Back in Germany

The train ride from Vienna to Salzburg was the most beautiful train ride we have had so far. It looked like it was from a movie: rolling hills, farms, cows, dense forests, cute cube-shaped houses, and spire-topped churches. With our Eurail Pass, we get to ride first class most of the time. The leg room is great. After sweating in Vienna, it was nice to have air conditioning on the train! The only problem was that while the air conditioning was on, it made a very high-pitched sound that was mildly annoying for me and nearly disasterous for Rusty, who opted for ear plugs. When he complained they didn't cut the sound, I "helped" him by shoving them in really solidly :o). It cut the noise, but made his eyes water.

We arrived in Salzburg in the rain and without a reservation for the night, but found a place to stay at the place our hostel in Vienna recommended. We thought we'd climb up to the cool fortress (Hohensalzburg, http://www.travel2austria.com/i/hohensalzburgfortress1.jpg) we saw on the hill, but when we reached the foot of the "hill," we were discouraged by the rain and the size of the "hill." St. Virgil's cathedral provided us free shelter from the rain and entertainment (there was a very mysterious room in the crypt) for about an hour. On accident we found Mirabellgarten (here's a picture of the fortress from the garden: http://www.travel2austria.com/i/salzburg2.jpg). Free, yet again. I love free things! The garden was beautiful and had different areas...carefully arranged flower beds, grassy lawns, wooded areas (where we found a small outdoor theatre), and a park (with slides and swings) that Rusty calls "the best park in Europe." Made it back to the hostel in time for a yummy and relatively inexpensive dinner. I've never had boiled potatoes with cheese and spaghetti sauce before, but I'm going to again!

Two of our roommates were Renee and Amy from New Zealand and Canada, respectively. Amy discovered that one can eat chocolate upside down while doing a hand-stand. All of us had seen signs for a concert near the river, so we all headed there despite the rain. A nice Austrian couple made room for a dry-ish place for us to stand with them near a table under a huge umbrella. We listened to and watched a so-so Austrian (?) band play some songs we recognized (20 seconds of "La Bomba", Elvis, Cranberries, and "Sweet Home Ah-lah-bah-mah") and some we didn't. We also got to watch a fun old guy with an umbrella "dance" and twirl his umbrella--his dancing didn't really have anything to do with the music and he sometimes danced when the music wasn't playing, which made everything all the more enjoyable.

The ride from Salzburg to Munich was short and at least as amazing as the last, with more mountains to look at!

Today, after arriving in Munich, we watched and heard the Glockenspiel (http://studenttravel.about.com/od/eftoursphotos/ig/Munch-s-Marienplatz-Photos.--69/Marienplatz-Glockenspiel.htm) and ate at Hofbrauhaus (http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html) where it was their 400th anniversary (who knew?) , where Rusty had a litre of beer he could hardly pick up.

Goodbye Salzburg, hello Munich!