2017-07-04

【Aiden in English】

        Living in the Greater Philadelphia Area, you get a little of everything. From a blazing heatwave to a meter of snow, a person who lives in that area gets a good overall sight of weather. But as I continued to travel, I discovered the far ends of the spectrum. The Sahara Desert is much more than the hottest days in little Montgomery county. The Amazon rain forests are also a tad bit more humid than the Pennsylvanian springtime. So far, I think I've explored a lot of the heat end of the weather scale. Finally, it's time to peek at the other side of the door.

        What place in Austria is freezing cold, in the middle of summer, and is completely untouched by man? Well, I must say, one must think outside the box on this one. The Alps always provide snow, but snow is something I always experience in boring Philadelphia. No, the more interesting by-product of cold is ice. The Salzburger Alps can't provide ice, at least not on the scale that I want to see. However, the answers still lie in those famous mountains.

        A short drive from the medieval castle called Fortress Hohenwerfen to the south of Salzburg, you can find a series of underground caves called Eisriesenwelt is the largest karst plateau of the Salzburger Alps. These icy tunnels link within the mountains to form up to 42 kilometers/26 miles in length. It became the largest ice cave in the world. But more importantly, they are cold. Very cold. So cold, all water that finds its way through the cracks is frozen in whatever shape it lands as. Those colorful ice sculptures outside in NYC on Christmas cannot compare in sheer size to the cave ice. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of these beautiful caves, but there's always Google.

        Agreed, the sign did say 0 degree in Celsius, but the temperature was actually okay due to no wind chills. In the meanwhile, that didn't affect the massive ice structures within the caves. From years of springs melting snow and winters freezing the water, ice slowly accumulated, creating odd, twisted spires of cold. Upon touching the ice, it appears to be neither warm nor cold. However, prolonged contact results in a dramatic increase in pain in the fingers.

        The ice ran from side to side, up and down, over our head. It would be really scary if it weren’t for the lamps given to the tourists. However, the light showed the infinity sea of ice in all directions, which may have been equally as creepy. In fact, one section of a glacier stretched as far as 42 km/26 miles. Certain areas of the caves showed dark foreboding caverns with only blackness insight. Some say hell is fiery and torture, but this is quite the opposite, with silence as your greatest enemy. And then, once in a while, you'll see a sculpture that looks like an elephant or polar bear, which lightens the mood a bit.

        As for the overall view, I think the caves were a great experience. For the first time, I saw what the cold can do, and it is beautiful. To be honest, I'll probably never see this much ice again, which is quite disappointing. Next time it snows in Philadelphia, and I'll remember that the snow only is the second place to ice.

【紅霞譯文】

        身居大費城地區，你什麼光都沾上一點，從牛氣烘烘的熱浪到一米來深的大雪，生活在這一帶的人早已學會兵來將擋水來土掩，但隨着旅行深入，我發現了所謂冷熱兩個極點，撒哈拉沙漠比默默無聞的蒙哥馬利郡只不過多熱上幾天，而亞馬遜熱帶雨林比賓州春季充其量潮濕一點，迄今我沒少領略氣溫表失靈的酷熱天氣，現在終於到了體嘗相反經歷的時刻。

        時值奧地利仲夏天氣，究竟哪個地方還會冰凍三尺人跡罕至？我承認這個問題肯定超乎人的想象。阿爾卑斯山脈常年積雪，但費城即使再單調乏味，冬季也是雪花那個飄。暫且撇開雪的話題不談，由冷衍生出來的副產品──冰才會引起本人更大興趣。薩爾茨堡山脈無冰，至少在我視線範圍內，不過這個答案要從這些名山峻岭里去挖掘。

        從中世紀要塞霍亨維爾芬城堡往薩爾茨堡南部方向開車沒有多遠，你就會在薩爾斯堡山脈最大的岩溶高原發現一系列地下溶洞名叫埃斯瑞森韋爾特冰洞，這些冰洞內部冰道交錯，形成42公里/26英里長的石灰岩溶洞，以此號稱世界之最。關鍵在於，這些溶洞氣溫很低，甚至冷得要命，結果所有水分順勢凝固成冰，都說聖誕節紐約郊外的冰雕絢爛奪目，但它們無法與該冰洞渾然天成的冰川相媲美，遺憾的是冰洞嚴禁拍照，但谷歌向來一應俱全。

        沒錯兒，雖然圖上示意攝氏零度，但由於無風，因此溫度還算說得過去，同時對冰洞裡面巨大冰川沒有什麼影響。埃斯瑞森韋爾特冰洞從春季消融到冬季冷凝周而復始，冰川慢慢形成，創造了一個千姿百態的冰晶迷宮。當用手撫摸冰川，你既不感到暖和也不覺得涼快，不過長時間接觸終將導致手指疼痛難忍。

        冰川從一側橫貫另一側、由上飛身至下、自頭頂直撲而來，要不是遊客們手提油燈照明，心裡真感覺滲得慌。然而亮光從四面八方照射在茫茫冰海之上，難免令人毛骨悚然，何況腳下走過的冰川連亙42公里/26英里。冰洞有些區域黑黢黢的，預示有窟窿存在，有人刻意把地獄說成煎熬和折磨，但這裡恰好相反，沉寂可謂你最大的敵人。之後你時不時發現大自然鬼斧神工，有的雕刻形似大象，有的塑像體如北極熊，內在情緒也被帶動起來。

        總的來看，冰洞讓我大長見識，平生頭一回明白了冷意味着什麼，真是美不勝收。坦率地說，將來恐怕我再也不會見到這麼多冰，禁不住令人十分沮喪。下次等到費城雪花紛飛時，想必我會記憶猶新，雪沒有冰那麼好看。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2017: Salzburg—Mirabell Gardens, AUT(奧地利薩爾茨堡—《音樂之聲》花園)

2017: Salzburg the Top Chef Country, AUT(奧地利薩爾茨堡—烹飪之都)

2017: Salzburg the City of Mozart, AUT(奧地利薩爾茨堡—莫扎特城)

2016: Stockholm—Beauty on the Water, SWE(瑞典斯德哥爾摩—水上之美)

2016: Stockholm—Venice of the North, SWE(瑞典斯德哥爾摩—北方的威尼斯)

2016: Stockholm Palace, Sweden(瑞典斯德哥爾摩皇宮)

2016: Capital Stockholm, Sweden(瑞典首都斯德哥爾摩)

2015: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican(梵蒂岡聖彼得大教堂)

2015: World's Smallest Country, Holy See(梵蒂岡─世界最小的國家)

2015: Roma―the Eternal City, Italy(意大利羅馬―永恆之城)

2015: All Roads Lead to Rome, Italy(意大利―條條道路通羅馬)

2015: Roman Colosseum, Italy(意大利羅馬角斗場)

2014: July 4th Party(獨立節聚會)

2013: 四年級獨立節(4th Grade Patriots)

2012: 三年級獨立節(3rd Grade Patriots)

2009: 天生的節拍(Natural Beats)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Austria(出遊奧地利)

Europe(出遊歐洲)