Day 11 (5/24)

Saturday, May 24
Free day
-Hallstatt

Today I woke up at 4:40 AM and got ready. I'm really excited to go to Hallstadt! We met downstairs at 5:15 AM to go catch our train. I bought a super delicious pretzel from Westbahnhof and a giant carton of apple juice.
I sat next to Alan on the train, and ate my pretzel and started journaling. I didn't feel that tired. The first train ride was two and half hours on a fast train and I just kept myself busy to pass the time. The second train was a slower regional train that took about one half hours.
The fast train was really nice and spacious as far as seat room, leg room, and everything. On the second train I mostly looked out the windows because the view was so pretty! So many mountains. We got there around 9:30 AM, ready for adventure! We took the ship ride across the lake.
The view was incredibly breathtaking! I want to come back here one day for sure!!
Because we had woken up so early, it seemed like lunch time when we got there! I took so many pictures! So then we got to land part of the town. It was such a cute little town, and so small! Quaint and typical old German/Austrian housing.
We just sort of wandered around and looked at a few shops down the main street, which was wide enough for one car.
Also, there were so many Asian tourists, and they were extremely annoying and pushy.
I bought some postcards, and a calendar. Such a beautiful place!!
I dropped my camera once, right by the lake and it toppled over once, and was about two inches from the edge...oops

So we did a lot of just strolling around, and then we found this little grill place, so we ate lunch there around 11am or so. I ordered Wiener Schnitzel with fries, and it was pretty delicious.
After lunch, we headed towards the salt mine.
The "cable car" up the mountain was so fast and steep, but way cool!
The view everywhere was just gorgeous! Nothing like the mountains surrounding Boone! However, I do love the mountains in Boone because they feel more homey...anyways, We took our time with the hike/walk part getting up to the tour part. We all took so many pictures! It is just difficult to put into words how awesome the view was!
I picked flowers on the way up and down. Once we got to the "top we made it just in time for the next tour. And there was good wifi in the shop! I was being really crazy the whole time with German and sound effects ("bitte" and *rawr* with arm movements like the other day when the security guard caught me trying to touch the dinosaur and then mocking it).
We got our "jump suits"  for the tour, mine was burgendy, plenty of pictures were taken of us in our suits...
It was a baggy button up shirt and string tie pants. All you can do wearing that is be silly! We were all makin funny comments and poses.
And then it was time to go on our tour. It wasn't as cold in there as I expected, but I was prepared with clothing as usual! It was pretty closed in space in there, it took me so much focus and concentration to make it through the really tight spaces. But I made it through just fine. There was a tiny wooden slide that was fun, and then a few videos telling about the history of the mine, along with the tour guide.
The ground was a little slippery in some places.
Then there was a "mega" slide, 64 meters long, the longest in Europe!
Also, the mine is the oldest one in the world, more than 7,000 years old!
So when the tour finished, we rode this wooden planked vehicle (not secure in my opinion, I was scared) and it went really fast and through short tunnels.
Then after a few minutes in the gift shop, we made our way slowly down the mountain, but quicker than the trip up. The wild flower fields were so gorgeous! I got a bug bite though.
We ate at a cafe on the side of the mountain, such a great view!! (at 3:45pm) I ordered Wiener Schnitzel again, by accident, I meant to get the sausage, but someone was distracting me when we ordered. After dinner, we ventured down the mountain to the town again, and looked for this little island we saw from above, and it was so cool! Connected to a play ground, and it was just a little grassy area, but the water was right there! And kids were just swimming in the water!
Oh yeah, then I tried to sneak up on some swans, and Jacob was taking my picture from afar, but apparently swans are mean and can hurt you, so they were all shouting at me from the island that they (the swans) were about to eat me, but I wasn't that scared. But I decided it was best to walk away, and not get a swan injury while in Austria.. But I got within a yard and a half from them, they were so giant. They hissed at me some, but it wasn't too bad.
Then we walked around the main part of town for a few more, and I got a really pretty spoon rest for mom!
And then got a couple scoops of ice cream! And hopped on the boat, there was some sitting and waiting in there too.
Then the boat took us to the other side, we caught the train, and I napped for a few on the slow train, journaled on the fast train. And ate some gummy bears. And totally jammed out, earbuds in!
So we got back to the station after a while. Alan needed his phone charger, so we went back to the hotel, then came back to the Westbahnhof for him to use the wifi for a bit.
There was a lady "cleaning" by the subway, and what she was really doing was sorting the trash and throwing some away, and some over the balcony onto the first floor of the Bahnhof. It was really strange, but slightly hilarious...
We headed back to the hotel late....another free day tomorrow, thankfully I can sleep in.