An Underground Sea & A Monastery

Courtyard of Monastery

Tunnel in Sea Grotto

We had a change of plans and could not go to Salzburg because Jeremy had an ear infection. Mahen opted to stay at home with him so Brigitte, Maya, Erin & I went to see a place called the Sea Grotto in Hinterbrül which is about an half an hour out of Vienna. It's a vast underground area with water filled tunnels. It was a mine back in the 1920's or so that filled up with water. Prisoners were also kept there during WWII. Unfortunately the guide explained things only in German so that was a little problem! (Brigitte did some translations for us though). We then stopped at a monastery called Stift Heiligenkreuz and had lunch. It was good hearty Austrian food! We also got some wine made by the monks - will have some with dinner. The little bit of the Austrian countryside we saw was beautiful - lots of houses and buildings have beautiful colorful flowers growing in window boxes.

Later on, Mahen took Erin & Maya on a long bike ride along the Danube - Erin on Mahen's Italian racing bike! This seems to be a biking city - the sidewalk is divided into a half for walkers and a half for bikers. I have to constantly try to walk on the right side so as not to get run over!