Melk or no Melk

 The plan for today was a walking tour of Melk, in particular Melk Abbey. On top of that, Ian and I were scheduled to do a 34kms bike ride in the afternoon.

Butttt, we didn't. Ian has succumbed to what they call "cruise cough", the respiratory illness that goes through a boat cruise like a dose of salts. He has struggled to sleep for the last two nights and, consequently, so have I. So, we decided that today was our rest day. We stayed on board all day, napped, sat on the sun deck, watched the fabulous Judgement at Nuremberg movie and generally took it easy. I think it was the right call. Ian seems to be on the mend and ready to enjoy our last three days in Vienna and Budapest.

Mind you, we had some excitement on the boat. Apparently, a rope got wrapped around the bow thrusters and we had to get it fixed. They tried sending a scuba diver down to see if they could release the rope but that didn't work. So, we had to go into dry dock and lift the boat up to get the rope off. For a while there, the boat was on a precarious angle and it felt a bit like the Titanic but, very soon, they got the problem sorted and we were on our way.

Currently, we are engaged in a race to Vienna. Apparently, all the river cruise ships descend on Vienna tomorrow and docking space is at a premium. If we don't make it first, we could end up double or even triple parking. If that happens, we have an additional problem as they just informed us that we are running out of water. They have emptied the pool and are saving all our water for drinking and toilets. Cross your fingers that we make it to Vienna first tomorrow or I could be peeing in the bushes.