The hills are alive...

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With the sound of Rachel and me! Laughing, that is - we had such a great reunion. She met me at the train station and we trolled around Old Salzburg in the rain, eating and having coffee and talking a mile a minute.
Zipping through the Austrian countryside via train was beautiful. There were low-hanging clouds and forests that are the stuff of fairytales. Coming into Salzburg I caught a glimspe of the mountains - Rach's "alpity alps" - real mountains, jagged and snow-capped and ancient-looking in the cloudy dusk.
On Friday Rachel had class, so I explored the old city on my own, enjoying the beautiful (baroque) churches, squares and elaborate fountains. I particularly enjoyed the water spouting from the statue-horses' noses, with the clipclop of horse feet from the real horses, drawing carriages right behind them. When Rachel finished with her classes we were girly-girls. Attractive european clothing + bad weather = girls on a shopping binge. We had a great time and pretended that these new purchases would help us blend in with the locals. Ha.
I met other Americans from her program - a little overwhelming to have so much English and so many Americanisms all at once! - but Rach is, as ever, well-adjusted and popular. We all went out together to an (English-speaking) Irish pub with live music, where we ended up meeting the American ski team.
Another day Rachel and I took the train out to Werfen, a small village about a 1/2 hr ride from Salzburg. We were pretty tired from our night out, so we ate bread and cheese and chocolate to keep ourselves awake, and then hauled ourselves up - through a combination of hiking, bus and vernicular - to the Eisriesenwelt, which translates to "the World of the Ice Giants." High in the mountains are the world's largest icecaves. You have to take a tour, but the best part is that there is no lighting, so you can carry a magnesium-burning lantern. The scenery is spectacular and eerie. The discoverer of the icecaves died in WWI and is now entombed within the ice. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was fabulous to get out into nature. I've been a city girl too long 😊

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Photos

that means it's healthy, right??
fuel for the road

fearless leader
lighting the way