Today is Monday, and the stores were all open. We had another traditional, delicious Austrian breakfast – complete with ham & cheese that they slice so thin in their kitchen. We battled the wasps again but it was so nice outside to not sit on the patio. The girls finished up breakfast and played with Alexander while we got some suggestions from Herbert about where we should go. The original plan had been to drive into Germany to visit Prien, another HS & honeymoon trip destination. Instead, we decided to go to Eiswelten – the ice caves as something new. But first, a stop to Media Markt (that is not a misspelling), to buy yet another adaptor as we forgot all 10 that are in the house in London. At the Media Markt, which is similar to a Best Buy, Scott went looking for the adapters on his own while I decided to ask. But given that the store is not in a tourist location, the employee did not speak any English. It was not a problem. I pulled out the plug and showed the woman and said adapter, and she pointed me to the correct location. Problem solved. Then we were off to the ice caves.
I will preface this with I am scared of heights. To get to the entrance of the ice caves, you have to get to almost the top of the mountain. We drove a while, doing switch backs. We finally arrived at the parking and had to walk another 30 minutes and take a 3 minute funicular. And to me, it was not a very safe walk up. The path was slippery with tiny rocks. And the fences protecting you from falling off the cliff were not very secure – just 2 wooden slats with a big enough gap that someone could slip underneath. So it was very slow going up. It also did not help that it was 37C ~ 94 degrees Fahrenheit on the way up. Once we got to the entrance, we just missed the tour so we had to wait 15 minutes. So we were first in line but then a guy pushed his way up to the front to see why the gate wasn’t opened. We explained that the next tour would be in a few minutes (he spoke English) then he stayed at the front and brought the rest of his group to the front as well. I guess the queue did not apply to his family. It really wasn’t a tour where being in the back meant you didn’t see anything. When the tour guy arrived, he opened the door to the caves and a rush of very cold air poured out. As we walked into the cave, the wind was so strong we could hardly breathe or move forward. One of the women who had cut the queue stopped in the door and I finally had to shout to her to move as I was getting blown away. Inside the cave it is 0C. If anyone decides to go, I would highly recommend gloves.
The caves are amazing. They formed from the ice melting on top of the mountain. Over the years, the water trickled through cracks in the mountain into the cave and froze. There were no pictures in the cave, but here is a link to see one of the sculptures: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sportcamp.at/uploads/pics/Eiswelten_klein_05.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sportcamp.at/campsite/region_activities/en/&h=500&w=800&sz=123&tbnid=RUWdmZuPpennuM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=111&prev=/search%3Fq%3Deiswelten%2Bpictures%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=eiswelten+pictures&docid=vkFXsTtL298IZM&sa=X&ei=Je5lTu2qCub30gH22cW7Cg&ved=0CDUQ9QEwCA&dur=4499 The reason I suggested gloves is that it is 700 steps up the sides of the ice sculptures (which are all natural sculptures, not man made). It was quite steep on the stairs and we had to hold onto the metal railings, which were also 0C. So our hands were the coldest part of our bodies. The way down did not seem so steep but just long so again, we were holding onto the railings.
After the Eiswelten, we decided to head back to town to do some shopping. Unfortunately, we did not buy anything. Things were too pricey since it was a tourist area. Then we headed back to the Pension Herbert because on the first day, Herbert had recommended a restaurant not too far from the B&B. So we went there for dinner. The girls loved it because it had some play equipment – including a trampoline attached that they could play on while we waited for our food. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and saw Herbert & his wife, Rikki, sitting outside. It was a nice night so we joined them. Then I headed inside to do some work and Scott & Herbert had some Austrian beer. I finally went out at midnight to rescue Herbert who had to wake up a lot sooner than we did.
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