Alpine

Good Evening! I have good news- there are pictures in this post! I didn't have the time to upload all the ones I couldn't upload before, but you can't have everything.

Today was one of the better days of this entire trip, because once again I encountered breathtaking beauty! Yes, it was my day trip to Hallstat, a small lakeside village in the Alps. That's all I knew about the town before I visited, and the rest I realized when I took a look at this amazing town on the water's edge.

It was about a 4 hour ride to get there with one transfer, and along the way I got a preview of what the Alps had to offer, with endless amounts of green and lush plants and lakes with dark blue water- still and reflective. The stop of Hallstat was across the lake from the actual town, which boasts less than 1000 residents, so we needed to take a shuttle boat. As we approached, we got excelent views of the town. Here I am on the shuttle:
The town was very Alpine, with it's tall spires on the churches, and the sloping roofs on houses covered in flowers. Definitely amazing. The clouds and fog today made the scenery even better, because the clouds seemed to cover the knowledge of just how big everything was, making it seem like everything was infinite.

I grabbed some lunch in the town- sausages and mustard, and then spent a couple hours walking around the small town, which surrounds a waterfall that carries fresh water from the mountain into the lake, which is named after the town. As I walked around, I found a group of floating sculptures just off the shore. This one is my favorite, and depicts the fact that everyone in Hallstat needs to be ready for drastic fluctations in the lake's shores, which can be devistating. They say that every dining table in Hallstat has a pair of rainboots on it just in case...

After getting my fill for Hallstat, I took the boat once again to the train. I had seen a stop on another lakeside village, and got off there. Walking around some more, I got even more views of this amazing region. The gigantic mountains with their sheer dropoffs go straight into the serene waters of the lake. I can't even imagine what it's like in winter...

Hopefully I will see more of this when I go to Switzerland in a couple days. Until then, I'm going to be in Munich starting tomorrow, where I hope to tour a nearby Holocaust work camp. It should be very interesting, and I can't wait for what the next 2 weeks (ya, only 2 more!) have to offer.

Until then, Stay Classy!