Hallstatt

Life preserver in our shuttle boat

The town of Hallstatt is one of Austria's most beautiful towns, and is a UNESCO world heritage site.  It is also closed for most of the months of October and November, due to little tourist traffic.  Of course, Rachel (my friend and fellow Fulbrighter) and I had no idea that this was the case when we made plans to visit one Wednesday that we both had off.  Hallstatt is one of the oldest settlements in Europe, as we learned in the history museum.  The Celts settled there long ago; it was a Roman trade stop, and essential to the salt trade and therefore the wealth of Austria as a whole.  The mountains around Hallstatt are full of salt.  They are also gigantic, making salt mining difficult and dangerous.  Apparently the Celts used to march pigs up the mountains and slaughter them in the salt mines so they could cure the meat right then and there.

Rachel and I took an early-ish train through the mountains, which took much longer than it should have but was thankfully a beautiful ride.  The train stops at the "station" (a tiny building with no bathroom, no ticket booth, and no platforms) where you can either wander along the tracks for miles or hop on the ferry boat to get to the town across the lake.  It's incredibly isolated and incredibly beautiful.  We were basically the only people in the town, which has only one main road and buildings built straight up the mountain and down to the water's edge.  There's a plaque that describes how the majority of the residents die of drowning or landslides (or falling, I can't quite remember), and it's easy to see why.  The highlight of our day was definitely the town's museum, where you can pay seven Euro to see excellent - and slightly laughable - exhibits about the history, nature, and art of Hallstatt.  We particularly loved the exhibit of human excrement on the wall.

Here you can read what Rick Steves has to say about Hallstatt.  I'd say it's definitely worth a visit, though it's probably a better destination in warmer months when the stores are actually open.

The Austrian flag

Rachel, my companion for the day

The beautiful buildings of Hallstatt, built right up the mountain and right down to the water's edge.

Hallstatt main square

Time travel, on the steps to the Hallstatt museum

The DOOR OF HISTORY.

Human excrement on display.

Yeah, I don't know either.

Hallstatt scenery

The ferry boat

Reverse Culture Shock

I am, as always, incredibly behind on my blog.  Blog-wise, I'm still in fall of year two; in real life I have completed my second year and have returned home to figure out the next step.  I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I am now officially back in the US for the foreseeable future.  This means, among other things, answering plenty of well-meaning questions like "so what are your next plans?" and "when (if ever) will you be going back?"  These questions are often followed by "what's it like being back?" and "how is it different in Europe?"

Truthfully, the second set of questions cannot be answered in a blog entry or an extended conversation.  It would take a lifetime to explain how it's different, and another for me to put words to what it's like being back.  Naturally, it's nice being home.  But there are some things I will miss.  I will miss the mountains, the people I have come to know and love, the ease of travel, and the sense of adventure in the most mundane things like attempting to find molasses in a grocery store (which I did, thank you very much).  But I think I will miss the pace of life the most.

Last year when I got home over the summer, I remember looking around in Chicago O'Hare at everyone stressing in the security line, checking cell phones and making work calls.  I remember being shocked.

Today I read this article called "The 'Busy' Trap," which depicts the sentiment I want to express better than I can.  In German there are two words for busy that essentially mean "industrious" (fleissig) versus "occupied" (beschäftigt).  We Americans like to be occupied; we find things to fill our day and rush from one thing to the next to check each off our list.  In Salzburg I rarely ever felt the need to do this.  I was often industrious, but I was rarely ever occupied solely for the sake of doing something.  When I was occupied, it was with things that I enjoyed like hiking or spending time with friends, or even just sitting by the river.  I'm not sure I've ever read so many books in my entire life.

Like I said, I can't really answer what it's like to be back without writing a novel.  But read the article.  It portrays much of what I'm feeling and coming to terms with in this re-acclimation phase.