Europe . Austria . Salzburg: World´s Largest Ice Caves!!!!!

Saturday, September, 23rd, 2006

Today we ventured to the world´s largest ice caves which were located in the nearby town of Werfen. It turned out to be a great way to spend our last day in Austria. We got to take the shuttle bus up the mountain, the driver drove super fast up the hill which was kind of scary but we arrived alive so that´s all that matters. These Europeans just love speed. After the shuttle bus ride we got to take a cable car to the mountain top. The cable car was shaky but really cool and pretty scary when you look up and see that only a tiny wire is holding you up and then look down at the miles of space that exist between you and the ground. We then had to walk up the mountain to the mouth of the cave, luckily we were among the youngest people there so we were zooming by the old people and feeling like we were in good shape because we weren´t huffing and puffing. It was a good self-esteem booster. :)

The guides of the ice cave gave a few select people a kerosene lamp to hold during our journey into the caves (which lasts about 75 minutes), and Tyler was lucky enough to be one of the few people selected. He just looks like an expert fire-holder. They could probably just look at me and tell that I´m too clumsy to handle the responsibility. The caves really were gigantic and it was pretty exhausting walking to the top but they were amazing to see. They were our favourite site out of everything we´ve seen so far. The ice formations covered at least half of the cave´s surface area and everything was cold, smooth and drippy. Our tour guide kept disappearing behind ice formations and then reappearing way up high (I think there were secret passages in there that they use) but it was amazing seeing him just appear out of nowhere and lighting some magnesium so all the ice glowed a brilliant blue.

So yeah, the ice caves in Werfen are the coolest. You should all go. :)

We took the train to Venice after the ice caves and arrived late at night. We missed our last shuttle bus to our campsite so again we had to find "alternate sleeping arrangements" but we had a good night´s sleep.

-Jenny the master typer, even on messed up European keyboards-