Sock Monkey gets a ride on the lift...
Weather forcast on the mountain: Sunny (Sonne) and Good (Gute)
This was a funny little sequence of events at the top:
1. Matt steps into a snow bank, filling his shoe with snow.
2. When friends approach and ask what Matt is doing with his shoe off while I am standing there laughing, I decide to explain and then demonstrate, at which point, my foot also goes through the snow. Whoops.
"High Maintenance" lady walking up the mountain with mug in hand. In my defense, the mug was filled with hot tea because I had a sore throat.
Kurt hurried ahead and was able to get this photo of us walking up...
Group picture (minus Kurt)
From the top...
Riding down the lift...
After a short drive out of town, we reached the Salzwelten (salt mines) of Bad Durrnberg. The Celts began mining the "white gold" here in 400 B.C., making this the oldest mine in the world open to the public.
In order to experience the mines, we all had to get dressed in these Oompa Loompa outfits- extremely flattering.
Underground border of Austria and Germany- to get this far, we had to ride a little train and walk on foot. At another point, we had to ride on a boat, complete with shifting colored lights and creepy music- making the transportation experience strangely similar to scenes from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Archbishop Wolf Dietrich is the guy who got rich by trading salt and transformed Salzburg into a beautiful Baroque city.
The Man in the Salt- remains of celtic miners mummified by salt were discovered in 1573 and 1616 (this is not a real man in the wall).
White Smurfs?
One of the major highlites of the salt mine was riding down these wooden slides (see Matt and I below). These were not just built for tourists' enjoyment; it was actually the safest way for miners to get around in the tunnels.
And so ended our trip to Salzburg- learning about the salt that made Salzburg what it is today!
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