Due to the summons ticket we've got in Lake Konigssee, husband had taken more than 35 minutes time to get it settle in a bank. When he get back to the car, he said we were in a hurry to rush to our next destination, the salt mine.
Feeling a bit worried, husband said if everything goes smooth, we could still make it on time. He grabbed the map, looked at it for a while, then he drove off quickly. Husband did make a wrong turn when we were up to a hill, but he aware of it soon enough and able to turn to the right path. Whew! Talking about this, I'm very impressed with his good sense in direction, and good memory too, make him an excellent driver at everywhere.
Not to brag my husband, but driving in a total stranger land, being confidence with your driving skill is simply not enough, you got to be able to read the map fast (sometimes, a quick glance even while holding the sterling), and be able to react fast to every uncertainty that you may encounter on the way. That's why I'm freaking scared to drive in an unfamiliar place, though I'm confident with my skill.
Husband managed to locate the place in a very short time. From that small town to salt mine, I think we took 20-25 minutes. We were lucky to catch the 3.45 pm tour, the last guided tour in a day. We would have missed it should we get there a few more minutes late.
We bought a family ticket for 2 adults + 2 children, cost €43 (HKD 460) at the counter, then ran inside quickly.
There are quite a number of salt mines in Austria. The one we went is called Salz Welten, located in Hallein Bei Salzburg. Salz Welten also got 2 other salt mines in Hallstatt, Altaussee.
The Hallein Salt Mine, also known as Salzbergwerk Dürrnberg, is an underground salt mine located in the Dürrnberg plateau above Hallein, Austria. The mine has been worked for over 7,000 years since the Celtic tribes. It helped ensure nearby Salzburg, a powerful trading community. Since World War I, it has served as a mining museum.
The temperature in the mine is a constant 10°C throughout the year. Therefore, warm clothing and stout footwear is highly recommended, even in summer time. Those clothing that we were wearing are provided by Salz Welten.
Just in time to join the rest of the gang before departing. The green color object down there is the transport that is going to take us into the underground mine. Husband said this would be a very fun trip for the whole family, old and young (must age 4 and above though). Thus, I tend to expect the participants would be like us, contain old and young members. But the fact is, we are the only family with kids tagging along. And Vincent and William is the only children in our group of 20 person. Oh, is there something we don't know?
After we all sat well, the train moved on fast and soon, we were flying into the dark tunnel. It's so dark inside that I couldn't see my own fingers. We got to hold tight to the waist of the people that sit in front of us, and mustn't slant the body to left or right as the tunnel is quite narrow. We felt the natural high and giggled like crazy. Several minutes later, we saw a warm light in front of the tunnel. My feeling is pretty much like a near-death-experience, as reported by some near-death people.
That's the pit railway that brings us into the mine, and also out again later on. We get off the train at here, and started our tour through the Salt Worlds that would last for 75 minutes.
We let everyone walked first, then the 4 of us followed from behind. Thought this would be the safetest strategy?
The ambience in the underground is very spooky. The boys seemed quite nervous at the beginning stage of the tunnel walk. Frankly speaking, me too. It was after a while, then we adapted to the environment and the boys get back to their normal self.
This lady guide toured us around the mine. Thank God she can speak relatively good English so that we get to know more about the history and everything about the salt mine.
A salt mine is an operation involved in the extraction of salt from rock salt or halite, a type of evaporitic deposit. The story of salt is one of the oldest in the history of the human race. It is intrinsically tied to the development of our culture and civilisation. As early as 3,000 years ago, our ancestors learned the benefits of salt. Salt ensured their survival and created living space. Where there was salt, humans settled. No wonder salt has been described as 'white gold' at ancient time.
After a brief introduction given by the lady tour guide, we then continued to walk further inside the mine.
Certain part of the tunnel is very dark. That's how dark it is when I turned off my camera's flashlight, chill and spooky too.
At the end of the dark tunnel is a theater-like chamber. The screen over there show us a short movie about the history of the mines. In fact, there are 3-4 stop over throughout the whole journey that show us a short movie about the story of this salt mine. About 250 million years ago, the African country pushed forward bringing the rocky material that formed the Limestone Alps. The oceans that covered the area dried up but left the copious amounts of salt embedded within the mountains.
The Celts tribes mined the salt, but then they decided to put holes in the mountains, fill it with water to create brine, pumped it out of the mountain where the water was evaporated in the industrial town of Hallien. The Salzburg salt mine was only shut down for business in 1989 due to very high cost to conduct the underground mining.
Early mining was done by hand and extracted salt rock crystals as a solid. To improve efficiency, fresh water would be pumped into a cavern. After several weeks of absorbing salt from the walls, the water was pumped out to a processing plant in Hallein, let evaporated, and become salt.
We continued our exploration on foot... 
A short while later, we reached to an interesting place. At this point, as divided by the rectangular board hanging on the wall, one part of the mine is in Austria, one part in Germany. As told by the lady guide, 20% of this mine area is lie under Austria's land, the other 80% area is lie under Germany's land. Technically speaking, we have crossed the border of Austria and Germany several times underground there. Cool !
An 1829, a treaty between Austria and Germany was singed since the mine actually crosses under the border into Germany. The treaty stipulates that up to ninety Bavarian farmers are allowed to work in the mine.
The various form of underground salt. 
Later, we reached one of the climax. The lady guide said we need to slide down to go some more 80 m deeper underground. William was freaking scared, he refused to slide down. Only when the lady guide said he could sit on my lap, and I promised I would hold him real tight, then he reluctantly accepted the challenge. I looked down the long, steep slide, and to be honest, my heart bound very fast. Do we look very scared here?
The lady guide helped William to sit on my lap, then she told us to lean our body backward, kept our legs straight and then, she pushed me down. We screamed all the way down. When we reached the stop, the group applauded and cheered for us. YES!
This long, steep, wooden slide was used by the ancient miners to go deeper into the mine. There would be another slide ahead us.
Don't know how long we have walked, we then reached another climax of the journey. We were going to float on a raft over a salt lake. Wow, underground lake. Seems that the scenes we have seen in movie "Journey to the center of the earth" is not totally a fiction.The flat roof of the mine is only a few inches from our head. It was kind of intimidating. But nevertheless, it's fascinating !!
The salt lake had been newly designed, equipped with multi-vision show. It's like entering a twilight zone. Good heaven, we were so amazed by the lighting effect they have created. Too bad I couldn't take any pictures clearer than this one.
We are not allowed to go near this salt crystal. I think it must be precious.
This salt crystal is as tall as an my height.
Basically, this model had illustrated where we were right at that time. I guess we should be around 400 meter below the ground. 
Not too long later, we needed to slide down again. This time, the wooden slide is much steeper and longer than the 1st one, at least 2X of it. Same as last time, the lady guide pushed me down. And we slided at a much higher speed that I could feel my tight was getting increasingly hot.
The lady guide offered 2nd chance for those who want to take a ride again. I was suprised the boys wanted to try again, but enough for me. Thus, husband got to take both of them down together. He sat at the back, Vincent at the front, and Willaim was sandwiched between them. When they got down, the boys said they want to do it again. But there wasn't a 3rd chance for them.
Ha, now I know the rock that we saw in the Kognissee is actually Salt crystal.
Speaking of how an underground hole as deep as this mine can be circulated with fresh air, the lady guided said all the ancient miners did was to press the petal to let the air in, as shown in the picture.
One of the surprise to be found deep in the mountain is the "Man Preserved in Salt". In 1573 and 1616, two Celtic miners were discovered in the mines. They had been perfectly preserved by the salt and only their skin had become brown in color. They were hastily buried as heathens outside the walls of the cemetery.
That how the miners dug salt in an ancient tunnel.
1 hour passed by very fast. The journey through this mysterious world was almost come to the end.
On the last theater chamer, this was the scene when Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich was dying, and his clumsy but faithful servant Jakobus was the only person who stayed by his side. *
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Although Archbishop has become very rich due to his mine business, he was not able to enjoy his weath. In fact, due to some political issues, he was imprisoned for many years, till the last day of his life. What a sad destiny he got.
Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau (1559-1617) successfully traded the coveted "white gold" which was essential for life. Huge quantities of salt were minced and massive profits were earned using the "wet mining" method. In doing so, he had transformed Salzburg into a magnificient baroque city which today has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. 
That lady was the life-long love of Archbishop. 
At the end we don't have to worry about stairs as we come up with a long escalator.
Passing through the last channel that lead us back to the train stop. We started to feel real cold just when we sat here to wait for the train to come. The warm clothing has indeed keep us warm, long enough for us to complete the whole journey. 
Taking the same train to leave for the real world, with total satisfaction.
The underground mine was lie right beneath this mountain. I still wonder how the ancient miners could dig this miles long tunnel with their bare hands 400 B.C. ago.
The weather forecast was accurate, it was raining by the time we reached the surface, with occasional lighting. Anyway, we were not too bother with the bad weather, as we had just experienced something which is very fabulous. 
The driver, checking for the road to go back to our hotel.
Every participants were given a small bottle of salt as souvenier. Knowing its history now, they become very special salt to me. I still keep it at home, don't think I will want to use it in cooking.
This photo cost €6 / copy. Normally we wouldn't want to buy it. But this is indeed an unforgetable experience that end up, we've decided to take them home with us. It had recorded the speed measurement at the bottom right corner. Husband and Vincent was sliding at the speed of 18 km/ hour. 
While me and William slided at a speed of 5.3 km/ hour. Oh, 3X slower. I thought I was going down very fast lo.*
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This experience was one of the most lasting memories of our trip to Austria-Germany, very educational too. Now then, this experience has changed my perspective about the seemingly negligible salt that we use in everyday cooking.
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