The Salt mines

Think of the longest word you know, now multiply it by 3 or so, and you get the German word,  Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft. This mouthful means: ". Association for subordinate Officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services"

"Why?" You may ask, the reason for the length of some German words is simply you can compound various German words into one long word. So, a trip to Germany (a Germany travel) becomes Germany travel. 

Here's a short video that shows how to do this, HOWEVER it is in German, but you might be able to get the gist of it.  Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG62zay3kck

Today, we spent some time in Salzburg, Austria, and at the Salzbergwerk salt mine, also known as the Salt Mine Berchtesgarden. To get down into the mines, we rode a small train, similar to a roller coaster, through a series of tunnels not wide enough to stretch your arms out in. Down the bottom, we were given an audioguide which (thankfully) was in English.  This mine has been in operation for 500 years.  They can now mine a distance in 3 days that previously took 1 whole year.

After listening to the first section, we went down a big wooden slide, and made our way to the lowest, publicly accessible floor, over 130 meters below the ground! Once there, we took a boat ride across "Mirror Lake" where the lights dimmed and a light show reflected off the surface of the water to light up the cabin, while classical music played in the background, I found it quite emotional! On the other side of the lake, we were given some very salty water to try, which when poured on your hand and left to dry, created salt crystals on you skin!  It was 28% salt.  The water in the ocean is about 4%.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it


Ethan Murphy.

Mirror Lake, 130 meters below ground

The roof of a beautiful Austrian church