Sliding into adventures. Day 8

I groggily got out of bed this morning and could feel my legs begging for mercy.  Fortunately, there was no hiking on the itinerary today.  There was the same breakfast facing us.  Cold breakfast has begun to wear on us.  Even their frying us an egg this morning didn't register.  Rain was threatening so we chose an indoor activity day.  But first we ran into (almost literally) these guys on our way.

We had decided to go to the Salzbergwerk which is the salt mine which made this part of the world famous.  The mine is still being worked and has been since the early 12th Century.  We left with plenty of time to spare.  There was road work however which made us back track and drive over the mountain so we got to see these views again but with clouds.

After the usual confusion of finding the parking and then finding the thing in regards to the parking we ran and caught our tour just in time.  The tour included these boss jump suits.  Rebecca looked particularly fetching.

No pictures were allowed but I got this picture of the reflectors on Rebecca's suit putting on a show.  The tour began with a train ride 600 yards into the mountain.  It was a fun ride as the tunnel only allowed about half a foot to spare all around.

At one point we were ferried across this lake.  What you see on the bottom is the reflection of the roof.  It was a very eerie but beautiful place.  The idea is that they drill into the rock and fill these huge dug out rooms with water which dissolves the salt.  For 30 years water continues to fill the space and the saline which sinks to the bottom is siphoned out and then processed for the salt.

I worried the tour might be silly but it was actually fascinating and very different from anything I've ever done.  We ended up buying the picture of one of the slides (there were two) which took you down to different levels.  It was a blast.



As it looked like we might not get any rain after all, we chose to drive out to a big lake called Chiemsee where crazy king Ludwig II built a palace modeled after Versailles.  On the way we stopped for a light lunch of pizza and beer.

The palace is built on an island and is only accessible by ferry.

The first building we went to was an old monastery where Ludwig stayed on occasion while the palace was built.  The paintings here are original.

After that short tour we took the twenty minute walk to the palace.  It is unfinished and he only stayed there for 10 days but it is pretty magnificent.  The first few pictures are obviously of the outside and gardens.

No pictures were allowed on the inside but I snuck a couple of pictures of the first staircase.

This was a decorative cabinet.  The dark parts are tortoise shell.

You should do a Google Image search for Herrenchiemsee to see pictures of the interior.  It is very over the top.  Here is a picture of the hall of mirrors off the internet.  There are 36,000 candles.



This must be one exhausted lawn roomba!

We were wiped after all of the touring and so stopped in Bad Reichenhall for a light dinner.  Schnitzel, pork and bacon with vegetables and butter spätzle with a side salad.  It was the best spätzle so far.

And all was right with the world.  Even the house rooba was in its garage for the night.

Salzburg tomorrow!