The destination was Eisriesenwelt, purportedly the largest ice cave in the world. We arrived a little before noon, and it began to rain. The parking lot nearer to the cave, was full. We parked our car and waited on a long line, in order to buy tickets for a bus, to bring us up the mountain. While in line, I was listening to the four people behind us, who were speaking an Asian language. I am always listening to hear Japanese being spoken, as it is the closest I've become to being able to converse with others in a foreign language.
What should have clued me in was that I couldn't recognize a single word...but the sounds were more similar to Japanese than I am used to hearing while on these trips. I decided to turn around and ask them, "Sumi Masen. Nihonjin deska?" This, I believe, means, "Excuse me. Are you Japanese?" They were not. They were South Korean. For those that are unaware, South Koreans are generally known as not being huge fans of the Japanese, and for good reason. All I know of the conflict came from the podcast "History of Japan," by Isaac Meyer.
They were a really cool bunch. We ended up hanging out with them for the entirety of our ice cave adventure. I pestered them with questions about South Korea, such as when they thought were good times to visit, political questions about South Korea, and if they approved of my few researched locations and theme parks for when I go. They were incredibly patient with me! They truly were incredibly nice and we had an amazing time. At one point they even gave me a bookmark from South Korea, with the country's flower on it, the Rose of Sharon. We exchanged emails at the end and I hope to meet up with them again when I visit!
After buying tickets, we had to wait in line for the bus. The bus took us up a windy road and dropped us off just below the upper parking lot. That parking lot was nuts. It was tiny and was a bit of a disaster with people all over and cars trying to navigate and turn around. Just nearby was the ticket center. We purchased our cave and cable car ticket combination and then had a short hike up to the cable car station. Once at the cable car, we waited in a very long line, where it again began to rain. Luckily there was cover! It was a great time to talk more with our new friends while waiting.
The cable car was actually a ropeway, which ascended very steeply and very fast. It was terrifying. Once we arrived, luckily still alive, we finally saw the entrance to the cave.
At the cave we had a short wait for the next English tour guide. A handful of people in the tour group with us were given lanterns to light the way. There were no lights affixed anywhere in the cave. The door to the cave was opened and we were ushered in. At the doorway, you felt an incredible gust of wind. Our tour guide spoke English, but was a bit hard to hear because we were near to the back of the line. He would stop at intervals to give us information about the cave.
There were many steps. The cave was massive. I only got one picture from my phone.
Like Neuschwanstein, you can look up professional pictures of the inside of the cave online. After the two hour tour, the wind threw us back out and the sun was shining. We descended the mountain, with me clinging on the inner rocks of the trail as usual, and the view was remarkable.
By the time we had returned to our car, it was about 4:30. We rested in our room and took a short walk around town.
Today was our rest day. We woke up, ate breakfast, and I went right back to sleep until noon. It was time for the salt mine in Halstatt. Literally next door to our hotel is the ticket center for the mine. We bought tickets and took the terrifying cable car funicular to the top. I released my iron grip from the car's railing and we began a short ascent to the salt mine.
We only had to wait about ten minutes for the next tour group of the mine to begin. We were given pants and a shirt to put over our clothes, climbed a few more steps, and entered the mine.
The guide spoke German first and then followed it up with an English translation. After a long walk through a long tunnel, we came to our first slide. These slides were used to quickly move from level to level in the mine. I believe we were told that there were twelve levels altogether and that we would only be going to see two of them.
After everyone went down the slide, we watched a shot video, and then went down a slide that was four times as long. Here is a picture of the first slide.
They showed us a light show on the rocks and then showed us two more videos involving the old extraction techniques and the more modern ones. The modern one involved filling shafts with water.
We were moved along to an animatronic miner who spoke only in German and then were sat down in a theater. We were told about how miners hundreds of years ago found an old body that had been preserved in salt and about another discovery, in the early 2000s, that had uncovered a 3,000 year old staircase. After the video had finished, the screen lifted and revealed the staircase, behind a glass wall.
Just afterward, we were ushered onto a very long benchlike train that then propelled us for what seemed like ages, until we exited the mine. It was an interesting ride and I feared for very tall people, as the shaft became quite close to our heads. Overall, the mine was nice, but I would have preferred to see more salt and rock excavations and less videos.
Instead of taking the cable car down the mountain, we took the trail.
On the way down we saw the waterfall that overlooks the town, a cat playing with an insect, and some nice flowers.
We ate dinner overlooking the lake, that was surprisingly fantastic. I always figure that restaurants with great food will serve subpar food. I was wrong this time. I was more daring than usual, and tried cheese dumpling soup that tasted not too different from matzoh ball soup and a spinach feta strudel with tomato and pesto sauce. Then, we walked around the shops and I picked up an interesting looking croissant filled with cream. It was a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment