Hallstatt, nature's wonder

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March 19th 2013

Published: March 20th 2013

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TeoYongSheng

Taking a shot

“The thing about travelling is that you will never get bored of the things you see, because they are always different, no matter how similar they can be.” The phrase just rung in my head as we admired the beauty of Hallstatt from across the lake, when Steph and I first disembarked from the train. I thought I saw sceneries familiar to this, perhaps in Halong Bay or somewhere else, but Hallstatt’s landscape just blew me off completely. The houses stack upon each other on the mountains, seemingly symbolizing humans’ touch encroaching nature. The immensely clear lake reflects off the houses along the lakeside, giving them a symmetrical paint-like image in the waters. The snow-capped mountains at the backdrop add the final touch to the picture-perfect scenery that is ever so breathtaking. Wow in exclamation. We just couldn’t resist the urge to take multiple shots from the same spot, because the more photos we took, the more we want to take them! Nature’s wonders, we concurred.

Besides the scenery, Hallstatt is also a much-anticipated trip as it’s Steph’s and my first ‘holiday’ together away from Vienna or UK, a start to our 2 weeks journey around Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

Mountains as the backdrop

We had a good first day exploring the small town, walking through the main street (though most shops were closed on the Sunday), hiking up the hills and enjoying the view from above. The feeling was just comfortable, being able to explore the place that has few tourists around. Yes, it is unlike the major cities flooded with people crowding out major attractions. And of course, having the right company helps too J We settled for dinner at an Italian restaurant, the only shop to be opened that evening, before resting early as we headed straight for Gosau (just 15 minutes away by bus) the next day for the most exciting activity yet.

Our first (actually her second) attempt at Skiing! The experience was initially hilarious, as we struggle to put on our ski equipment and tried skiing on the flat ground with great difficulties. And we actually bought the entrance tickets to the ski lift up to the steep slopes, meant for the seasoned! Fortunately for us, the counter lady saw us struggling outside (yeah, people were watching us all this while) and kindly refunded us, directly us to the learning slopes instead, where it’s free! We were

Into the lake!

all so excited to do some ski tricks (nah, just dreaming), as we moved to the learning slopes at crawling pace. Well, apparently, we were the only 2 big kids around with the other participants’ heights close to my waistline. Pretty interesting to have young compatriots, learning how to ski! Up the slopes we went as we prepared ourselves for the first ski down. Though the actual steepness was approximately 15 degrees, it seemed as though it’s like 75. No kidding! Not surprisingly, we both fell at our first attempt, to the laughs of kids around us. Haha. It’s honestly pretty funny. Slowly, we mirrored the actions of trainers on the ground and managed to find our balance and figured out the basics of steering in the right directions and stopping. And before long, we were experts (in our own rights)! haha. Confidence took over, and we did try taller and slightly steeper slopes and had a great time swooshing down, sometimes even faster than those kiddos! A really fun and exciting experience, admiring the beautiful mountains surrounding us at the same time, and not forgetting, having our hearts melting just by looking at those little kiddos and toddlers having