to dungeons deep and caverns old

For those of you who know The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (I'm looking at you, daddy), the Mines of Moria are located in Transylvania. In case you needed this information.

We've only just come back from a trip to a local salt mine-- Praid/Parajd, apparently one of Europe's biggest stratification(s) of salt. It is massive and very very cool.

We took a bus a hour through the hills and mountains and valleys, which were absolutely gorgeous, and I was left staring at the way the mist drapes itself soft-heavy inside the green and the way the towns lie just out of its reach, but stretch up to meet the hills. The view continues to remind me of the UK, but this time, the Irish countryside. The patchwork pattern and the colors are very similar, but the texture of the vegetation gives it a different feel. As I was discussing with my roommate, who is from the very different geography of Florida, the scenery here is like looking at a familiar picture with a different zoom or sideways angle. The hills, the green, the valleys--it could be a picture of the mountains surrounding Lake George, but just slightly different. There's that extra flavor, a slightly different type of paint or mix of colors that makes it addictive. I can't stop staring.

Of course, the scenery made me think of a song, from which the title lyric comes: Misty Mountains, from The Hobbit soundtrack. (Mmm, Richard Armitage's voice...) Which was only enhanced when we found our way into the mine.

It starts with a long wooden staircase. The stairs descend into a dark, not-very-well-lit rock tunnel; down and down into darkness. It would be silent were it not for the tourists galumphing their way into the main chamber. It opens to you as you pass through a small door, and there is a truly massive cavern carved out of the earth.

I don't think Moria had kids' games and an entire rope course strung from the ceiling, though. It might have had a church cut into the side of it, though, as Praid does.

Down we go...

The rope course, for a sense of scale.

The church was really beautiful, and also huge, to fit the rest of the place.

It's been raining on and off today, interspersed with nice warm sun. Now, when I say it's been raining, I don't mean a misting kind of rain. I don't mean a nice light summer rain or even a summer storm. When it rains, it has been absolutely drenching everything with heavy pelting rain. I don't mind it, since I like rain, and the clouds are absolutely stunning, but it does make the idea of going out and digging tomorrow a little iffy. So I'm in a bit of a pickle. I like the rain and clouds so much better than humid sunshine, but I want to dig. We left it in the middle of a discovery on Thursday and I'm dying to get back to it. 

Look at those clouds, though. That is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.