The town is archeologically proven to be the oldest inhabited town in Europe. Its mountains full of salt have been exploited by Anciets, Barbarians, Celts, and Germans 7000 years and counting, and it is said there is a good 7000 more years worth of salt to be mined.
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Liz and I had fun, but people on the trains the rest of the day probably would have prefered that we didn't smell like sheep schmuck (interesting side note: schmuck = jewelery in german)
Inside the mines, they made us get dressed up in overalls. Here, Liz is about to slide down to the next level. Apparently, there are some 12 levels to the mine, with only three used for tourism, the others still active salt mines. The tour was really cool, way better than we anticipated. It took a couple of hours, and we got to go down slides and watch lazer shows and movies and be lectured to by a creepy German robot, and rode a train on the way out that was like a long long log that everyone straddled.
A rather creepy ancient salt miner. Creepy mostly for his irregular body hair growth....
Some nicely illuminated salt. It is tinted red from tarce amounts of iron. It looks awful pretty with just some light shining through it.
One of the mining slides we went down. On one of them, there were cameras that took your picture like you were on a six flags ride. And, they recorded your speed. There apparently is some technique to it. I don't know, I was just holding my hands up and yelling. I don't know how fast I went, but our tour guide lady definitely won: she clocked at 49 kph!
The town Obertraun across the lake, as seen from the mountain top. We were hoping to get to the Ice caves located there, but we ran out of time.
A guy with a gondola-type-boat on the water.
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Stopped over for a bit in Bad Ishcl between trains this afternoon. Stopped by this lovely Kirche. They are almost without exception lovely here. Afterwards we did a little window shopping, and happened upon a thrift store, the first i have seen since coming here. We entered and then spent the next half hour playing dress up. They had traditional Austrain clothing for real cheap. Most of it was home-made. I had given up hope of getting a durndle because they are so expensive, but this time we found a deal. I couldn't resist. None of us could. We all came away with a durndle and apron, feeling like real Austrians. I will take a picture of it tomorrow perhaps. If Liz wears hers to Melk I will too. (That is one of many favorite things about Austria: Austrians here really do wear traditional Austrain clothing for everyday clothes. I love it!)
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It was funny, we sat next to a couple of Austrian highschool girls on the way there. We told them we were going to Halstatt, which, we were advised by Mrs. Minto, was one of the most beautiful places in all Austria. They laughed and said Halstatt? No! They were of the opinion that Paris was much more beautiful.
I say, after now having been to both, they were way off. Paris was nice but, Paris can really not even be compared. Not at all. I would take Halstatt any day.
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