Hallstatt: a Perfect Brigadoon

Hallstatt, Aurstria 

Hallstatt is as picturesque a town as any fairytale place should be. We drove through mountains and valleys, winding along a seemingly endless lake to the nook it hid within. Brigadoon itself seemed to fall around us as we put our car into park. Colorful pastel homes burrowed into the mountainside and tiny streams veined the town. A large, white church steeple sat in what looked like the center of town, and behind it loomed the mountains. The imposing, secluded, and protective mountains. We bought beer only to walk through the streets with it, passing store fronts, swan boats, quaint cafes with lantern canopies, and homes where brick and tree bark formed its walls. We can see it just as if this story was being retold to us from an imaginary book, but in reality it was no different. At the town center we did stumble upon a music festival, where people dance around us in traditional Austrian apparel, and others stomped their feet and called for more spirits. It was a perfect day, a perfect place, and a perfect memory. And as we drove back to Beregenz, I am sure Hallstatt lifted up into the air in a whisp of smoke, never to come down again for another 100 years.