15. Juni - Salzburg Day 2

Today we visited the Salzbergwerk Berchtesgaden, which probably means Salt Mines. For those of you who are up to date with the blog, you know that we arrived in Salzburg on Wednesday. The Salt mine was actually located in Germany so we had to travel back across the Austria-Germany border. The Salt mines were actually really cool, too. First, we had to put on these blue jumpsuits which basically made us look like we were firefighters. We proceeded through the mines, riding handleless trains and sliding down large wooden death slides. A good time was had by all. We also got to try the brine, which is another word for salt water. To our utter surprise, it tasted salty. The morning was finished by lunch in a village outside the mines.

After lunch, we bused back to Salzburg and went to a sick Spielplatz (park). There was another death slide and we had a good time flying out of the end and crashing to the ground. Afterwards we hopped on another bus and headed to the Hellbrunn Palace and the trick fountains. We toured the trick fountains with a group of about 25 ten year olds. I’m not ashamed to say that our group screamed louder than the children did when we were unexpectedly sprayed with water. The Hellbrunn Palace was home to Marcus Sittikus, prince-archbishop of Salzburg, and we enjoyed walking through the exhibits. Highlights included a room with awesome acoustics, a rotating couch that we all crashed on, and a unicorn. However, we all agreed the best part of Hellbrunn was the Spielplatz (park) that we found afterwards.

Afterwards we headed back to downtown Saltzburg for dinner at the Stieglkeller. There were some really awesome views from the restaurant and we watched the sun set over the city. Tonight is actually our last night as a group as tomorrow we will finally meet our Austausch partners. Bis später! (Cya later!)

- Lindsäy