A little late getting started today as Mum wasn't feeling too well. I introduced her to the joy of Imodium so she could enjoy the freedom of not being tethered to the closest public toilet for the rest of the day!

Since it worked out about EUR100 cheaper to pickup the hire car from the airport, we decided to take a train out there to get it & walked over to the train station ... only to find that there are no trains to the airport ... only buses.

Eventually, made it out there, picked up our car & took off to find the world's biggest ice cave, just outside Werfen.  

Unfortunately, it was raining quite a bit all the way there but we bought an umbrella, walked for 30min up to the cable car stop, then walked for another 30min up to the cave, passing a few huge chunks of ice/snow along the way. At 1,500m elevation, this is pretty tiring work!

Just when we thought we'd made it, we went inside the ice cave ... and found that we had to go up another 700 steps, then come back down 700 more! 134m elevation gain, which doesn't sound that much except when you think that we basically climbed up to the top of Central Park & back in below zero temperatures.

Mum had to rest a few times (well, she is 73!) but did extremely well! Had I known it was so physical, I probably wouldn't have suggested we go there ... but she was very proud of herself by the end of it!

The cave itself was incredibly beautiful with massive amounts of ice all over the place: flows, stalagtites, stalagmites and ice crystal structures everywhere.

You weren't supposed to take photos as they didn't want people slowing down the groups ... but I may have gotten a few sneaky ones in! Hee hee ... don't tell anyone.

When the tour guides asked what language we spoke, they just handed us an English fact sheet. Would have been much better if they'd mentioned that there was actually an English-speaking tour starting in about 10min. Thanks guys!

Fortunately for us, there were a couple from Munich just ahead of us who very kindly translated most of what they guy said. Felt like we should be paying them to be our tour guide!

The trip back down seemed much shorter and easier ... I wonder why??? We rewarded ourselves with lunch in the cafe and some warm Apfel Strudel (the best we've had on the entire trip - they bake it themselves on the premises!).

We were originally going to head a bit further south to see a gorge but the guy in the restaurant told us it wouldn't be open for another couple of weeks so we gratefully thanked him for his advice and avoided a 45min drive.

Headed to Gosausee Lake instead but got distracted along the way by the Lammerklamm Gorge (needed to gorge ourselves more as Apfel Strudel just isn't cutting it!). This was so beautiful! The forest had that freshly-rained-on look so everything was glistening and there were about 1m waterfalls everywhere.

After the 1,400 steps at the ice cave, the 30min walk along the gorge pretty much finished Mum off so we got back in the car & continued on to Gosausee Lake. The towns around here are so picturesque: little Heidi-cottages with window boxes full of Geraniums & other bright flowers, sitting on grassy meadows filled with little yellow flowers, all set against the backdrop of pine & beech trees that reach up towards towering, snow-capped mountains .

This is the stuff fairytales are made of! This is what I've read about all my life in all the books I had! Just makes you want to break out into song "The hills are alive ..." (you get the picture)

Just to complete the experience, we played Swiss folk music on the car's stereo that was full of piano accordions & even a little yodeling.

Arrived at Gosausee lake & fortunately, it was only a nice flat, 100m walk to the lake shore. Sat & admired the view for a little while then continued on to Hallstatt.

All the towns around here are cute but Hallstatt is ridiculous! The Heidi houses & tall steepled churches are set between a steep mountain and a beautiful, still lake filled with emerald water & topped off by stunning white swans ... come on ... could you make this town any cuter??

After wandering around the town, marvelling at how amazingly perfect everything was, we decided to have dinner down by the lake & try some of the local pickled salmon (delicious!).

After a few more photos of dusk in Hallstatt, we turned our trusty GPS on & headed home, arriving back at about 11pm ... another pretty full-on day!