Today we were not in a rush to leave our pension. It has been a cozy place to stay. We got packed up and FaceTimed Katie Root (who is house sitting for us) and then my mom & dad. After assuring Dad that Bryan had no intention of buying a pair of capris, we checked out of our room and sat down to a very nice continental style breakfast prepared by the owner. She brought me hot tea to drink, and seated us by a window with a view of the nearby mountain. We each had cereal, and a roll with jam. Bryan enjoyed some orange juice and I ate an apple. It was nice to sit down and eat a real breakfast. I teased Bryan, "Anytime we get to eat with silverware..." ;)

On a similar topic, I've found that my concept of an amenity has broadened . Here we enjoyed the sit down breakfast. For the past four nights we made use of our own private bathroom and (prepare yourself) towels. When we are on a first class car on the train we make the most of the power outlets, charging our devices. Also on the trains and in restaurants we eat at we appreciate the free toilet (by using these we have avoided paying for them on the street or in the train station as of yet). In most towns, simple fountains consisting of a spout and a trough provide the coldest drink you will get anywhere. We keep our eyes open and fill our bottles regularly. (Bryan particularly misses cold beverages, lemonade and free refills.) I look forward to the next time we stay in a hostel with a common kitchen we can use.

We seem to have adjusted by now to a slightly different style of pedestrianism. There are far fewer crosswalks, for one. People on foot always have the right of way, and not just in a legal "I can sue you if you hit me" kind of way. What that means to us is that we need to be bold and step right out into traffic and they will stop . Also, the crosswalks they do have are timed differently. They allow considerably less time to cross, in keeping with the brisker pace at which the Swiss and Austrians seem to walk (we will learn as we continue if this generalizes to the rest of Europe). Also, when the red man is displayed (the don't walk symbol) the light for car traffic is immediately green with no delay. We are starting to cross more confidently at this point.

In any case, we enjoyed our breakfast and walked into town, crossing the street like pros. :) Then we got on our train which took us to Garmish where we traded trains and rode to Innsbruck. We had about 40 minutes to kill, so we decided to reserve our seats for the next leg of our trip. Unexpectedly, this cost money. We were a bit flustered by this, but 7€ was nothing to get too worked up about. We shrugged our shoulders saying "It's just a thing" and went on to grocery shopping. We weren't sure whether there would be a kitchen at our hostel this evening, so we just ended up grabbing some drinks and then heading to the train platform. While we waited for the train, we chatted with some fellow travelers from Las Vegas.

Back on the Rail Jet, Bryan enjoyed his first-class Kit Kat bars. :) Now, imagine if you will, that you are flying first class, and then when they ask you if you would like to order something from the menu, you turn them down - only to make PB & Js with a plastic spork . When I mentioned how odd (tacky) this was to Bryan, he said, "I've got my pinky up." And he did. :)

When we arrived in Salzburg it was raining. We donned our rain flies, put a brave face on it, and went looking for the TI station. This was made more difficult by the fact that the entire train station was under construction. Oh well. We followed the signs to a building with a sign on it that said the TI information was temporarily housed in the main train station (where we just came from). So, back we went to find it. Not too long after, we managed to get ourselves a map and the pertinent information (like where our hostel was located).

Now, we were not too sure about this location. In fact it was the fourth place Bryan tried to get us reservations. It was listed in our guidebook as a rather lively youth hostel. But we made our way there, through more construction, and filled out our registration forms. Then it came time to pay, and Bryan got into his money belt and found that he no longer had the Euros with him. The zipper was still undone on his money belt, and best we can figure, he must have fumbled it and missed the zippered pocket of his money belt when putting it away after our unexpected reservation fee. There is no way it could have been stolen from his money belt. We'd been wearing our backpacks all day up until now, and the hip belt would make it downright impossible . So, as we are standing there digesting the fact that we had lost a couple hundred dollars, the woman behind the counter asks us, "Was it a lot of money you lost?" Um, yes. "$h*#!" Our feelings exactly.

So we finish checking in, I tell Bryan it is fine, and he tells me he knows. It won't effect what we get to do, but that kind of thing just always makes you feel a little sick. Which is part of why I think it happened. Since yesterday Bryan has been sneezing and has had a runny nose, and he just wasn't feeling top notch this morning. So again, we shrug our shoulders, "It's only a thing." We decide to take the walking tour, though neither of us are really feeling it at the moment.

As we walk through old town taking pictures however, we did end up having a good time. It is hard not to. All these beautiful buildings, sculptures, fountains, paintings, flowers and plazas. The sun even started to peak out before too long. Which is when I learned I'd broken my sunglasses. Really?!? I had to sit down on a bench for a minute to collect myself. Take a deep breath, keep going, and get some nice pictures for the blog so you don't have to tell anyone what a lousy day this has been.

So we get back up, me wearing my irreparable sunglasses (with only one side). I go to snap a picture of the church, and the camera says "batteries exhausted ." For the love! We went into the post office, and bought a few stamps and a pack of batteries and kept going. We tenaciously took photos, walked to the places, and tried our darnedest to have a good attitude about the whole thing. We treated ourselves to gelato. Then to schnapps. Then we walked through a garden. By this time, I was tired, hungry and on the verge of tears. We made it to a grocery store for some spaghetti sauce and bread. At this point a small bug decided to fly directly into Bryan's eye. Yech! But we made it back to the hostel (which does have a kitchen) for dinner. After which, I am feeling much better.

The weather is very nice outside now. But I don't think we are going to tempt fate any further. I think we are going to stay in and call it a day. Sorry the blog is a bummer today. Hope the beautiful pictures make up for it. If you are going to have a rough day, it may as well be in Europe, right?

Despite things getting off to a rough start for our stay in Salzburg, it really ended up being one of our very favorite stops on our trip. The town, the food, the people - they were all great. We were able to relax and just enjoy wandering the streets and we even did a little shopping too. The hostel we stayed at was clean and comfortable, although the clientele was definitely younger than us. Still, we were able to use the kitchen and laundry to good effect.