Slow Down Sunday

Sunday brought church and a general slow down in our activities. We had hoped to have lunch in Hallestatt but parking was impossible to find after dropping the others off to look for a cafe.
Instead Christopher and I picked everyone up and drove to Gosau for lunch.

After lunch we went swimming in the Hallestatt lake

and then played D&D until late.

Five Fingers

Charlotte had enough of hiking so she and Caroline returned to the mountain top cafe for eis (ice cream) while Claire, Christopher and I hiked down to the five fingers, a platform jutting out over the lake valley with five options for picturing the view.

On our walk back to the cafe we enjoyed watching four people parasailing on the mountain updraft, two of which are pictured behind Claire here.

If you're brave enough you can look down from a finger.

The hike back offered stunning views.

But ice cream from the cafe was picturesque as well.

Welterbespirale

A second cable car ride took us to the mountain top but not yet to the summit - that would require more hiking - but included the chance to explore a mini glacier on the way.

We all made it to the Welterbespirale, an artistic, metal platform spiral which offered a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains, valleys and lake. The spiral stairs also included signs pointing to world heritage landmarks such as Machu Picchu and the Grand Canyon with the distance to each.

Ice Cave

Our second day in Austria was dominated by cold and heights. We'd purchased the lower and middle cable car rides to take us to the ice cave and summit of the mountains above the lake. The ice cave required a steep climb from the end of the first cable car ride to the cave entrance.

We were added to a large Hungarian tour group (seen exiting the cave here),

as we mistakenly skipped the tour group assignment off the cable car but it was interesting to hear German and English spoken by the cave guide and Hungarian spoken by their party's guide.

The ice forms in the cave because of the cold air in winter chilling the cave rocks and the melting water in Spring pouring into the cave and freezing to the cold rocks.

The highlight and symbol of the cave is this ice tower which was only 5 meters tall when first discovered.

The view from the cave exit (higher than the entrance but the original entrance when discovered) is beautiful.

Our first dinner in Austria

Having established that cable car tickets cannot be purchased in advance, we returned to the house, picked up the rest of the family and drove to nearby Steeg to enjoy a dinner at the Welterbewirtshaus Steegwirt. Here we noticed that many in this town wear the traditional lederhosen for men and drindl for women (not pictured).

Selfies in Hallestatt

While the others tested their full stomachs Caroline and I stole away to check on the ice cave tour times. Returning, we made a stop in Hallestatt, across the lake and around the mountain from our rental. I admired the falls,

and Caroline admired the art (we would later but one of these chickens),

but we both adored the city.

Morning Gold

 For our first morning in Untersee we decided to explore and hunt for breakfast.

A short walk took us into the town of Au,

where we struck gold finding a backerie and shamelessly enjoyed dessert after breakfast sandwiches.

The mountains are accented by flowers in bloom everywhere and a quiet electric train that serve this idyllic valley.