Biking in Melk: the von Donner Party
As the crowning glory of our study of Baroque architecture this week, Rob went to Melk Abbey (Click to enlarge pictures)with the students and Maddie, Will, Sebi and our good friend and former study abroad student Sarah Reed. Mary Ann stayed home with Joss, who is fighting an ear infection and losing piteously. The 1-year old set does not exactly care about Benedictine monks, Baroque theatricality and Trompe-d'ouille technique (spelling, Marie-Laure?). The students were very into the marble library, the super-gilded church and the dressed-up skeletons in the side chapels. They look like they have been stuffed into panty hose and posed in perky, life-like positions. Will got the willies from a smiling skeleton propped up on one elbow who looked like he was trying to pick up a sexy ham-bone in a bar with a sleazy lounge-lizard line like "does that femur go all the way to the floor?" For many years, the traditional Melk trip has been followed by a pleasant 3-hour bycicl