Hallstatt: the cold, the rain, and the salt

     Day 1-Our journey began with a train ride (I slept becuase we had to get up at 6:00 a.m. so we had time to get ready and on the train before it left at 7:40). We had to 'umsteig' only once before we got to a lake. We had to take a boat across the lake to Hallstatt because it is built right on the side of the mountain. Because of this, many houses in the city use the mountain as the back wall of their house. I was not prepared for how wet our trip would be so it was miserable at first. My coat was soaked after the first few minutes in the rain and I forgot my umbrella in Vienna, so it was of no good to me. I was glad I wore a sweatshirt under my coat or I would have frozen to death.

     After we arrived, Maddie, Becca, Mary, Professor Minert, and I went and looked at the old church records at the local catholic church. We got to see an entry for a man who was found by miners who had died many years earlier when he got crushed by salt. The body was preserved for a long time because of the salt. We then got to see the cemetery and a room full of skulls and femurs. The skulls had the name of the person and when they died written on them. Some were also decorated in painted flowers. They were there because they had needed more room in the cemetery so they dug up the remains of the people and put them in the room so new poeple could be buried. I didn't feel comfortable in that room so I was glad when we got to look at the inside of the church.

taken by Kendal Babbitt

taken by Kendal Babbitt

        Mary and I then set out on our quest to find our bed and breakfast. We had no map so we were hopelessly lost and soaked. I gave up after an hour of looking and walked back to the center of town and met up with Maddie and Amanda. We went in search of lunch where I ordered an Apfel strudel. It was nice to be inside and eating something warm.

     We then met up with more people from our group and walked around the church again with people who hadn't seen it yet. We then found a pizza place for dinner. It was great to get out of the rain! We had to go back to our B&B early because all the restaurants were closed by 7:30. We had walked all the way across Hallstatt in one day. I had had a nice first day, but was still upset that it had rained the whole first day.

     Day 2- We got up and had a nice breakfast of hot chocolate and semmeln with meat and cheese. Our hostess was very nice. I was able to speak with her for a few minutes in German. I found out that she is actually from a town near Nürnberg, Germany and that she moved to Hallstatt with her husband because he was from there. I felt so great knowing that I could have a conversation with a legit German lady!

     Mary and I were on our way wandering around town when it started raining again. We didn't have a lot to do so when we stumbled upon an outdoor chess set, we felt compelled to play. We played for almost a half an hour in the rain when I finally won the game. It was odd because lots of asian tourist kept taking our picture while we were playing chess.

     We were again soaked so we went in the Protestant church so we could get out of the rain. It didn't help much as far as warming up, but at least we weren't getting wetter! (Wetter! :D)

      We then met up with others from our group and went to the salt mine. We had to put on oversized shirts and pants so our normal clothes wouldn't get dirty in the mine. We got to slide down two huge wooden slides in the mine. Ali and I went down together on the second slide together and went about 25 km/hr! It was so fun. We also saw some salt exhibits and a few short films about the history of the mine.

       By the time we got out of the mine the sun had come out and it had stopped raining. We saw a rainbow and got super excited. We were so glad it had stopped raining! We walked back to the center of town to catch our boat when we saw a funeral procession. We had to get off the street so they could pass by. They had a little band playing. Soon after they arrived at the church down the street it started to rain again.

   

 We took the boat back across the lake to our train and rode home. It was great not having to be outside anymore. It was an excellent experience even if it was rainy most of the time.