Day 46: Mountains and Ice Caves

This morning five of us (the teenaged boys kept sleeping) went up the Schmittenhohe mountain to enjoy the views and morning tea.  The 360 degree views of the Alps are breathtaking. We also saw people paragliding off the top of the mountain (not us!).

Then, we came back down and packed up our things in the van and headed towards Salzburg.  After the usual u-turn at one point we drove part way up the mountain to the Eisriesenwelt caves and stopped for lunch with a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains and the SchlossWerfen just across the valley.

Then, we drove to the parking area and hiked up the mountain, then rode the cable car, then biked farther up the mountain to the ice caves. The ice cave tour (in English) took just over an hour and involved nearly 800 steps up (and then down). It was very cold inside (below freezing in some areas) so we layered on more clothes at the cave entrance. It was fascinating.

Afterwards, we drove 3.5 hours to Vienna, arriving in the dark to the Marriott Vienna, which is a very good location across from the Stadtpark and only a few blocks from the old city center and St Stephen's Cathedral, etc. In fact, we were next door to Palais Coburg and the Iran nuke talks to the place was crawling with press and police.

We collapsed in our rooms after a very late dinner in Champs.