The Events of Wednesday, July 6, 2011

                Savoring the last few seconds in my lovely bed, I was reluctant to get up this morning. Soon, however, I joined the morning madness of preparing for departure. One problem delayed our journey—still no hot water. That meant no hot water for showers and no hot water for washing dishes. We managed to make do, but soon there was a parade of people tramping through our apartment. Gas workers, cleaners, and the apartment owner (delivering some compensation for our inconvenience) all came through. We were glad to leave the chaos behind.

                Once we were on the freeway, we eagerly began reading, blogging, and listening to music. The scenery consisted mostly of flat, green fields with an occasional windmill. From the autobahn, we saw the not-so-blue Danube (it was more a brownish-green) and the town of Melk with its huge church and abbey. Suddenly, we entered the Austrian Alps. No one location in the States can compare with this area's scenery. These mountains had the steepness of the Rockies and the sharp, snow-covered tips of the North Cascades in Washington. Clear, cold rivers flowed by the road like the Truckee in Tahoe, and large, still lakes fill mountain valleys like Jackson Lake in the Tetons. It was spectacularly awesome. And, when we exited the autobahn, the road was as curvy (if not more) than Lombard Street.

    Winding along on the back roads, we passed tranquil lakes and quaint villages in the Salzkammergut, Austria's Lake District. To experience these lakeside towns, we headed to the "best": Hallstatt. The road to Hallstatt tunneled through the cliffs above the lake, Hallstattsee, before it dumped us in the town. Lindsey, our tour guide, wanted to park at a train station on the other side of the lake and take a boat across, so we headed around to the other side. When we were a mile and a half from the station, we encountered a problem. The road turned into a bike path at that point, so we would have to walk a mile and a half to the boat dock at the train station. After a quick debate, we decided on Plan B: it would be best to drive back around Hallstattsee and park in Hallstatt. On the drive back to town, we stopped at a lakeside park for lunch. Shaded by bushy trees, we enjoyed a great lunch by, as Lindsey called it, a God-fearing lake. We even enjoyed entertainment from cute Austrian toddlers playing nearby, and parasailing maniacs swooping, spiraling, and soaring high above the lake.

    After lunch, we continued our lakeside drive into Hallstatt and parked just outside the town. As we walked in, Lindsey gave us a "brief history of Hallstatt" lecture. The lakeside town was founded centuries before Rome. It grew prosperous from salt (very important for preserving meat), which was mined from the mountains above the town. People have actually been leaching salt from the mountain since Bronze Age times, 3500 years ago. The town grew, and grew prosperous, until it had a whopping population of 2,000 (twice its present population). In addition to salt, the citizens built mills on a stream to grind grain. In 1750, a fire leveled part of the town. Luckily, the rebuilt village avoided destruction in World War II. Now, it remains a perfectly preserved gem for us to enjoy.

    Since we didn't experience a boat ride earlier, Lindsey wanted us to have some fun on Hallstattsee. We decided to rent boats. Walking a little further along the shore, we found a small boat rental shop. No one boat would fit six, so we decided to rent two: one paddleboat and one rowboat. Caitlin, Lindsey, and Abby rode the paddleboat, and Dad and I (Ben) rowed Mom around in the rowboat. The girls took turns in the different seats of paddling, steering, and simply relaxing in the sunshine on the back. I loved my first experience rowing; it was hard work, but really fun.

    In our hour-long boat rental, we made our own boat tour of the lake. We crossed the lake to a small castle, floated along the shore to the boat dock at the train station, and then headed out to what Lindsey called the "wilderness-y" area in the middle of the lake. To return, we went back along the Hallstatt shore while Lindsey read to us about other city highlights. Exhausted from the long trip, we returned our boats. It was time to head back to the car, but we decided to take a different route back. Instead of heading along the lakefront, we hiked up a side street to the other street in town. Here, we finally understood a unique feature of these houses. Their lowest floor has a door opening to the lower street on the lake level. The top level has a door opening to the high street we where we were walking.

    We arrived back at the car and headed on toward our lodging for tonight. Since neither of our two GPS's could find the exact address or even the right town, we had to pull out the map. Mom, our skillful navigator, pointed us in the right direction. After several curvy, steep back roads, a short stint on the autobahn, and more back roads, we arrived at Mühlbach am Hochkonig. We drove into the bottom of a huge valley. Since we didn't have exact instructions, we had to look around a bit to find our apartment. Following signs, we climbed an extremely steep road with hairpin turns, and we eventually found our lodging: Appartmenthaus Sonneblick-Hochkonig. Our apartment, Apartment Hansel, is one of several flats in the building. We met our host, Harry, who showed us our small flat.

    Two bedrooms, a small bathroom, a small dining nook, and a small kitchen make up our small apartment. Despite its smallness, the surrounding scenery is stunning. Above us, the mountain Hochkonig rises above the green fields. The valley below is full of other houses (most of which are other rental properties) with flowerboxes overflowing. Once we moved in, Dad and Abby headed upstairs to the open grill to cook our huge sausages and fry our potatoes. They made a great dinner, which we enjoyed before we headed to bed.