My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

AUSTRIA | Monday, 14 January 2013 | Views [511] | View Smaller Image

As I ventured further into the town of St. Gilgen, I stumbled upon a small Advent Market. It was mid-day and the streets were quite empty, but the stalls were all open and I had a little browse to see what I could find to put under the Christmas tree back home. This decorative toy, hanging from the ceiling of one of the stands made me feel like I was him - up in the mountains hunting for a bargain. This stand was particularly well decorated, and sold some of the most intricate nativity scenes and religious dolls I've ever seen.

Tags: st. gilgen, austria, market, advent, christmas, toy, decoration, souvenir, rope, warm

This was the first thing I saw when I arrived in St. Gilgen, on lake Wolfgang in the Austrian region of Salzkammergut. It is a charming small town nestled between the Dachstein Alps. This old cable car brought tourists and skiers to the peaks with a magnificent view over seven different alpine lakes in the region. Unfortunately the weather limited visibility, and the charge to use the cable car was a little steep, so I decided to give it a miss. It did give a mysterious atmosphere to the place, and the fog cleared momentarily to catch a glimpse of the sunny mountains, but I doubt the skis attached to that gondola have seen much snow up there that day.

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For a light lunch I wanted to try a local speciality. This lady is preparing fresh potato chips at one of the Advent Market stalls. The machine she was using was quite intriguing - a fresh, uncooked potato is inserted into an oval hollow and pressed down with the movable piece at the top. It is spun through a series of sharp blades and cut very thinly into a spiral, which falls into the large metal platter below. The whole thing is then deep-fired and put into a paper cone. What I found amusing are the size options mentioned on the plaque on the right:

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My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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