Friday, July 27, 2007
Saturday 14th July
We meet at the bottom of the cable car that is to take us to the Dachstein ice caves; on the way there we are stopped on the road due to a helicopter flying overhead. The person stopping us did not speak English and we are none the wiser about the reason for stopping traffic. However, when we get to the car park all is explained. A large part of the car park has been sectioned off with a cement mixer in the middle, the helicopters are coming in to pick up large vats of cement and carry them up the mountain. This is how all the buildings on the mountain are constructed and explains why the food on the mountain can be very expensive. The boys were beside themselves with excitement at being so close to helicopters landing and taking off frequently.
We travel in a rickety old cable car which swings about a bit too much for my liking and, in Jon’s words, I am standing next to Miss Panic Pants who is not overly keen on us all crowding in around her and offers up words such as “Oh my god!” every few seconds. On arrival she unceremoniously pushes past us and shouts “Move!” I try not to get cross as she is obviously a bit stressed.
It is quite a steep walk up to the mouth of the caves and takes about 30 minutes, it is really quite hot, so we feel a little foolish when at the mouth of the caves we start putting on jumpers and coats. They were most definitely needed though as the temperature in the caves was around 3 degrees. Having never been in an Ice Cave before we found it quite interesting and unique. The boys enjoyed it as well.
