I am discovering that Austria has A LOT of public holidays. No idea what they are for, but I’m not complaining.
On this particular holiday, we visited the Green See.
No, that’s not a typo. Confusingly, ‘see’ means ‘lake’ in German.
See how local I am! Basically Austrian.
Anyway, we headed towards the centre of Austria and into the mountains. The scenery was spectacular! Cute little villages with houses built for the snow nestled at the bottom of giant hills. Giant alpine trees and wildflowers growing in meadows.
Sickeningly picture perfect, right?
But it really is such a beautiful part of the world and the lake did not disappoint. Tiny and surrounded by mountains, the lake is formed when the snow melts from the mountains. The lake was so perfectly bluey green that I couldn’t stop staring at it.
I was SUCH a tourist.
(The lake path…look at my translation skills!)
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The melted snow fills the lake and when you dive it is like looking at an underground park. There is grass on the ‘ground’ and even a park bench. Crazy.
(There happened to be a mermaid as well…)
(Can you see the bridge?)
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But at a balmy water temp of 6 degrees there was no way I was going in. I watched from the edge (with a jumper, 2 jackets, scarf and beanie) as a million crazy divers (and 1 lone freediver) jumped in. Some of the divers had dry suits to keep them perfectly dry and warm, however many divers (and the freediver) just had simple wetsuits on.
(This is dry suit…much like a coveralls for working in a freezer)
Insanity.
After the first dive, even the divers were happy to join me for hot soup and tea.
Bring on the public holidays I say!