Hallstatt, Austria

Rows of traditional 19th-century Austrian houses lined up neatly by the lake against the backdrop of the beautiful towering mountains making me feel like I was in a fairy tale. Hallstatt is a small charming village, so small Yura and I only took twenty minutes to walk this village from end to end.

This small village has a population of less than a thousand people but it seemed very crowded with tourists coming from all corners of the world. The visitors seemed to be mostly Asian people. It felt like coming back home but with a European background.

When we arrived, the atmosphere in Hallstatt was very busy because there was a celebration in the middle of the village square, a traditional local folk procession. It looks like the universe is blessing our journey because I overheard from the locals that the procession only takes place once a year.

Hallstatt is located on the slopes of the Dachstein mountains and on the shores of Lake Hallstatt. The square is so beautiful with classic Austrian-style houses painted in colorful ornaments made of wood, decorated with flowers on every balcony. In the center of the square stood the statue of the Holy Trinity.

After being satisfied by walking around the village, Yura and I continued to the World Heritage Skywalk by gondola to the top, with a height of three hundred and fifty meters which offered unique panoramic views over Lake Hallstatt and impressive mountain views.

It looks like we have to do the Hallstatt tour in a hurry considering the last train to Salzburg is only at 6:00 p.m., and there is still one tough task of getting this waist bag back to its owner.

puffftt...

One thing that was very interesting to me in this village is a cemetery located behind the Hallstatt Catholic Church, near the Chapel of Sts. 12th-century Micheal, known as the Hallstatt Beinhaus.

In this small cavernous room, more than two thousand skulls and various other human bones were perfectly stacked along the walls. This was due to the lack of burial grounds in this small village long ago.

In 1720, a tradition began, each skull would be colored and painted to make it look like the identity of the deceased family member, besides that the skulls were also labeled with their full names or initials. The shapes and patterns of decoration are mostly in the form of crosses, garlands, flowers, ivy branches, oak leaves, depending on the time when the skull is decorated.

The deceased were usually left buried first for more than ten years until the skull was ready to be removed from the grave, then cleaned by gravediggers, and left in the sun and open air. The point of this process is to get the ivory color. Painting on the skull is done at the discretion of the painter and family members.

Of the one thousand two hundred skulls, about six hundred of them were decorated with various symbols - victory, courage, rose, love. As for the other markers separated by year, those from the 1700s were painted with bold dark bouquets, while the newer ones, from the 1800s, had a brighter floral style.

This practice was later discontinued in 1960, so there were no longer any additional skulls there. This reminds me of the storage of skulls from Toraja land in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, even though the tradition was different.

The return trip from Hallstatt to Salzburg was noticeably shorter, only about an hour and fifteen minutes, local time already showed 1920. Yura and I rushed to buy a charger cable according to the type of phone and returned to the apartment.

It had been fifteen minutes, the owner of this waist bag never arrived, my body was almost feeling exhausted. For the umpteenth time, I was sipping hot chocolate at a cafe located on the corner of the street, not far from the Loft we live in. I've been yawning several times holding back sleepiness.

" Good evening."

I raised my head, in front of me stood a man with an age far above me, approximately twenty-eight years, he smiled as he held out his hand.

"My name is Nathan," said the young man politely.

"I'm Jade," I said briefly. I really wanted to give the waist bag and hurry up and go back to the loft apartment. "This is your bag, please immediately check if anything is missing, sorry beforehand, I've checked the contents of your waist bag."

Nathan checked everything in the bag and took out the ring box inside, his face shining with relief.

"I am very grateful for your kindness to return it, this ring is very valuable to my mother. These few days I haven't been calm at all, I thought that this ring would not come back," he said staring at the ring.

I immediately got up from the chair and said goodbye to go home.

"Wait..." While holding my hand to stay.

"Let me thank you, let me invite you to dinner as a token of my gratitude." He replied politely.

"Sorry Nathan, it's been a long day for me, I have to go back and rest. Today I just came back from Hallstatt and tomorrow I have to go back to Munich." I replied as I sat back down, face tired, and not excited.

"By coincidence, I also work in Munich. I'm from Salzburg, I just came home briefly to visit my mother," he replied again.

I'm not at all interested in your talk and long story Nathan, even though I took on the role of superhero this time, I thought.

"Okay then, let me have your phone contact, I don't want to feel burdened because I owe you a debt, at least let me reply if the opportunity arises," he said hopefully.

Whatever... I really want to sleep.

"Okay, you can come with me to the front of the lobby and have my contact number," I said as I walked quickly.

Today, we purposely did not set the morning alarm. We agreed to wake up at will, recovering our energy from the previous day, and prepared to return to Munich in the afternoon. Everything took place in slow motion.

There is sadness sneaking in my heart, remembering that today is the last day with Yura, tomorrow my little sister will soon return to South Korea to continue her education.

I found Nathan sitting waiting for me in the lower lobby when we were going to lunch.

"Good afternoon, Jade," he said, smiling sweetly.

"Good afternoon. Why didn't you call earlier? How long have you been in the lobby." I asked, looking at Nathan.

"Not long ago. It's fine to wait." He replied, showing a smile.

This weirdo always seems to be smiling and carefree, is he too excited to get back his bag? I thought.

"This is Yura, my traveling companion. Yura this is Nathan the owner of the waist bag yesterday."

"Can I take you both to eat? I happen to bring a vehicle," said Nathan.

"Yes," I said as I stepped out of the lobby.

Nathan seemed kind and polite. He was the type who didn't want to be indebted to people, or maybe the ring was too precious to him that it was so intent on serving both of us.

Nathan took us to the restaurant sky bar, a luxurious exclusive place with a stunning view, overlooking the dome of the beautiful church, the Fortress of Hohensalzburg, with the Alps as a backdrop.

"Thanks, Nathan. This is too much." I said with a smile. "Is there a story behind the ring? Or the ring for someone special?"

Nathan's face suddenly changed a little, his face that previously looked cheerful suddenly turned into sorrow, he took out a ring from his shirt pocket and put it on the table.

"This ring belongs to the person I love the most, she is the only person I have," he said softly.

"Sorry Nathan, I didn't mean to sadden you," I said feeling guilty.

"This belongs to my mother, my mother is in sick care. I'm sad that I could lose my mother at any time."

"I'm sorry to hear that, what does your mother have?" I asked quietly.

"She has stage 4 leukemia, Jade. Hope to live is very slim." Nathan could not help feeling sad, his eyes were filled with tears. He looked scared and vulnerable.

Instantly I felt the same way. Eight years ago, I was in Nathan's position, at that time I was in the second grade of high school. I who at that time did not know exactly what had happened, crying in fear without stopping seeing the condition of my mother which was getting worse and worse, cancer was making human lives feel cheap, and that easily it took the life of the most important person in my life, a nightmare come true.

Losing a mother is like losing half of your life, very painful, the next night was a night full of unbearable longing. My angel left, leaving me alone. Does God really not care about me? When mom closed her eyes, my whole world died.

"May I visit her? Before we return to Munich." I asked, clenching my fists, trying hard not to create a wet mess on my face.

The cold hospital air brought its own effect, and woke up the trauma I had long kept in a dark corner in my mind, my feelings were mixed with difficulty. The calm felt so far away, the fear was still there, there was the pain of loss, the hallway of the hospital was quiet, the pungent smell of disinfectant made me feel suffocated and a little nauseous.

I steeled myself to walk, entered the room. It appeared to be a woman in her sixties lying helplessly. She was very thin, without hair due to the chemotherapy, her eyes were so deep, and there were tubes coiled around her body. Her eyes told me that she was enduring intense pain.

We approached the woman's bed, the woman smiled very weakly. Nathan rubbed his mother's fingers, introducing us.

"Mother, this is Jade. The woman who found my ring." Nathan whispered softly.

The woman smiled at me, and as if trying to grab my hand, I reflexively stroked the woman's hand, pouring a little life energy into her. Hang in there ma'am, I said to myself.

I miss you, Ma.

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