What Heaven Looks Like

We spent day 4 in Hallstatt. I don't remember being in Heaven....but I'm pretty sure this is what it looked like.  :-)

The Meinenger Hostel in Salzburg was not our favorite but it certainly won the award for best shower! Our shower in Hallstatt was the most difficult. The shower curtain didn't reach around the whole shower so everything outside it got very wet! But, everything in Hallstatt and Obertraun was so beautiful it more than made up for the shower! Everyone in Austria has beautiful flowers and gardens. All the houses have flower boxes outside their windows. I love it!!

We ate breakfast at the hotel and did a little bit of laundry in the sink . We found out it was a bank holiday this day and there was not a ferry running from Obertraun to Hallstatt. So we walked from Obertraun to the Hallstatt train stop which is where you catch the ferry. The walk takes about 30 min but it is so beautiful! We were going to rent bikes and ride around the lake but then we decided not to. It ended up being better in the long run that we didn't rent bikes. It would have been hard to keep track of them while we did everything else. 

Walking to the ferry

Walking to the ferry

Once we were in Hallstatt we walked down the main street and went into a ton of little shops. While we were walking around all of the sudden this parade came toward us. They had a band and they were all dressed in traditional clothes. They were celebrating the holiday which we were told was a "party for Jesus". We later found out it was a celebration for the institution of the sacrament in the catholic church. Some of the statues in the town were also decorated with flowers and ribbons for the celebration. It was so fun to be there for this!

Hallstatt is an old Salt Mining town. Part of the mine is still a working mine but the other part they have open for tours. We took the funicular up to the top of the mountain and then hiked a little ways to the house where the tour starts. The view of the town and lake from up here was breathtaking! It cost a total of 24 euros for the ride up, the tour, and the ride down. Money well spent! The tour was awesome! We had to wear special outfits over our clothes to keep the salt from getting on our clothes. Miners have been mining here since prehistoric times. I think they said about 36 miners still work there. There are 2 slides in the mine that we got to slide down. The miners used these to get to the different levels of the mine. Before we went on the tour a friend from home had told us the slide wasn't all that impressive. After the first slide we agreed with her. It was fun but nothing spectacular. Then we found out there was a second slide and it was awesome! Liz and I went together on the second slide. It's like Disneyland. The take your picture and clock your speed as you go down! Liz and I slid down at 30.3 km/hr. I think we got the fastest in the group! Well, expect our tour guide. She slid down at 36 km/hr. 

Wax miner that scared Liz!

We got some delicious ice cream when we went back into town. So yummy! We also got a sandwich at this little shop on the street. I think it is middle eastern or Greek. The guy running the shop asked us where we were from. We said the U.S. and he asked us if we liked Obama. We said, "ehh." Then he asked us if we liked George Bush and we said the same thing. He laughed and said, "American polictics are crazy!" It was pretty funny. :)

That evening we took the Ferry back to the Hallstatt train station and walked to Obertraun. We saw some cool Austrian slugs. I named one of them Fredrick. Because of the Sound of Music of course. We had dinner at the hotel. We were very lucky with most of the food on our trip being fabulous. We were less impressed with this food but it was ok. After the dinner we went out to the dock and put our feet in the water. The water was freezing!! We found out later that the water comes from glaciers in the Alps. No wonder it's so cold! But is was still so fun! 

Castle :)

On the ferry back to Obertraun

Obertraun

Swans!!

This slide looked like so much fun! Too bad the water was so cold!

There was a playground by the lake. It had a zip line and a merry go round! You can never find those things in American playgrounds because people are too sue happy! We decided Austrian children are much happier than American children because of this. 

Blurry picture of Katie on the zip line

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