. We hope to be as cool as they are some day.
As if they couldn't get any cooler or more generous, the Farlands proved that they could. Finally as Saturday approached, my Austrian had to take me because we were suppose to leave for France on Sunday morning. Saturday was also the day that the Farland family were going with the study abroad students on a bus to Melk, where they would visit the abby and then rent bikes and ride along Danube to Krems, enjoying the beautiful Wachau along the way.
The weather had worsened by the end of the week and it was suppose to rain. Frau Farland didn't relish the idea of pedaling Joss through the rain, so she opted to stay home. Since STP is in that region and Frau Farland's tickets had already been bought, they offered to take me in her stead. So that's how I ended up on a bus full of study abroad students heading to Melk.
Melk is a charming city, but the real allure is the baroque abbey:

(image borrowed from wikipedia, where you can read more about it)
Although he had led study abroad students to it in 2002 and 2006, Herr Dr. Farland had not been inside the abbey since 1992, one of the hazards of taking your children, who may appreciate the playground more than the fresco. Since I have been inside Melk in 2000, 2002, and 2006, I offered to mind the kids. But Herr Farland was feeling brave, and decided to go ahead and bring along Maddie, Will and Sebi.
Maddie had already been inside Melk in 2006 and quickly disappeared into the crowd of students to be with her friends. Will and Sebi chased around for a bit, but before long and for reasons I can't remember, Sebi and I ended up partnering up to tour the abbey. He told me he was used to having his picture taken, so that wouldn't be a problem. He also reminded me that they speak German in Austria, but reassured me that he spoke German. He also pointed out various things for me to take pictures of.
Here he is as we prepared to enter into the courtyard:



And here's the courtyard:


During the tour we were lead into various rooms with various treasures and relics. We enjoyed looking for ceramic stoves in each room, picking out our favorite chalice, and choosing which miter to wear. Sebi was most impressed by the model of the abbey and told me to take a picture for him:

After that we ended up outside at the front of the abbey to admire its fine yellow:

We had a view of the Danube down below:

We then checked out the optical-illusion frescoes in the library:

(also from wikipedia)
Wouldn't it be great to have a library like this? Or at least matching book binding?
They had a copy of the Venerable Bede, just for Matt:

Finally we got to the very baroque chapel, complete with relics:


We even found the altar to St. Sebastian:

We exited and took a look at the weather for the next leg of our journey.


Would you go bike-riding if it looked like that?