August 17

Today we woke up a little late, checked out of the hostel, and went on our train to the town of Halstatt. There was a little confusion over which train to get on, but we figured it out. Once we made it to our stop, we had to take a boat to get to the actual town. Halstatt was so beautiful, because the whole town rested on a large lake that was in the middle of these huge mountains. The view was amazing, and so was the town. Halstatt looks like what you would picture the perfect little Austrian town as being. The buildings were all small and looked authentically Austrian. The fact that most of the buildings were built into the mountainside just added to the town’s appeal. We walked along the entire length of the town with all of our baggage while we looked for a hotel or hostel to spend the night in. We eventually found a place to stay, and then we spent our first night here just relaxing and going out to dinner. Some of the girls ate the signature fish dish, but I wasn’t feeling like fish, so I passed. I spent the rest of the night exploring the cute little town. Even thought there were many souvenir shops lining the main street, the town had a less touristy feel than any other place that I had visited in Austria so far. At the far end of the town, there was a park with a lookout point that gave a perfect view of the entire town. I took many pictures of the gorgeous sight, and then we all turned in early so that we could get up at a reasonable hour, because we only had half a day left in Halstatt.
The German word of the day is schmecken, which means “to taste”. “Das Essen schmeckt gut” means “The food tastes good”.