On Sunday, I traveled with some friends to Wachau, a UNESCO world heritage site in the Danube valley about an hour's train ride from Vienna. The area is a beautiful - medieval castles and miles and miles of vineyards. After exploring the town of Melk (Stift Melk, the town's famous monastery, is pictured above), we took a boat cruise down the Danube to tour Wachau's famous sights and get a few glasses of some local wines.
The highlight of the day was hiking up to Durstein, the castle in which Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned during the Crusades.It was a pretty steep hike and, despite hitting the Boston Sports Club frequently during the spring, I was pretty winded by the time I reached the remains of the castle/prison. And there I was at the top, panting, covered in dirt and sweat, and next to me is this middle-aged Austrian man leisurely smoking a cigarette and wearing lederhosen. Yes, those lederhosen.
"Lederhosen" translates to "leather pants." It was 83 degrees out and the man had just taken a hike with those bad boys on. Bold move, Mr. Austria, bold move.
