We left for our trip to Hallstatt and Salzburg on Wednesday morning. Before going to Hallstatt though, we stopped at the Mauthausen Memorial, which is where one of many concentration camps was. This particular camp was quite large and for some time had the harshest conditions of confinement. It's hard for me to describe very much about my visit here because it was just such a somber experience and truly unbelievable what so many people went through. It was always a hard topic to learn about in school but actually being there and imagining how many people were treated so poorly there years ago was a solemn and grieve experience.
We arrived in Hallstatt a little after lunch time and had the rest of the day free. As soon as we got off of the bus, the view was incredible. Hallstatt is gorgeous! We were able to walk up many sets of stairs to see a waterfall and saw a beautiful view of the town and lake. We also went to a few churches. The first one was a Lutheran Church where I am going to play an organ recital in August, I'm so excited! It is a beautiful church. We then went to the Catholic Church where they have a lovingly cared for cemetery. They also have the Hallstatt Beinhaus (Bone House), also known as the Charnel House. It is a small building that has 1,200 skulls and many bones. The skulls are painted with different images that represent the person and their family. We had dinner at a cute restaurant right next to the lake and then played on one of the best playgrounds I've ever seen. European playgrounds > American playgrounds. Every time. After it got dark we all jumped in the freezing cold lake for a polar bear swim! So so cold but definitely worth it! We even attracted a crowd of local teens who thought we were crazy at first but then all of the sudden were jumping in with us!
We started the next day by attending Frohnleichnam mass at the Catholic church in Hallstatt. I've been to a few masses before but it was especially interesting because this one was in German. Right after the mass was over we went down to get on a boat. I forgot to mention, it was a huge religious holiday here so there were many people in their tradition clothing and so many small boats were out on the lake in celebration. The boat ride was really fun and the scenery was to die for. I think Hallstatt is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. When our boat ride was over I met with some family friends of ours, Wiglef and Edith. Wiglef was an exchange student and went to high school in the states with my dad and they've stayed good friends ever since. It was so fun to spend some time with them and I will get to see them a lot more in a couple months. We ended our time in Hallstatt with a tour of the infamous salt mines. It was super fun! We got to ride down some awesome slides that the workers used to use to get around the mine quickly and then took a sweet train on the way out. It was so neat to learn about the salt mines and the different stories that they have discovered. The salt there actually used to be referred to as white gold because it was worth so much, particularly because it's found to be such a good preservative. We waved goodbye to Hallstatt and made our way towards Salzburg. We had a nice group dinner when we got there and walked around the town a bit.
We had an awesome tour of Salzburg the next morning, there's a lot of history there. One of my favorite places was the Kollegiankirche (The University of Salzburg Church) which is a beautiful church from the outside but especially charming on the inside. Unlike other churches we visited, the interior of this one was all white which I thought gave it a calm and unique feel. After our tour was over, some of us went shopping. Not just any kind of shopping though, we went Dirndl shopping! It was so fun and I'm in love with the Dirndl I got. The store was called Hanna so it was perfect and the ladies who work there are really sweet. After a few of us made our purchases, we went up to Fortress Hohensalzburg, the view was incredible. That evening we went to a music festival dressed in our Dirndls and got dinner on the town.
Before heading back to Vienna today we made a stop at the Hellbrunn Palace & Trick Fountains. This place is awesome. Archbishop Marcus Sittikus enjoyed making water fountains that were out of sight and would surprise guests at different times and get them wet! Of course, going through Hellbrunn today we all got really wet. Also here is the Gazebo from The Sound of Music, where Liesl and Rolf dance, and 16 going 17 is sung! We returned safely to Vienna this evening after an amazing Ausflug.
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