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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 the 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 rainforests 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 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. 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 degrees 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 heads. It would be really scary if it weren’t for the lamps given to the tourists. However, the light showed the infinite 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, I'll remember that the snow only is the second place to ice.

【红霞译文】

身居大费城地区，你什么光都沾上一点，从牛气烘烘的热浪到一米来深的大雪，生活在这一带的人早已学会兵来将挡水来土掩，但随着旅行深入，我发现了所谓冷热两个极点，撒哈拉沙漠比默默无闻的蒙哥马利郡只不过多热上几天，而亚马逊热带雨林比宾州春季充其量潮湿一点，迄今我没少领略气温表失灵的酷热天气，现在终于到了体尝相反经历的时刻。

时值奥地利仲夏天气，究竟哪个地方还会冰冻三尺人迹罕至？我承认这个问题肯定超乎人的想象。阿尔卑斯山脉常年积雪，但费城即使再单调乏味，冬季也是雪花那个飘。暂且撇开雪的话题不谈，由冷衍生出来的副产品──冰才会引起本人更大兴趣。萨尔茨堡山脉无冰，至少在我视线范围内，不过这个答案要从这些名山峻岭里去挖掘。

从中世纪要塞高抛城堡往盐堡南部方向开车没有多远，你就会在盐堡山脉最大的岩溶高原发现一系列地下溶洞名叫超级冰窟世界，这些冰洞内部冰道交错，形成42公里/26英里长的石灰岩溶洞，以此号称世界之最。关键在于这些溶洞气温很低，甚至冷得要命，结果所有水分顺势凝固成冰，都说圣诞节纽约郊外的冰雕绚烂夺目，但它们无法与该冰洞浑然天成的冰川相媲美，遗憾的是冰洞严禁拍照，但谷歌向来一应俱全。

没错儿，虽然图上示意摄氏零度，但由于无风，因此温度还算说得过去，同时对冰洞里面巨大冰川没有什么影响。巨人冰洞从春季消融到冬季冷凝周而复始，冰川慢慢形成，创造了一个千姿百态的冰晶迷宫。当用手抚摸冰川，你既不感到暖和也不觉得凉快，不过长时间接触终将导致手指疼痛难忍。

冰川从一侧横贯另一侧、由上飞身至下、自头顶直扑而来，要不是游客们手提油灯照明，心里真感觉渗得慌。然而亮光从四面八方照射在茫茫冰海之上，难免令人毛骨悚然，何况脚下走过的冰川连亘42公里/26英里。冰洞有些区域黑黢黢的，预示有窟窿存在，有人刻意把地狱说成煎熬和折磨，但这里恰好相反，沉寂可谓你最大的敌人。之后你时不时发现大自然鬼斧神工，有的雕刻形似大象，有的塑像体如北极熊，内在情绪也被带动起来。

总的来看，冰洞让我大长见识，平生头一回明白了冷意味着什么，真是美不胜收。坦率地说，将来恐怕我再也不会见到这么多冰，禁不住令人十分沮丧。下次等到费城雪花纷飞时，想必我会记忆犹新，雪没有冰那么好看。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2017: Salzburg—Red Bull Hangar-7, AUT(奥地利盐堡—红牛公司第七机库)

2017: Hohenwerfen the Adventure Fort, AUT(奥地利高抛堡—探险要塞)

2017: Salzburg—Mirabell Gardens, AUT(奥地利盐堡—《音乐之声》花园)

2017: Salzburg—Rome of the North, AUT(奥地利盐堡—北方的罗马)

2017: Salzburg the City of Mozart, AUT(奥地利盐堡—莫扎特城)

2016: Stockholm—Beauty on the Water, SWE(瑞典斯德哥尔摩—水上仙境)

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

2016: Stockholm Palace, Sweden(瑞典斯德哥尔摩王宫)

2016: Capital Stockholm, Sweden(瑞典首都斯德哥尔摩)

2015: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican(梵蒂冈圣彼得大教堂)