It was very quiet in the graveyard, and you can hear chimes on the hour and smell the bakeries from here.

 
Here are the collection of bones in the ossuary. 

 

Some of the bones date back to the 1600s; the most recent are from the 1960s (when the Catholic church began to allow cremation and the space issues were not so problematic). Many of the skulls are painted with wreaths of ivy, garlands of roses, black crosses, and the owners' names, professions, and death dates.

 
Hallstatt is known as one of the first places of human settlement because of the rich sources of natural salt, which have been mined for thousands of years. We donned miner suits for our tour.

 

This is the world's first known salt mine. To go down you just sit on this rail and pick up your legs. No splinters.

 
On the way back down to town, there was a nice view of Obertraun, the village in background.

 

Next we visited Schloss Neuschwanstein, Bavaria. This is Mary's Bridge, a great view.

 
Neuschwanstein Castle is beautiful, and was the vision of King Ludwig II.

 

Terri had wanted to see the "Cinderella Castle" for a long time.

 
Here is a shot back down at Hohenschwangau, the castle where King Ludwig II lived as a boy, and later planned the castle up the hill. I took this shortly after sitting on the camera and breaking the LCD. For the rest of the trip, Point and Shoot took on a whole new meaning.

 

Another shot of Hohenschwangau on a clear beautiful day.

 
After coming back down to the town below, we took a long hike up the path to Hohenschwangau.

 

Here is the view from Hohenschwangau Gardens back up to Neuschwanstein.

 

 

 

go to page 3

 

back to home page