St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee

The cable car lift in St. Gilgen started its operation in June 1957. It takes the passengers from the altitude of 568 m above the sea level to the Zwölferhorn (12erhorn) 1476 m above the sea level . On the top you can take various hiking routes. You can also hike up to the top and down to the valley. In winter you can ski on the 12erhorn. The slope is not prepared, at least it is prepared not every year. It is a special experience to ski with a view to the lake which otherwise you normally see in summer. St. Gilgen is a charming town with beautiful buildings. Mozart´s mother was born here and his sister Nannerl lived 17 years in the same house. There is a pilgrims' way from St. Gilgen to St. Wolfgang over the Falkenstein. You can reach St. Gilgen by bus from Strobl or Salzburg, it is also reachable by ship from other villages on Lake Wolfgang.

 

http://www.12erhorn.at/html/seilbahn.html

http://www.wolfgangseeschifffahrt.at/

http://salzkammergut.wolfgangsee.at

 

Narzissenfest in Bad Aussee

The Narzissenfest is one of the major events in Bad Aussee. Every spring participants construct massive sculptures made from daffodil blossoms, and parade them through town on large floats, accompanied by regional folk music. Some of these sculptures are later installed on boats and displayed on Grundlsee or Altausseersee. They are different every year. In 2011 some other white flowers were used in addition to the daffodiles, probably the spring was too quick and the daffofiles were gone.

Narzissenfest
Bad Aussee and Narzissenfest in Wikipedia

The Traun River and the 3 lakes-the Grundlesee, Toplitzsee and Kammersee

The Traun river originates from the Totes Gebirge range in Styria, near Bad Aussee.
It flows through the Salzkammergut area and the lakes Hallstätter See and Traunsee.
The Traun is a tributary of the Danube, which it meets near Linz. Other towns along the river are Bad Aussee, Bad Ischl, Gmunden, Wels and Traun. It is 153 km long. The photo on the page of the Traun river in Wikipedia is taken in Obertraun. To see where the Traun originates one can take a "3-seen tour", which includes a boat trip on the Grundlsee, followed by a 15-minutes walk to Toplitzsee which one can cross only by boat-there is no path or road around the lake, and then a 5 minutes walk to Kammersee. This is where it starts. The boat trip on the Grundlsee can be replaced by a bus ride from Bad Aussee along this lake, bringning you to the same point accross the lake as the boat. It is a good alternative in the season when the boats are not in  opertation yet.
The boats on lake Toplitz are flat-bottomed boats (Plätten), they are unique to the region and  were once used in the salt trade.
Lake Toplitz is full of mysteries. The shore of Lake Toplitz served as a Nazi naval testing station. Millions of counterfeit pound sterling notes were dumped in the lake. Starting at a depth of 20 m, the water of the Toplitzsee contains no oxygen. The water in the lower section is increasingly salty. Deeper in the lake live different bacteria and some worms which can live without oxygen. When scientific experiments with a submarine were made, a strange oxygen-less, salty underwater world full of new kinds of bacteria was discovered. The site of the lake is http://www.toplitzsee.at/

Kammersee

  The artificial channel connecting Kammersee and Toplitzsee
was made during the reign of Maria Theresa by convicts to aid in the transportation of lumber

Toplitzsee and a waterfall

 

The Traun flowing from Toplitzsee to Grundlesee

Grundlsee

The Traun in Obertraun

 

The Traun in Bad Ischl

 

The Swans in Salzkammergut

Based on the information in wikipedia and Karin's reference book, the swans in Obertraun, as well as St. Wolfgang and Gmunden, where  I have met them too, are the so-called mute swans.
The name 'mute' derives from it being less vocal than other swan species.
They are said to be monogamous and to often reuse the same nest each year, restoring or rebuilding it as needed. Male and female swans share the care of the nest, and once the cygnets are fledged, whole families can be seen looking for food. They eat both water plants and the grass.Though they are called mute, they can produce various sounds, like grunting, whistling, and snorting.
Snoring is  very funny, they make this sound when they see the bread in the hands - they show their impatience to get it.

They do not seem to leave for winter, at least I always see them in Obertraun. Once I saw a swan on Wolfgang See in St. Wolfgang in winter-the lake was frozen that winter, it must have been hard for him to survive. I felt really awkward because he started to run in my direction on the ice, and I had no food to share.

Gmunden is famous for its numerous swans.