Austria: Oct. 16 - 20

Salzburg: Tuesday October 18, 2005

The night before we had decided we would use up one of our train travel days to head into the mountains. The destination was the town of Werfen with its famous ice caves, Eisriesenwelt. Having decided that it was necessary to be absolutely the first ones there Brian got the family up early again and we caught the first train out. As we walked off the train an hour later, there was a shuttle bus waiting to take us up to the trail head. Brian was loving this Austrian efficiency.

It was a nice drive 6 km up a very twisty mountain road to the parking lot. From there it was a 20-30 minute walk up through the forests to the base of the Gondola where we would purchase our tickets. It was only 1-2 C so it was a brisk walk. Brian tried to suggest that they save some money and pass on the 4 minute Gondola ride and opt for the 90 minute hike up the hill instead. This suggestion didn’t go over very well so up we went (the first ones of the day). At the top of the Gondola was a small restaurant and overlook of Werfen and its famous castle, Hohenwerfen. The cave entrance was another 20-30 minute hike up the mountain. We got there (first) and enjoyed a few minutes hanging around the cave entrance. The Eisriesenwelt Caves are the largest ice caves in the world. Spring and summer melt add to the ice already in the caves. There are no electric lights and tours are guided with small hand held oil lamps and magnesium flares. It can be pretty windy as the cold air rushes down to the cave entrance at speeds of up to 100 km per hour.

The benefit of getting up early was that there was just us and the guide so we ended up with a private tour. The tour was fabulous. The ice was almost transparent in places and we hiked up the 700 steps to the top of the caves. To put things in perspective the ice sheets / cave were taller than either St. Paul’s or St. Peter’s Cathedrals. The formations and tunnels through the ice were fascinating and bizarre. This was definitely a big highlight.

We exited about an hour later. The only person to fall during the walk was Brian who managed to slip and land on his butt when he was around 15 steps from the exit. Nothing hurt but his pride. From there it was down to the restaurant for a hot chocolate and some delicious apple strudel. It was some of the best we had ever had, and even Sierra liked it. When we drove up, the bus driver indicated the return would be at noon. Wandering around we found a schedule the indicated the departure would be 12.45. Figuring something was lost in translation we thought we would hike the road down to town on our own instead. At 11:55 we were passed by the bus heading up. Nothing was lost in translation. We kept heading down and managed to hop a ride from the bus on his downward trip. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wandering around the town and snapping pictures of the Hohenwerfen castle that sat up on the ridge above town.

After just missing the train back to town, we had a 30 minute wait for the next one. It was a pleasant day however so it wasn’t a problem. Arriving back in Salzburg around 2:00, it was time to get the kids fed. A quick stop at the grocery store and we had some sandwich materials which did the trick. The plan for the afternoon came together which seemed only slightly unfair. The kids got to stay in the apartment and do homework or play game boy. Debbie had her heart set on taking a picture of the Salzburg Castle, but from the back. Brian had to accompany her since he “promised” it the day earlier when she wanted to hop off the bus to take it coming back from the zoo and he vetoed it in favor of getting back before the market closed.

Things can certainly come back to haunt a person. The “walk” entailed walking to old town, going around the citadel and exiting town to the west out by the zoo which we had taken the bus to the day before. Approximately 90 minutes later we had walked around the mountain and were standing on a street looking onto the back of the castle and the cabbage fields below it. In order to get the “perfect picture” we had to wander into the fields. Standing alone in the middle of the fields below the castle is a small stone house where the Warden of the Royal Cabbage Patch used to live. It was his responsibility to guard the cabbages.

Now standing in the middle of the field in front of the Royal Cabbage Patch house you would think everything was finally perfect. It was then that Brian noticed the odor. It was a surprisingly strong odor of horse shit and it seemed to be coming from all around them. Turns out that the farmers had covered the fields that morning with liquid horse fertilizer and here we were standing like two dorky tourists hundreds of yards into the middle of it all.

A quick exit ensued with a lot of grumbling from Brian about sore feet and stupid pictures. Rather than go all the way back around the town and the castle, Brian spotted a trail leading up and over the castle hill. Well he finally got to do the climb up to the castle he wanted as we went up and over, emerging on the other side right in the middle of old town. It was certainly shorter.

As we headed back to the apartment, we stopped by the Sacher Hotel in Salzburg. It was the sister hotel to the famous Vienna one where the Sacher Torte was developed. This is supposed to be Top of the Top, the Crème de la Crème of the world’s chocolate cakes. Brian had doubts that this was an establishment we could cash and carry from and was actually hoping we could get away without spending 6 Euro on a piece of cake regardless of how famous it was. Turned out that Brian was wrong. Not only could we get cash and carry pieces we could get whole cakes… Cake in hand and having spent considerably more than 6 Euro, we headed off home where we had planned a home made dinner. Sacher Torte and Chili. Sounds like a unique combination.

In actual fact the Torte itself was somewhat dry; only “ok”. Anybody that has had one of Debbie’s chocolate cakes would be hard pressed to rate the Sacher Torte higher. Tomorrow it’s off to Wien ( Vienna). ( NEXT PAGE )