After a long and tiresome day of travel, we are now in the tiny ancient town of Hallstatt. It sits on a small trip of land, squeezed between a beautiful swan populated lake and a sheer, forested mountain. We feel like we are in the most beautiful place on earth and we are so excited! But there's just one problem....
It's dumping snow.
Thick, slushy snow. We've come halfway around the world, spent half the money in our bank account, and we can only see halfway up the beautiful peaks. I know they are amazing up there in the clouds somewhere... So, we have been inside a whole lot waiting to get up enough guts to stick our feet into our cold, soaked shoes and try to see what's out there behind the blanket of falling flakes. I did manage to get a short glimpse of the huge mountains as I was trudging my way home from the grocery store. But when I got home to tell Sean to go outside and see the view, it was too late.
We have a really nice apartment though! We totally love it here and our landlords are very nice and non-interfering.
I love knowing that I am in such a history-rich village! Cool facts about Hallstatt:
- Some of Hallstatt's oldest archaeological finds date back to around 5500 BC
- In the year 1311, it became known as a market town
- Hallstatt has a salt mine (the life-blood of the town) with huge wooden slides inside that the salt miners used to get around quickly in the mines. And we get to go slide on them!
I remember specifically thinking as we were riding the ferry boat across the lake to get here, "Man - this place is in the middle of no-where! We might be the only people from Utah to ever even come here..." Then at dinner last night, we met a family from Oakley, Utah! After talking for a minute, we learned that they are friends and ward members with a family we know there (the Sorensens'). It is a small world after all!
Well, hopefully I'll have a chance to get some pictures of this incredible place, even if they are snow-filled. Until then, you can look up pictures on Google images and imagine Peter running around in the fields :)
Catherine, such an amazing place! Even in the slush :-) Go buy some rubber boots and run through the fields anyway! That way you won't feel cheated, and it's a drop in the bucket compared to what you've spent to get there.
ReplyDeleteWe laughed out loud when we read about the Oakley family. Small world!
We love and miss you. And check your blog every single day.
That is totally crazy that you ran into the Sorensen's in such a remote spot - probably Scott's brother's family?! That's just too funny! I'll have to call Pat and tell her about it. We just saw them at a wedding reception for Susie Baird and Matt Routt last Sat. The sky will clear and the mountain peaks will be visible and spectacular. . . the sun will come out tomorrow! Love you all, Mom
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