July 19-20: Vienna to Salzburg; Werfen (day trip from Salzburg)
The nineteenth was a transit day, from Vienna to Salzburg. We got out of town later than expected (which was expected) after we found a laundromat further outside the city center, where it was boiling hot inside and we accidentally boiled our clothes (well, close to; the water was 90*C), but they seemed to make it out with minimal wear. The train ride itself was uneventful, and rather beautiful as we moved from the gentle hills of Lower Austria to the more mountainous Upper Austria, the latter of which I was especially excited about seeing. The weather was also improving, getting more cloudy, which I hoped was a trend that would stay for a few days (it hasn’t). Incidentally it flooded in LA about this time; as soon as I leave California, it finally rains. Anyway, there was a sunshower in Salzburg when we emerged from the train station, which was a most welcome change.
The twentieth, Monday, we took a day trip to Werfen to visit the ice caves and Hohenwerfen Castle. We went deeper into the Salzburg mountains for this, which was beautiful, missed our train stop, which was annoying, and made it to the Werfen train station just as the shuttle to the shuttle to the ice caves (no, that is not a typo) was about to leave.
Hohenwerfen and the mountains from Werfen city center.
The bus ride itself up the winding mountain trail was about as enjoyable as I expected, even having taken my medication, but I felt better once we started walking. It was, indeed, a lot of walking to get to the ice caves, but a stunningly beautiful walk.
Werfen from the lower part of the ascent.
Small shack in the woods.
We took a tunnel through part of the mountain. It was cool and damp and lovely and generally someplace I’d like to stay, with a good breeze, but we had to remerge into the sun.
Mike was with me, so I actually have pictures of myself this time.
Onward.
A gorge.
Do you have a bomb?
A little more of a walk to the lift, which we took for the sake of time (3min vs 90min estimated), and then another 20 or so minute walk to the caves themselves:
High enough for the mists to catch.
The covered path on the final leg of the climb.
At some point Mike pointed out that we were going somewhere called the “ice caves” and neither of us had a jacket. This didn’t much concern me as I know what zero Celsius feels like and it’s not so bad in a T-shirt, especially if you’re doing a lot of climbing, but I guess I should have thought to at least recommend one to him. As we got to the mouth of the cave, which was pleasantly cool, I was steaming profusely, which was impossible to catch on camera, and everybody else was changing into winter gear. Really, we were the only ones not in coats. I asked him if he wanted to back out (I did not, as we had made it that fucking far and I wanted to see the damn ice caves). I think his curiosity got the better of him too and he wanted to see me get my comeuppance and freeze, so into the cave we went.
It was an impressive blast of air when the guide opened the door to the cave, given the heat of the air outside. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the cave. They probably would not have turned out as the only light came from hand-lanterns (candle wick, not electric or fluorescent) and occasionally a brighter-burning wick the guide lit when he stopped to talk to us. But the cave was absolutely magnificent, solid ice in stalagmites and flows and hills and formation. It was an hour tour with a great deal of climbing all the way to the back of the cave, and while toward the end a lot of people in parkas were shivering and stamping, I felt perfectly fine except my fingers had gone a bit sore from the cold. Mike did well, too, even though he was only in a collared shirt, which is surprising as he is a creature of warmth and has no padding to speak of. I vastly preferred the cool and dark to the bright sun and heat, anyway.
The descent was considerably easier, as would be expected, which was welcome as by this point it was midday. The bus ride down the mountain was no better but once I had recovered back in town we found an Italian place for lunch. We had both worked up an appetite and were quite hot again. The waiter mistook my request for orange juice and water for watered-down orange juice, but other than that, it was a good meal.
We then went in search of the lift to Hohenwerfen Castle, and finally found it up the freeway a little. The castle itself is lovely and old but it’s been done up a little too much like the Renaissance Faire to my taste. I saw several of the same people I had seen on the ice caves tour. I went through the armory exhibit and walked around a little while until the bird of prey show. I love raptors, gorgeous creatures that they are, but it was very hard to get any clear pictures as everybody in front of me was also holding up their phones to get pictures. I was getting irritable at the crowds at this point, but more on that hypocrisy later. I knew I wouldn’t get good in-flight pictures, as the birds moved so quickly, so I just enjoyed the show.
I joined the last guided tour of the day, the only way one can see the inside of the castle. I generally prefer to go by myself with an audioguide if possible as I dislike groups but in this case even if you took the audio guide, you went with the group. The guide was giving the tour live in German, so it was difficult to hear my own English guide, and I am short and rather passive when it comes to asking for people to move so I can see something, so it was frustrating. At one point some other Americans got loud and disruptive enough that the guide chastised them, and I felt a great degree of secondhand embarrassment.
I feel odd in tour groups. I realize I with my iPhone taking photographs am absolutely no different from anybody else in the group, but I get irritated with pushy stodgy tourists holding up their phones to snap loud photos and move as a huge mass. The narcissistic part of me wonders if they even take the time to appreciate the significance of what they are seeing-a castle almost 1,000 years old-but there isn’t time and space for any one person to do that, really. You almost have to take a picture to even have time to contemplate it later. I start to feel like part of an undifferentiated mass of consumer tourism and therefore quite depressed, especially because I know that I am no different.
Pictured: everybody on a group tour.
The bell, and the view from the bell tower.
Descending on the gondola.
There was no bus from the castle to the train station, so we had another long walk ahead of us, although the sun was going down.
A garden on the way to the train station.
The river by Werfen.
We got back to Salzburg around 8:30, had dinner close to the hotel, and crashed.