Germany Day 15 – Down a Salt Mine on the way to Salzburg

Another punctual start with a a 7am breakfast and 7.45am check out (but at least we didn’t get unpacked last night). I got to enjoy some croissants today, which made a nice change from white rolls.

Todays trip was by coach, while not as fun as the train, at least it meant we didn’t have to drag our luggage all over the place.
It was quite a long trip but once we left the city, we got to enjoy lots of cute country towns.

I wrote up my blog and checked some blogs. We had a stop after two hours (as required by law for our bus driver) and got some snacks.

Finally we hit the alps, which were absolutely stunning.

At 1pm we arrived at the salt mine town. It was unbelievably warm (around 23 deg).

Now this is a town I could live in. Talk about a magic setting.

We had a brief toilet break (which I was very grateful for) and then it was time for our tour of the salt mine.

We had to don these very attractive overalls.

We then got to board a train and head down into the mine. Unfortunately we couldn’t take any photos. It was a really good tour. I did get a little panicky on the train as we headed through the tunnel but I decided to just pretend it was a Disney ride and I was fine after that.

One of the best parts was getting to go down the slides. There was also a funicular ride and a raft float across a salt lake (accompanied by music and lights). We all really enjoyed the visit here.

We had time to grab a late lunch (it was 3pm) but there was nothing vegetarian. So my lunch was a choc coated icecream.

Not the healthiest but what could I do? It was then back on the bus for the short (30min or so) trip into Austria. The boarder crossing here was almost no existent. Not long after we entered Salzburg. We were all trying to get a photo of this castle up on the hill. It was proving difficult until we arrived at the youth hostel. This is the view from the front.

We were given a room on a different floor to everyone else. The only problem we got bunk beds!!! I bagsed the bottom one right away – no way am I going up a wooden ladder.

We regrouped and headed into town – which was about a 10min walk.

Another lovely town with plenty of old buildings. We were admiring all the lovely horses when the teachers invited us to join them on a carriage ride.

This was so much fun.

And we even spotted a golden.

This was a 20min ride around the city center.

When we got back I got to pat the horse. He was so hot being that it was such a warm afternoon, and having carted us all around town.

On our way back to the hotel I ended up buying a painting by a local artist. Amy also bought herself a black and white one. Hope it makes it home okay.

One last castle shot this evening.

We also stopped to buy an apple pretzel to have after dinner.

And we got the pat the golden, named Beethoven, that we’d seen earlier.

We then headed back to the hotel for dinner. I was especially pleased to find a vegetarian sign.

It’s another nice dining room.

And dinner was a delicious vegetarian pasta bake – very much like I’d make at home.

After dinner we stayed for the kids quizz and then joined the teachers for some coffee. And I got one of the best teas I’ve had this trip.

We also shared our apple pretzel and a donut pretzel (supplied by one of the other teachers). The donut pretzel was the best.

Then it was up to our room and into our bunk beds.

Tomorrow : The Sound of Music tour