The effect of all of the rain was obvious as we drove along Lake Hallstadt, on our way to the town of Hallstadt. Water crept up over the banks of the lake and we heard reports that this was the heaviest rain in decades. The bus dropped us off on the edge of town, too big to fit down the narrow main road. The water had made its way across the main road and was quickly overtaking the far sidewalks. We pulled our roll-away bags around and through puddles on our way to our hotel, the wonderful Hotel Grüner Baum, situated on a pretty square in the middle of town. 
We'd arrived early, so we had the whole day to explore. Many of us were intrigued by the salt mines above town (far above flood level, too!) so off we went to find the funicular. 
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We rode the funicular halfway up the mountain, then had a lovely walk through the mist to the visitor center. Step one of the mine tour was to don miners clothes! These clothes had reinforced bottoms— so when you took the big slides between levels in the mine, you didn't wear out your clothes. Now suitably, if not fashionably, dressed, we went down into the mine. We learned a great deal about salt—how it's mined, its importance to the area, its role in the dawning of human economic activity— but the highlight for kids and adults alike was zipping down those slides in our miner duds!
We returned to the village and, after fortifying ourselves with our second cup of cocoa of the day at the quaint cafe on the square, returned for a group dinner in the hotel. Everyone was in a festive mood. Family groups trickled into the lounge area, and the tour kids started mugging for the cameras, twirling hair and having fun. By now, everyone was pretty comfortable with each other, having survived so many opportunities for watery bonding together.
As the party moved to the dining room for yet another wonderful dinner of comfort food and wine, Margaret got on the phone with tour headquarters, making contingency plans for our departure from Hallstadt in the morning, as there was a possibility the flooding would prevent our bus from making it into Hallstadt proper to retrieve us. Dry and safe inside—gemütlich, as our German hosts would say—looking out over the misty lake, we wondered what adventures the next day would bring.
Margaret raised her glass in a toast and had a surprise for us—she had written new words for the Sound of Music, renaming it The Sound of Water. She and Lizanne sang, drawing laughter from all of us with the phrase "To wake from the night from a dream we're in Hallstadt one more day!" At that point, there was no stopping us and the whole group joined in the singing—Edelweiss, Amazing Grace and more, culminating in a rousing rendition of Yellow Submarine. We sang with extra gusto, given that our hotel was yellow and "our friends were all aboard, many more of them lived next door and the band begins to play: We All Live in a Yellow Submarine!"
I was amazed at the talent in this group—Margaret is a professional singer in addition to being a tour guide, both Lizanne Fowler and Jill Noble have beautiful, clear voices, and the rest of the group provided amazing backup. Unfortunately, the best I could do was try to clap in time with the music—and I failed at even that!
The next morning, we all woke and peered out our windows at the lake, wondering how (or even if!) we were going to get out of the village. Somehow, during the night the water levels had receded a bit and we were able to make it to the bus. Taking one last, wistful look at the beauty around us, we rolled away from Hallstadt on our way to Mauthausen.
