On Friday, July 8, 2022, the participants in this year's summertour gradually arrived in Melk, at the Hotel Wachau, Wachberg 3. Before we had dinner together, Michael B. gave a pleasant, short speech and we were handed the JDOST bags and road book. With good food, a glass or two of wine and stimulating conversations, we enjoyed the first evening together and the anticipation of the next two days.
After breakfast on Saturday, July 9, 2022, we gathered in front of the hotel for a group photo and set off at 9 a.m. sharp, weather permitting. We drove through a beautiful landscape on varied and winding roads, partly bordered by maize fields taller than a man. When driving through Ybbs, there was an unscheduled stop when a rabbit hopping around on the road paralyzed traffic for a short time. However, everyone involved survived and so we arrived at Seitenstetten Abbey around 11 a.m., where an informative tour through the well-tended monastery and medicinal herb garden began at 11:30 a.m. Then our route led to Wallsee, where we had our excellent lunch on the terrace of the Wallseerhof. A few of us ordered an ice cream pancake for dessert and would have happily spent an hour or two in a hammock, given the size of the portion. Therefore, we started a little late at around 3:15 p.m. in the direction of Greinburg, where we were expected at 4:20 p.m. for an interesting tour of the beautiful Greinburg Castle and the Maritime Museum. At around 5:30 p.m. we started our return journey to the hotel, where we met again at 8 p.m. for dinner. There was a little surprise for Werner B. The day before he had asked the junior manager of the hotel for quargles at dinner, to which she said with a laugh "only grandfather had eaten them in the end and unfortunately they didn't have anything like that in stock"! Today, however, Werner B. was served his desired Quargel for dessert on a lovingly decorated plate. This made an already beautiful and perfect day even more perfect and we let it end comfortably with lots of coffee and a little wine.
On the second day of our tour, Sunday, July 10, 2022, after checking out at 9:30 a.m., we set off in the direction of Ottenschlag. Again, the route led over varied roads and a picturesque landscape. The weather today was a bit mixed and a bit cooler than yesterday, it had rained during the night. At 10:40 a.m. we arrived at the Mohnhof Gressl in Ottenschlag at a cool 12°C, where the head of the house, Mr. Gressl, used a film and humorous words and a lot of heart and soul to give us an understanding of the development of a poppy plant from the seed to the poppy harvest. We got to know the difference between blue, gray and white poppy seeds and were then able to taste the homemade poppy seed tents and, of course, to buy them along with other poppy seed products in the in-house shop. At 12:00 p.m. we continued towards Krems, where we arrived at the Wachau-Wellenspiel restaurant at 1:10 p.m. With meanwhile pleasant temperatures of around 20°C, we enjoyed our lunchtime meal on the terrace with a view of the Danube. Some participants said goodbye after the meal and started their journey home. The rest of the group drove on to take part in a guided tour and wine tasting at Winzer Krems. After the tour, one or the other bottle of wine could of course be purchased. Here, too, some participants said goodbye and so, as always, the "hard core" of the troupe remained, which ended the day in Langenzersdorf at the Trimmel terrace tavern.
A huge thank you to the organizational team Brigitte and Michael Brockmann for the work and time they invested in the perfect organization to make this wonderful trip possible for all of us.
Text: R.Reimer
Photos: JDOST©
