We got ready and headed out to breakfast which was a repeat of yesterday's breakfast with the same selections. Lisa and Tim got to choose their menu for dinner ahead of time again.
We picked up the safety card and this time got the same green tour card as Lisa and Tim for the Salt Mine Tour. Our Daily Adventurers today:
The bus ride to the salt mines was about 2 hours long but we did stop for a bio break at a rest stop about half way when we reached Mondsee. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Our Guides today on the green bus was Dean and Daniel.
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| Austrian rest stop |
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| Mondsee (moon lake) |
We watched the movie "Up" on the bus on the way to the salt mines but it was hard to hear on the bus. What I was able to watch and hear, the movie was very cute as it was a movie on my to-do list that I just hadn't gotten around to yet. After another hour or so, we reached Hallein where the salt mine was.
After a brief wait, we went downstairs and were given pants and a jacket to wear in the mine.
We were taken outside and then downstairs after the obligatory group shots and it was noticeably cooler the closer we got to the entrance of the salt mines (typically the salt mines were a steady 10 degrees C or about 55 degrees F). We got on the salt mine train that we sat on straddled over the middle which took us into the salt mine at a pretty quick pace.
We walked from area to area over very rough and sometimes slippery footing which included 4 movies about the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg and 2 slides - one was about 25 meters and the other about 50 meters. Seth and I sat straddling the slide with me in front and then leaned back as we slid down the slide into the lower chamber. It was a lot of fun.
We were then taken by boat across the brine chamber which was really hard to get a good picture of because it was so dark.
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| another slide |
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| the border between Austria and Germany in the salt mine
At the end of the tour, we were given a small shaker with salt and took an escalator back upstairs to take the train back to the main station.
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I had 3 layers on under the jacket they gave us (yes, I hate being cold) - a shirt, a sweater, and a jacket which kept me nice and comfortable down in the mine. I had taken another salt mine tour in Salzburg but this salt mine tour was definitely more fun than the last one I remembered. As with most of the tours we had done so far, there is no ADA in Europe - most of what we did would have been very difficult for a person with any motor disabilities to do. They had instructed us to pretty much leave everything on the bus during the salt mine which was a good suggestion - there really wasn't a need for anything except a camera and some money. I did pick up a Salzburg magnet from the gift shop but we were also advised to wait to shop in Salzburg and we got out of the salt mine pretty quick.
We drove about 30 minutes to Salzburg where we were meeting up with the Mondsee tour group and the other salt mine tour group for a big lunch at one of the oldest restaurants in Europe. The bus dropped us off and it was a fair walk to the restaurant.
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| Salzburg fortress |
We were taken upstairs and into a large banquet room in the restaurant. It was a fixed meal served family style complete with wine which was quite good. They brought us some salads and then we had potatoes, vegetables, an a huge platter of different meats including chicken schnitzel, roasted pork, and small hamburgers.
The food was quite good. We ate leisurely and were the last ones to leave. Our guides, Daniel and Dean, had given us the option to either go on a short 30 minute guided tour or to go out and explore Salzburg on our own. They recommended that everyone do the latter as we were pressed for time. Apparently, according to the laws in Austria, ABD Guides cannot give a tour of the city without being licensed to do so. It was already well past 2 pm and we were to meet up with the group at 4 pm so we headed out, explored a beautiful cemetery, the Dome in Salzburg, and then made our way to the plaza in front of Mozart's birthplace where we found a table and patronized the local Starbuck's. I did run into a nearby store to buy some Mozart chocolate balls and also picked up a bottle of vodka for Lisa to enjoy at dinner.
We walked as a group to the Mirabell Gardens which was famous for the fountain and the stairs as seen in the Sound of Music.
A handy piece of information is that when we were done looking at the fountain and the stairs, we wandered back and found one of our guides, Dean, who gave us 50 cent Euro each to go and use the bathroom early before the rest of the group got there. It was going to be the last potty stop for the 2 hours drive back to Linz so when the rest of the tour groups got there, the line was quite long. We lounged in the shade and then eventually walked over to where our buses were.
On the ride back to Linz on the bus, we watched "Inside Out" and this time the volume was turned up a bit better so we could hear. As a really nice additional surprise (I mean, how nice was it that ABD even paid for us to use the bathroom??), our Guides had bought us all some sweets in Salzburg to try - the infamous Mozart chocolate balls and a Manner chocolate wafer bar. We ate the chocolate balls but saved the wafer bars to take home and share with the kids - what a great souvenir (we just won't tell them that we didn't buy them!).
When we returned to our stateroom, there was what we think was a cute towel bunny on our bed.
Dinner this evening was a special Chaine des Rotisseurs dinner to showcase the chef's membership in the world's oldest gastronomical society.
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| foie gras pate |
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| spinach mushroom quiche |
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| rum raisin ice cream |
Next up, Melk and Krems!
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