Hello,
After my late night ramblings in Munich (I'll try to add a few more tidbits to the Munich posting) I
didn't get out of bed until 10 am. Checkout was at 10:30 so there wasn't much time to do anything let along post another entry before I left.
The train from Munich to
Salzburg was at 11:30. Trying to buy a ticket at the kiosk was a bit
challenging, especially the question I
referes to earlier, 'what is your means of transport'?
Umm, how about a train? I asked a service rep. for help but her and I were having a language barrier moment, or 2 or 10, so I went with the first choice. And when I was on the train and the ticket-puncher came by, not a word was said. Must have been the right choice!
When I arrived in
Salzburg I was tired. So with a free map from the information center I was on my way by foot to the hostel I planned to stay at in the old part of town, across the river. I read it was only a 20 minute walk. 40 minutes later and going in circles, I still couldn't
figure out where I was on the map and the 2 people I asked for help, 1 didn't speak any English and the other said I should get on a bus since I had a long way to go. Getting on a bus didn't sound like a good idea to me---if I was having a hard time with a 'regular' street map I can't imagine the confusion I would have had with a bus schedule. So after that, the first hotel I came to, I checked in.
After a shower and a change of clothes I hit the street. Come to find out I was only a 10 minute walk from where I wanted to be initially. Oh well!
Salzburg moves at its own pace---slow. People stroll and the bicyclists, who are everywhere, pedal slow too. Around 3 I stopped at an outdoor cafe and ordered a beer and Wiener
Rindsgulash that came with a side of bread. And I did what the people of
Salzburg do---I took my time.
After that I walked down to the Salzach river, 'the salt river'. It's not named that because it's salty but because salt from the mines upstream used to be transported through the city. Beyond that was the fortress overlooking the city, which I walked up to later that evening.
There was a funicular to go up to Hohensalzburg Fortress but I elected to walk up. Along the way I met a surgeon from Mongolia, Nikbolt (or at least that is how I heard his name and when I repeated it, he said it was right). He did tell me American names are much simpler than where he is from. Yes, Nikbolt, we are boring when it comes to names. Anyway we walked up to the top of the fortress, getting there around 7:00. There was music by Mozart and the views were fantastic.
A little history: in 1525 an invading army approached Salzburg and the citizens sought refuge in the fortress. But soon they didn't have much food and the invaders knew it. In fact the people of Salzburg had only one cow left. A resident had a novel idea: they paraded the cow along the castle parapet so the army could see. Thinking that by the next day the cow would be butchered and the citizens would have to surrender, the army waiting. But during the night, the Salzburg people painted the cow black and the next morning they paraded the same cow for the army to see. Thinking they had food to last much longer than they were willing to wait, the army turned and left. Since then, the people of Salzburg have been known as 'oxen-washers'--'Stierwascher'.
***I didn't take a picture of the plastic cow near the top.
Walking the streets at night was very relaxing and I bought a couple of Mozartkugel's. They have three layers: a hard, dark chocolate outer crust, a caramel layer within and finally a core of white chocolate. Very tasty. Being tired didn't prevent me from entering a bar, Shamrock's Irish Pub. A few Guinness's later and I retired for the night, knowing I had a long train ride to Switzerland.
10/2, 9:00 am: Okay I have to go since I am ignoring my hosts in La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland. We went over to Ann and Roland's friends house last night and had dinner. Jerry, an American married to a Swiss like Ann, busted open a few bottles of liquor with homemade labels. One tasted like Sambuka, the other like paint thinner. We had 3 shots of the latter.
Okay, pictures are up so you can check them out on the left hand side at flickr. Gotta go!
10/2 7:00 pm: I added a few things from my journey from the other days. I wanted to make a new entry about La-Chaux-De-Fonds, but company is coming over any moment know so I have to run. I hope that later tonight I can talk about all that has happened here. But if it was anything like last night with the turpentine after-dinner drinks, well, I can't promise.
Au revior!
***It took a half hour this morning to get pictures uploaded (even longer since I had to figure out a French computer and what things meant---was I uploading or deleting?! Eep!---I was uploading). So, more pictures to come---including SM!
And here is the 
