Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning - Hallstatt, Austria

So, needless to say, Austria is beautiful. We spent two nights in a little tiny town in the Alps called Hallstatt. It was born out of the Celtic salt mining industry and now is basically a little tourist spot nestled between the mountains and a lake.

















It ended up being a great time to relax because, come to find out, we didn't have much choice. All-Saint's Day and Weekend is a pretty big holiday in Eastern Europe. So everyone in the town had left and almost all the shops were closed. We felt a little duped... see photo.













We stayed at a B&B - no Jana and Jan, but it was nice. We did a lot of relaxing and reading. Plus I did a bunch of photography for a mixed medium series that Laine (my brother) and I are planning. More on that in the future...











This is where the Hallstatt Hobbits live. They are a very cordial, slide loving people.

I've been in CA so long, I'd forgotten what snow looked like.








There were only a few restaurants open (the VERY local ones... where we walked in and everyone turned around and looked at us). At dinner (and lunch) you order beer with your meal... everyone does. You can order water, but it's more expensive! I don't really like beer, so this took some getting used to. But, if you're going to learn to like it, Austria/Czech is a great place to do it! They know their beers... "Dunkel" is dark... that's my fav.