Sunday in Hallstatt
In my usual A DAY LATE A DOLLAR SHORT style, I am writing on Monday morning. I will start by bringing you up to date on what is happening today since I am not sure when I will next have internet.
As usual we were up early. I have finished all my Austria books and last night I finished Orphan Train, reading very late into the night. It is a gripping although somewhat predictable book. Breakfast did not start until 7:30 and we were dressed and packed by 7:00. We went for a walk and found the market was open. We bought bread, cheese, and salami for the train ride. Now I have had breakfast and my American version of enough coffee. We have to beg for the second cup. I am out on the porch enjoying the sun. It looks like we are headed into a rainy week in Salzburg. We will buy still another umbrella and hope the purchase chases away the rain. We will need to take the boat to the train and I think we change trains before we get to our next stop.
A little more about our hotel. Although we wake ourselves up when ever we turn over because of the squeaking bed, we hear nothing from other rooms. Neal is getting better at opening our door with the funny old key. Of course there are no screens on the windows but we have been sleeping with the porch door wide open and have had no bug problems. So far, I would say the biggest problems in the two hotels, not the apartment, have been tiny and I really mean tiny bars of soap and water glasses. You would think little tiny beings were renting these rooms. Shower drains also run very slow. On the other hand, the water pressure has always been amazing and there is plenty of hot water.
When I shop for my container plants, is that really next week end? I will buy lots of red geraniums in honor of this porch.
So now for yesterday’s adventures. As usual we did a lot of walking. We wanted to ride the funicular up to the salt mine but not do the tour. Our Rick Steves book said where to get the tickets so we were off. I clearly heard Neal ask for two tickets to ride the funicular. Our tickets said our new favorite German word, schifffahrt. I am not kidding. Vowels are hard to find around here. We don’t exactly know what this word means but it does not mean fernicula. We asked someone and they were as confused as we were. We ended up getting on the boat and touring around the lake. Most of the tour was in German. There was a little English but that was the time for all the Germans around us to chat so we could not hear it. I am thinking that schiff means boat?
We went to the big sausage place under a giant tent for lunch. This place has been packed every time we pass it. The same guy is always working there. The food was inexpensive and pretty darn good.
We headed home for a short nap and then were out to walk again. This time we asked about how to find the funicular. We were told to follow the signs to the salt mine. They were huge. We felt just a little stupid. We found the ticket booth and we were the only ones on the trip up. I ran in place so I could say I ran up the mountain. Aren’t I clever? Of course we then had to climb the usual hundred steps to the little restaurant where we had a snack and sat for a while enjoying the view.
I think we actually took another short nap once we got home. Maybe two naps could have helped keep me awake so late?
We left for our usual walk before consuming more food. Neal made the big mistake of taking me into a dress shop called Tara, I might have that name wrong and I will correct it later if I do. I bought a dress and jacket for Zachary’s wedding in August. For those of you who don’t know me well, Zachary is our oldest grandson. The store is owned by a woman named Sharron Gold and she was very interesting. She is English and has lived here for ten years. Her store was lovely and this woman knew how to sell. The dress is stunning. Michelle, if you are reading this, you can borrow it.
We ate outside on the lake again. They were out of fish. We have come to the lake fish capital of the universe and they have always been out of fish by the time we eat. I guess we are eting later than people usually do. And we don’t eat that late.
After dinner we walked again for a while and stopped for a night cap in a funky little bar called Ruth Zimmerman’s. There is not a lot of night life here but this little place was hopping with locals.
We walked a little more, made it past 12,000 steps and headed back to our room.