Königsee, Germany

On Sunday morning we went to church in Salzburg (which was fun because it was all in German.)

Then we drove to Königsee, Germany to take a family walk around the lake.  It was absolutely GORGEOUS there.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

After our walk, we piled back in the van & headed home.  What a wonderful weekend together as a family making amazing memories.

 

Sommerrodelbahn Keltenblitz

After we finished at the salt mine, we saw a little sign that said "rodelbahn 1 meter."

We LOVE rodelbahns so we decided to add the stop to our day & drove until we found some chair lifts. This rodelbahn was a little pricier than the ones we usually do, but since it was in the alps, we decided to do it. We got in these rickety old chair lifts that weren't even securely closed (we could fall out EASILY) & started up the mountain.

I'm not scared of heights, but Trek is! As we started going up I realized it was pretty high & steep, but not terrible. But let me tell you, it just kept going. There didn't seem to be an end. I looked back at Trek in the chair behind mine & he was shaking. I kept yelling, "We're almost at the top!" We finally reached the threshold only to realize we were only HALFWAY UP THE MOUNTAIN!!! Even I was shaking by the time we actually reached the very tip top of that mountain (in the alps) & I don't get scared easily. All the kids were near tears which was kind of funny & scary at the same time.

The rodelbahn was from the topmost tip of the mountain peak to the bottom of the mountain. IT WAS AMAZING. BEST RODELBAHN EVER!!! There were steep drops over cliffsides, there were fast curves & tilts. It was a TOTAL ADVENTURE & I'm SO glad we were brave enough to do it.

 

Salzburg - Salzwelten Salt Mines

One of the coolest things we did in Salzburg were the Salzwelten Salt Mines.

https://www.salzwelten.at/en/salzburg

We thought the kids would think it was boring, but it was SO MUCH FUN.  It was one of the highlights of our trip.

First they give us mining clothes to change into.  The kids thought we all looked like oompa loompas.

Then they put us on a train with our tour guide & took us 250 meters into the mountain (& 150 meters below the surface.)

It was amazing.  You could see the salt inside the bedrock.  It was beautiful & glimmered like diamonds.  Who knew salt could be so pretty?

There was a huge display of salt everywhere you turned.  The kids got a kick out of it.

As we walked deeper into the mountain, we got to cross from Austria into Germany while 150 meters below the surface.

One way they pull the salt from the bedrock is by mining huge caverns into the bedrock, filling it with water (like a man-made lake) & letting the salt dissolve into the water.  They then flush the water through a piping system out of the mine & into the salt factory.  There were several HUGE salt lakes in the mine.  We actually got to get on a boat & float across one of the lakes as part of the tour.  It was HUGE.

These are the pipes they use to fill those caverns with water to dissolve the salt, & then pull the salt brine back out of the cavern to pump to the nearby factories.

The highlight of the tour were the slides.  We had to go down to the lower levels, but the only way down was by using the miners slides.  They took you down several floors/levels very quickly.  They were steep & took your breath away, but we loved them.

They also let us all taste the salt brine from the lakes.  It was SO SO SO salty.  It was fun to see everyone's faces as they tasted it.

There have also been 2 mummies found in this particular salt mine.  Because of the salt content in the bedrock, the bodies of the dead were completely mummified & in really great condition when they were found.  (This isn't a real mummy, the real mummies have been removed). It's amazing the preservation salt can do.

At the end of our tour we got to sign the wall of the salt mine to show we'd been there.  The kids loved that.

I guess they took pictures of us going down the slides.  I forget that Taya absolutely hates slides, drops, & anything fast.  This picture was PRICELESS!!  Good for her for going down, even if she was absolutely terrified the entire time.

On our way out, the kids got to say hello to Sally the Salt Mine duck.

 This was a great tour.  I'm SO glad we decided to do it.