Nature Day...

AIFS planned the trip that we took on Friday and I thought that it was just going to the Dachstein Ice Caves, but we ended up stopping in 2 places on the way home and it just kind of became a nature day!


Us in the back seat of the bus


We stopped to take a picture in front of the lake!

So basically we drove around 1.5 hours to the Ice Caves and took a cable car up to the area where they were, and then had to hike about 20 minutes up the mountain to the entrance of the caves. There was a really big group and the tour guide gave it in English and German.


Their scared faces
The first part of the cave was dry (meaning there wasn't ice in it) and then around 3/4 of it was ice. Here is a picture of a stalagtite

Here is where it started turning into the ice part. The caves open in May because if not it is pretty full with ice and now it's just starting to melt (at parts the handrail was covered in a block of ice)

Some more of the ice sculptures

More ice

This part was awesome. It's called the Ice Cathedral. They also had lights within the cave that would go on and off to light up different areas so that was pretty cool.

Me walking out of the entrance. It was a breathtaking view of the mountains and lakes.

We stopped for lunch and to walk around at Hallstatt a little cute Austrian city. This is Leah and Michelle - some of my good friends that live with me in St. Sebastian.

We walked aroung for a bit and explored this tiny city - that took about 20 minutes. haha.

A waterfall right in the town

Isn't it just cute!

Caitlin with her Eiskaffee :)

We then left here and made another stop at a gorge and did a 30 minute hike around it.

Me and the gorge...haha

Here's a picture of the rushing rapids - we saw some kayakers go down it and it said that it was a level 4 of 6 difficulty. Pretty crazy.

It was a great day, but extremely exhausting. I had wanted to see the lakes before we left, so this was a perfect opportunity - I wish we could have relaxed more rather than hike all day, but it was still cool. I only have 10 days left, so trying to cram everything in is getting difficult!!