A trip to the mountains

We are spending the week in a small mountain village near Marisa's relative (most of you know Marisa's mom is from Vienna). The town is called Langwies and it is in the beautiful area called the Salzkammergut. Salt has been mined here for thousands of years.

Yesterday we took two rides up into the mountains. One was a cog rail up a mountain side to the earliest salt mine yet discovered, in Hallstatt. Hallstatt is actually the name given to a civilization, some 3,000 years old. Up high in the clefts of the mountains people lived a hard life in places where the sun appears for only 1/2 the year. Yet, they had trading relations with Africa and the Baltic.

Later, joined by our Austrian relatives, we took a cable car up the side of the Dachstein massif, to go to the Giant Ice Caves, situated under the Dachstein glacier. It was amazing. Some of the "rooms" we walked in were the size of churches. All at freezing temperature, or below. We wanted to go up the second cable car, to the top; there is an observation deck that juts out from the top, called the Five Fingers, but, it was snowing.... we wouldn't have been able to see anything. Maybe next sabattical...

Tomorow I hope to stop by Steinbach am Attersee, which is just on the other side of the mountains we are staying at (www.therestisnoise.com/2005/08/mahler_on_the_b.html).

Later, I'll post about the Berlin concert I went to on Sunday, I already posted the pics.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pics:

1. Us at the exit of the Ice Cave.

2. Us and the Austrians.

3. The view from the exit of the Ice Cave. Imagine skiing all that...

4+5. Ben and Lucas, appropriately respectful in the presence of a 3,000 year old body... (the exhibit was of the ceremonial burial practices of the Hallstätter people.