Cat Walk

What exactly is a cat walk?  According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, it is "a narrow walkway (as along a bridge)". When I was in high school, we would walk home sometimes, and to shorten the 3 mile walk, we'd cut through the Omaha Stockyards.  To do so, we had to use the "cat walks" …

Lipizzaner Stallions

The famous Lipizzaner white stallions are trained and housed at the Vienna Spanish Riding School.  What?  Yes, the Spanish Riding School is in Vienna, Austria. The Hapsburg Monarchy imported the horses from Spain over 400 years ago.  Lipizzaner stallions, no mares, are used exclusively at the riding school, which is built on centuries of tradition in …

Castles in the Sky

The hillsides along the Danube River in the Wachau Valley of Austria are so steep that the only place to build is on top of the mountain.  Most of the castles sit several hundred feet above the river.  Very few of the castles we saw were built as low as the one pictured above. It was so …

Gottweig Abbey

                      Gottweig Abbey is located near Krems, Austria, on the Danube River in the heart of the Wachau Valley.   Krems is the oldest city in Austria. The high altar of the church was dedicated in 1072.  Benedictine monks have worked in the monastery for …

Wachau Valley

The Wachau Valley Gorge, in northeastern Austria, is one of the most scenic stretches of the Danube River.  Beautiful and filled with so much history, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This magnificent castle-residence was one of the first we saw as we entered the gorge, just a little downstream from Melk, Austria.  The …