Hallstatt and Austrian country

On Tuesday, we took a little break from trains, cities, castles and so on to catch up on sleep and do some local exploring. Davis' step-mom is from a small village named Vocklamarkt near to Salzburg. We stayed with his step-great aunt and spent time more time with Gerhart, who kindly drove us around for the afternoon.

After some coffee and hardy bread smothered in butter, Davis and I explored Vocklamarkt for a bit. Davis had spent several weeks during the summer while in high school here. He remembered parts of it and had interesting stories to go along with being a teenager running amok back in the day.

too cute, couldn't help myself

old protestant church on the hill

view from the hill, isn't it lovely? the catholic church is the center of town

so glad he puts up with all my walking (and other nonsense)

Davis' favorite goulash made by Gerhart

In true Davis-hobbit fashion, after our exploring Davis had a second breakfast of goulash. He claims it is the best in the world. Try as he does, he cannot replicate it's awesomeness. Shortly after, Gerhart came to drive us around. There was a lot of silly road construction in the area. We were going to see more of the Austrian Lake District, Salzkammergut, but made it only to Hallstatt and Attersee. It was fantastically gorgeous! And more reason to return, which our hosts insisted we do so.

so popular is Hallstatt, they put in parking lots with nice views

Hallstatt is a tiny little mining town (and maybe fishing too?) tucked around the rim of a glacier lake. It's popularity has exponentially grown as of recent. Probably due to Rick Steves, which I will have more to say about that later. So funny though to see people consulting Rick Steves guide books for every step they took, including for choosing ice cream flavors. But it doesn't explain the sheer volume of Chinese and Japanese tourist. In fact, Hallstatt is so popular to the Chinese people, they built an identical town in China. If you don't believe me, google it.

it was like disney world. but way better. and they didn't charge 10 bucks for a drink.

freaking cute. and a little crazy.

center of town

Of course we walked around a lot. Way back when Davis and I were dating, we took a trip with his cousin to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. It too has glacial lakes, very pretty as well. Davis told me about Hallstatt way back then and told me he would take me there one day.  And he did.

view from the cemetery

The thing he remembers most of Hallstatt is the bones. Because ground space was so limited, everyone who could afford to be buried was only allowed a certain span of time in the cemetery before they were dug up. A nice fellow decorated the skulls and kept them with the femurs in this little room. So, we saw the bones.

send us your bones

Then went for a refreshing beverage lake side before heading to back towards Attersee for dinner.

proof we were there. not just stealing images from the internet

how'd you get to be so fine?

stop being so cute, Hallstatt

we played golf too (jk)  just stopped there to look about

could have stayed right there all week

This is the view we enjoyed at dinner. Davis and I both the most delicious buttery fish we have ever put in our faces complimented by beer and a fantastic view. Seriously, it was ridiculous gorgeous with perfect weather.

The next day, we headed to Munich!