One of our first stops in Salzburg was the see where the town got its name (which, in German, literally means "Salt Mountain")
In this we traveled to the surrounding mountains, and then went underground to see the salt mines - which, in their time, were the source of a
very lucrative mining and trading operation in salt, responsible for the wealth of the city.
Well, as you might expect, to visit a mine you have to go underground - and here we are, all suited up for the big adventure!
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Here we underground, crossing the border between Austria and Germany.
I'm just glad that they didn't check our passports here!
Near one of the exhibits, showing how the salt was mined and transported. The underground salt would be mixed with water to form brine,
then pumped out and the water boiled off. In that time especially, the boiling process was incredibly wood intensive, and thus the areas surrounding
Salzburg were basically deforested (all to support the salt mines)
Through the tunnels.
Getting ready for a slide! To bring the workers down to the mines, they would ride on these wooden slides, which have been maintained,
much to the delight of the tourists. (Since there were slides down but no obvious way back up, we concluded that as longs as the workers
made it to the mines to work, the rulers of the age weren't too worried about how the workers got back home to their families!)
After a hard morning in the salt mines, we had a nice lunch, and look what the kids talked us into for dessert!
As you can tell from what's in front of Mommy, this didn't take too much convincing!
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