The Cubicle is empty!!!

Where: Brannenburg – Bacharach, Germany
When: Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005

We got up around 2:30 am to get ready for their flight back home. Maria, Deanna, Don and Mary are leaving this morning for home while I’ll continue to travel for another week in Germany, Belgium, and Netherlands.

It was hard to pack last night since we were all tired from festing and watching the Brannenburg Brass band perform outside our pension. It was a good way to relax in the cool evening with hot chocolate.

The taxi was waiting outside as we left the pension. We then picked up Don and Mary at Ursula’s as there was a tearfull goodbye from her. This very well could be the last time we see her, but I greatly hope not.

Our ride to the airport was uneventfull as everyone was sleeping for the most part.

At the airport, our driver asked for our check in papers and he ran into the terminal to make sure we were dropped in the right location.

He dropped us off at the Air France-KLM-Norhtwest location of Terminal 1. This airport is huge. Same or bigger than Minn. St. Paul.

Anyway, all the bagages cleared and they have their boarding pass. It was sad to see them go. But I think they are all ready to go home and sleep on their own bed.

I bid them farewell and have yet to know how their trip home went.

I then took the subway back to t. Got tickets to Bacharach on the ICE (fast train, yep over 100 mph). Made a change in Mannheim and Mainz. The train left Munich at 8:16 and I arrived in Bacharach at 1:30 ish.

I then proceeded to look for a room for the night. It took me 45 min to find one. The first three places I stopped were fully booked. Seems like Sept. is a month for most germans to go travelling.

I took another street back to the train station. My thought here is that if I don’t find a room from the city center to the train station I’ll hop on the train to the next town and get a room there.

The street parallels the main st. and I saw a hotel with a free room sign on it. I inquired inside and they have one room left. For a single with bathroom and shower on different floors. I had no choice I guess.

The room is very spartan in todays standards, bed, sink ,table chair and closet. The windows are 2″ thick glass as the room looks to the Rhine river and park but the railline is just 10 feet away from the window. Then I noticed that the hotel even provide earplugs for the guests. Oh Boy. There’s a toilet by the stairs, but the shower is in the next floor.

After booking the room. I went to the train station to get my ticket to Köln. The nice gentlemen who ran the station and tracks did the ticketing for me as I did not understand the instructions in German. After taking 10 min to figure it out myself, all I had to do was enter the city code in the ticket machine and it will tell you how much you owe. Insert the money and the ticket and change will pop out. This however did not tell you if there was any transfers to be made. So Luckilly he to told me about the change in Koblenz. Lucky there.

Booked a boat tour of the Rhine River from Bacharach to St. Goar. They say that this is the prettiest part of the Rhine. Because the Bluffs starts along the river and it is at it’s norrowest and deepest here. Saw the castle’s that gaurded the river in centuries past. Saw the touristy small towns along the river and the famous LORELEY.

Hopped of at St. Goer to get my first bite of food since OKtoberfest pretzels. Then hopped on the ferry back.

I did not do the Castle tours since I’ll plan to come back with Maria and do the tours with her. Got to save somethings for the next visit.

Got back to the hotel and showered by 8 and went to sleep with the windows shut and was awoke by the alarm this morning at 530. As the next train went by, that’s when I realized I must have needed sleep and rest badly, since those trains usually comes past by often.

Off to Belguim tomorrow with a stop in Cologne to see the world famous Cathedral of Köln.

Auf Wiedersehen and Auf Wiedersehen Deutshland!!!

Where: Brannenburg, Germany
When: Friday, Sept. 23, 2005

Oktoberfest!!!!!!!!!

Today was all about Oktoberfest. Throughout our travels all week. We’ve seen people dressed in their traditional brindl (sp) for women and lederhosen for men. The lederhosen I found are leather and cost a great deal of money in the tune of about 55€. The type of lederhosen and designs in the ledehosen depends on the region you’Re from on maybe from the town you’re from.

Anyway, today the weather is perfect for festing. On the train groups of festers are already drinking and singing. They do this on those cars that holds the bikes as to not upset the more gentile passengers. How about that, responsible drinkers. The Munich train station is just full of fest goers.

We first went to Marienplatz to do some shopping. This is a pedestrian only shopping street, reminiscent of State st. in Madison except wider boulevard and more trendy big shops. People wathching is great here as Kevin almost broke his neck looking at every beautifull girl and asking them to marry him! j-k, on the marrying thing.

We then took the subway to the Oktoberfest grounds and the cars were packed. The exit leads right to the Oktoberfest grounds beer tents. How’s that for efficiency. No need for a button. No rip-offs here except if you buy a souvineer.

We went to the first 6 tents and they were full. They closed the doors and only let people in that had reservations on when people left. We went in on about 3 of them just to see the crowd. Wonderfull scene. hard to describe. Take the LaX Oktoberfest and multiply that by 10 and repeat that 8 times for each tent. We finally got seats outside of tent 7. But the scene is just as great as two rival Munich soccer team are close by and singing their team songs and taunting the other team and vice versa. There were a few shouting match, but it was all in fun.

Finished 2liters of beer and 2 huge pretzels. Great time at THE fest.

We had to go back early as they have to leave at 3 in the morning for their fllight home.

Auf wiedersehen!

Where: Brannenburg, Germany
When: Thursday, Sept 22, 2005

We all got up early today as we are heading to Wendelstein.

Ate at the cafe next door since the pension did not have breakfast until 8. BTW, we did not get charged for breakfast since we did not eat there, a value of 10€. How about that. You’ll never see this act in the states.

Us 4 (me, deanna, maria, kevin) walked the trails and back roads for about 1.5 miles to get to the cog train station to get you atop of Wendestein.

The views from the train of the Bavarian alps were great. But It was more beautifull when we got to the top.

We hike around the top of the mountian which took about 1.5 hrs. It was truly a great bavarian alp hiking. Completed by the sound of cowbells from the distant meadows below. It was a gorgeous day. you didn’t even need a jacket. The sun was out and so was the people.

You could have either taken the cog train from Brannenburg or the cable car from another town. I wanted to take the cable car, but we did not have car to get there and walking would have taken us about 2 hrs. It was about 20 km from Brannenburg.

Just like in Neuschwanstein, words do not do justice to the views from atop Wenderstein. So you’ll just have to wait to see the pictures. I think that this has been the first time ever for me to be above the clouds while on land.

The day was actually just starting.

When we got back….

The bells of the Cologne Cathedral are ringing right now and the 10 am mass just got done.

When we got back, around 2. Mathilda came with lunch of German goulash. Very good and she just kept refilling our plates until all the noodles were gone. Ate way too much as everyone else did too.

Went to the pension to rest and considered making myself throw up to empty my stomach as it was bloated by the goulash. Wait, my stomach is naturally bloated, so I just trested.

At around seven, Mathilda and Josef (brother and sister, second cousins of Don) came to pick us up and take us to the farm. This farm would have been Don’s grandfather if he did not decide to leave for the US. So it is a very nostalgic place.

The family of Josef (wife Anna, daugthers Monika, Marriane, twins Elisabet and Christina) and Mathilda (husband Gerhard, son Robert and daughter Petra who was not there) met us when we got to the farm. There was the obligatory introductions and picture taking.

Then it was down to business as we were offered beer and more food for dinner. I just ate an equivalent of 3 meals 3hrs ago and now I’m being offered more food. I just prayed to god to stretch my stomach so as to not offend the kind gestures of this family. After dinner the schnapps came out and did about 2 shots. This literally almost exploded my stomach. But wait, there is the farm fresh baked apfelstrüdel mit eis. Holly sheista! more food. I must have ate that apple pie and ice cream in my sleep because I just did not want to think of eating anymore.

After dinner, the table talk concered about the family tree as it was traced back to the 1700’s. There were paintings of past Dialler family members. Remember that paintings were done before the invent of photography.

Josef gave us a book copy of all the land owners along with the history of previous owners of that land. This book covers the town of Grosselhousen.

As any family gathering that happens once in a lifetime or twice. The night was getting long and there was a lot of drinking.

The conversation went along great as most of Josef’s kids knows enough english and Robert was also there to interpret. The communication was great and so was the fun.

auf wiedersehen!

Where: Branneburg
When: Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005

Today was basically a rest day.

All three of us slept in and did not go to breakfast until about 9:30. Went to Ursula’s to do laundry.

While Maria and Deanna went to drop the laundry, I walked to town to look for an ATM. Found one and took the trail back to Ursulas house. Her house is along a creek which has gravelled walking trails on each side of the creek. The water on the creek is clear as it all comes from the mountains.

I got back and we decided to go to Wendelstein. The Highest mountain around Brannenburg. Ursula said that it was late to go there and really enjoy the experience. This was around 2 pm. We started walking to the cog train station that takes visitors to the top when we said that Ursula was probably right. So we went to the pension to have lunch and relax. I had schweinschnitzel und sauerkrauten for lunch und weiss beir. Now that’s a good lunch. At 6€, that beats a big mac any day.

All three of us then walked to town and hiked in the trails.

We got back to Ursula’s around 5 ish and Mathilda was there. She is Don’s second cousin or something like that. She is a fun lady with a very bubbly personality. She asked Deanna in her thick German if we had lunch. Deanna did not quite understand and said nein. She should have said ja.

So the next thing we here is the frying of some schweinschneitzel (sp). Basically I had another two pork chops with salad. Man was I full. With dessert and beir or rather Radla ( a mixture of lemon water and beer, very good tasting, german drink this when they don’t want to get drunk).

Generally onenk that they would lose weight when they travel. I think Brannenburg will be an exception. They’re just feeding us like crazy.

Kevin showed up at around 6 and Mathilda quickly fed him too.

The night ended with making plans for the rest of our stay in Brannenburg.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Where: Füssen – Brannenburg
When: Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005

Our travel itinerary today is Füssen – München – Rosenheim – Brannenburg. There was plenty of time alloted to make the transfers the closest at Rosenheim being 7 min. but only went to three tracks over.

We got to Brannenburg and had to call a taxi to get us to the hotel. The taxi number was posted above the telephone booth. Deanna called but she had a hard time understanding her German. So luckily, Mary went inside and ask one of the ladies working at the station restaurant to come and talk on the phone which she did and instructed the cab driver to pick us up at the station.

She came and had to shuttle us in two groups to the hotel. I think the cost for all the taxi was like 15€. Not bad considering the hotel was about a mile away. I wasn’t about to lug all those lugages.

We got to Pension Schlosswirt and it was empty. My first reaction was Sheista! They’re no longer in operation. But there was a note taped on the door. I know enough German to encrypt that those people showing up today, pick up your key at the bakery next door. I then proceded to go to the bakery next door and ask them to call the owner and that I have a reservation. Luckily one of the girls working behind the counter knows enough english and I know just enough german to get the message thru. There was alot of hand gesturing. She indicated that one of the owners was coming. She also called Ursula to tell her that we have arrived.

I guess, Tuesday most everything in Brannenburg is closed. Kind-of a self imposed weekly holiday for the town. Who knew?

We checked into the pension and it is a nice place to stay. One of the better hotels we’ve stayed at. It was roomy and had a bigger bathroom than most.

We’re all waiting outside the hotel for Ulla to come. Half-hour later, she came from around the church and Don and Mary recognized her immediately. They haven’t seen each other in 30 yrs.

She treated us to snack at the bakery where we had some coffee and giant cake slices. Daiser Backerei is where she used to work. She worked there for over 20yrs. But she’s also been retired for close to 2o yrs. But she helped the ladies serve the snacks. The cakes and cookies displayed were so good looking and looked so yummy!!!

We then walked to her house which was about a 15 min walk. The scenery around this town is just magnificant. Brannenburg is located right in the foothills of the bavarian alps.

The night was spent on catching up with the Brannenburg family and Deanna was doing the translating. She lives in a beautiflull traditional german home.

Righ off the bat she takes out a bottle of mixed berry liquer. She slammed one and the bottle was empty an hour later.

Went home late and crashed. Very tired with all the travelling and visiting.

auf wiedersehen!

Where: Füssen, Germany
When: Sept. 19, 2005

WoW! This town is twice as beautifull as Salzburg. I can only imagine this at Christmas time. With all the lights, this would make it a beautifull vaction spot even in winter. The streets are clean and neatly decorated. 3 blocks square of shopping on the old town dominates this small town of 14k. The fortress kindof hangs on the old town, but that is charming in itself.

But everyone comes to Füssen for the castles.

Today we visited the Neushwanstein Castle. This castle was the inspiration for the disney castle. The other castle that can be seen from N-castle is the Howenschwangau castle.

The Neush-castle was the idea of King Ludwig II. Ah Sheista! It just hard to write about it. There are so many neat things about it and it is better to do it with pictures which I can’t provide at the moment. So I’ll skip the description and save it till I see everyone.

After the castle tour, we hiked the trail to Marienbrücke (Mary’s Bridge) to look at the castle. From this standpoint you feel like your in the clouds looking down on the castle as the fog was rolling in. We snapped our photos and got out because it’S really getting cold.

We took the bus down to the village and the route bus back to Füssen.

Overall a great experience at Neuschwanstein Castle! Would not have miss it for the world. Will have to get back here soon. Füssen is just one of those towns that you feel comfortable at any time of the year! Even though it feels very commercial, as tourism I’m sure is driving the economy here, you can still go bowling at the basement of our hotel! that’s right Bowling!

Our toughest task for the rest of the afternoon and night is to shop and find a place to eat.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Best regards always, more than half way thru the trip. Arrgggghhh!!!!

Hope to see everyone soon!

Auf Wiedersehen!!

Where: Salzburg, Austria – Füssen, Germany
When: Sept. 18, 2005

Today was a travel day. We went from Salzbrug, Austria to Füssen, Germany. As with any travel day there are always anxiety about making train connections and being on the right trains. Therefore, people tend to be uptight about things. It certainly was today as tempers flared about if what we’re doing is right concerning about the right track, etc.

Oh Sheista! I saw in CNN that the Packers lost 26-24 to Cleveland! Holy buckets! What’s going on with that team. Well 14-2 ain’t that bad of a season I guess.

Anyway, back to our trip thing. At Salzburg they changed the track where our train is to what is on our ticket, so there were some confusion as to if we are actually right. But sometimes you just have to make a decision and go with it. We actually asked the conductor and he said that this is the train to Munich. Munich you say! The land of Oktoberfest! Why yes.

Our route on this second class train goess from Salzburg to Munich and stops at just everytown in between. From Munich to Garnisch-Pertenkirchen (Beautiful town on the foothills of the bavarian alps) then to Ruette, Austria.

The train ride to Munich was uneventfull, but at the train station is when things actually got crazy. We had 15 min to make the change. Think of the letter U here. We arrived at track 3, located on the left tip of the U. Our connecting train is in Track 29 located on the right tip of the U. Needless to say it will be a hit or miss proposition. Deanna and I carried the two big luggage along with our backpacks and daybag. We just wanted Don and Mary to be light and just go as fast as they can to make the train. Nearing the train with about a minute to go, the train conductor motioned Don and Mary to hurry, Deanna and I are already on board with the heavy luggage and Maria is at the door waiting for her parents. I’m thinking, Sheista! they’re not going to make it. As soon as they planted their feet on the train, the door closed behind them. Whew, problems averted!

The ride to Garnish-Partenkirchen (G-P) was pretty as it runs along this long bueatifull lake and you’Re approaching the Bavarian Alps. At G-P we just miss a train that takes us to Reutte, Austria. We look at our ticked our train does not leave for another 10 mins. But as departure time arrive, the board does not indicate that a train is leaving at our designated track. We talked to the person at the ticket office and he indicated that the train that normally runs that route and time only runs from Mon – Fri. Sheista! So our next train to catch is not until 16:04. An extra hour wait. Oh, well.

We catch our train to Ruetta, which makes its way thru the Bavarian Alps and the Tirol Mtns. of Austria. There are signs of flooding of a month ago visible. Lot of washed out debris lining the river edges and houses in the low part of Reutte has some visible water marks on the side. But the mountains in the area is beautiful. It look like it snowed in the morning above the tree line. I could’nt tell for sure if it was snow or the reflections on the rocks. The sun came out as we approached Reutta.

We got to Reutta. Beautifull looking town. But we have no time to check it out. We had to call for a taxi to get to Füssen, Germany. Our final destination for the day. He came after 30 min wait. But can only carry a max of 4. Sheista! So we spit into two groups. Maria with her parents and me and Deanna. He didn’t have a meter so I ask for a cost of the trip. 38€ for each. Done deal. At this pt. we really did not have any choice. This whole operation took less than 1 hr. We are finally in Füssen. Home of Neushwanstein Castle!

If you’Re counting, we actually crossed the Austrian – German border 3 times today. I think that only the Wermacht matched that record. We actually saved money (100€) by going this way and that’s including the taxi rides. (26€ for the tickets and 76€ for the taxi for a total of 102€) . Even with second class from Salzburg to Füssen directly the cost was 40€ each fora total of 200€. So, in the end was it worth the savings. If I was travelling alone, I would say yes. But with Don and Mary, I would say no. But this is only if I knew what we went thru before hand. But that’s done. Put it in the memory bank and learn for next time.

We met up with Maria’s cousin from West Salem, Kevin Lyden. He’s here for 3 days and will meet up with us at Brannenburg to see the family’s german relatives.

We ate dinner at the Hotel Zum Hechten, where we are staying. We all had some typical german food of wienerschnitzer, rooled beef with veggies and pork in veggie soup. Of course Apfel strudel mit eis for dessert. Wundevar!

We then went for a stroll around town late evening and ended at a bar next to Lecht river that looks onto the Fortress in the old town. Great view. Kevin started conversations with some germans regarding the elections and we left him there as we were getting tired.

It was another long travel day. But we got here safe and sound.

Alles gut heir!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Where: Salzburg, Austria
When: Sept. 17, 2005

“The hills are alive with the sound of Music.”

I’m sure everyone has heard those notes to those lyrics ever since you’ve been young. If you really like the movie and want to remember it just like the movie. I suggest you log off now and get back to work like you should. j-k!

Very interesting Sound of Music Tour today. The tour guide pretty much debunked the movie. Gave us the ins and outs of what really happened. Micheal, our guide, was quirky but good in his own way. Anytime he did’nt want to talk he would put the movie sountrack on. His english was good but was not excellent like Markus yesterday. He seemed like he needed to smoke every minute. I actually caught him at the end of the tour dragging as many smokes as he can before we had to get going. What a funny sight!

Now, maybe you should see the movie again to get a refresher on the certain scenes. Or just be familiar with the movie.

Anyway, the tour started with the locations they used around Salzburg. The market scene where she picked up a fruit, the market was going on today and we went to the square where they filmed that shot. Interesting as one tour bus or van was passing by the market after another. The locals were just waving at the tourist and one vendor actually raised an apple just as if Maria Von Trapp would buy it. We then went to the Nönnberg Abbey where the wedding of Georg and Maria Von Trapp actually happened. Later on this. The abbey is closed for any tours whatsoever. We then went above Salzburg to the new Museum location. This location was where she had the kids lined up to sing the do re mi song. With the view of Salzburg to the west in the background. Pretty view.

Actually today was very rainy. We really lucked out yesterday by going to the Eagles Nest and getting a clear skies to get the magnificent views. But today we had to actually use our umbrellas.

As we were leaving the last location by the museum. Mary tried to pick up a rock or something and Micheal the tour guide just had that quizical look on his face as to what on earth do you wan’t a rock from here for? Very funny scene! Oh well.

We then headed to the building where the final performance took place. Actually it was closed but we saw the outside of the building. They are also refurbishing the building and adding on in preparation for the big Mozart celebration next year. The city of Salzburg will attempt to play all 22 of Mozarts concertos. This has never been done before. One on each night. This will be the biggest Mozart festival ever.

We then headed to the Mirabell Gardens. This place is actually for free to see. The Mirabell Gardens were laid out in the 18th Century. This is where Maria and the children were seen dancing around the statue of pegasus, the winged horse, and thoughout the gardens singing “Do re mi” song. Very bueatiful rose gardens even in the rainfall.

We then headed thru the new town and to the Leopoldskron Castle. The castle was actually owned by Max, Georg’s confidant. In reality, Max was never that close of a confidant. He was actually a talent scout. He was one of the founder of the Salzburg Music festival back in the 1920’s. He was half-jewish and his real name was actually changed for the movie. The Nazis actually tried to make him an honorary Aryan, but he declined. His castle was confiscated and owned by the Nazi governor of Salzburg during WWII. The front exterior of the castle was used as the Trapp family home. The children were boating on the lake and fell into the water. This was in the back of the castle. Also, the Venetian room of the castle was copied and was used as the ballroom in the movie.

The glass gazebo where the oldest sang the song “16 going in 17” was originally located in the Leopoldskron Castle. But the owners of the castle after the war, was so pissed that alot of teenagers would sneak at their grounds to reenact the scene that they donated the gazedo to the city of Salzburg in the 50’s I believe. The City then placed it in the Hellbrunn Castle grounds. The Hellbrun Castle ground was humungous! one of the “roads” that paralells the castle was used when Maria was dropped off the bus to be the nanny of the kids. It’s a tree lined road.

We then headed to the Lakes region. Where the water is so clean that it is drinkable. The water is so clear you can read the label on the cup that was in the lake floor. Most of the scenery was from this area. The towns of Fuschl, St. Gilden and Mondsee. The scenery shown at the beginning of the movie was filed at Lake Fuschl on the way to St. Gilgen. This area I believe is called the Salykammergut area. We went to the location where she twirled. But no one went out to recreate as it was cold and raining. So we just told Micheal to press forward.

We then went to the village of Mondsee. Very picturesque! Here, the original trees are still there where the kids were hanging from when Georg and the Baroness came back from Vienna, except that the trees are much taller and bigger than in the movie. duh!

The Mondsee Cathedral is where the wedding scene was filmed. The cathedral is very beautiful. Maria, led by Leisl, walked down the aisle to meet the baron in front of the stairs of the main altar. Today a baptism was taking place.

The baron was born in the balkans and he came from a naval military family. His first wife, whose family fortune came from her parents arms factory made their fortune during WWI. She died of childbirth complications almost to a year after the last one was born.

After WWI, Georg despised the Germans especially the Nazis because he blamed them for the decline of the Astrian empire and it’s way of life. That’s why he dicided to leave rather than serve in the U-boats.

Maria Von Trapp was rather a large lady not the skin and bones type as depicted in the movie.

The family actually fled by train to Italy then to England then to the US. They never crossed the mountains as shown in the movie and never set foot in Switzerland.

Maria wrote the original book and sold the rights to a german company. Which swindled her of money by saying that they can only offer so much by german law or something like that. Anyway, there are actually a couple of german movie version of the book. The American movie company that made the movie actually bought the rights from the german company. So the Maria Von Trapp never made much from her story. Well, the rest is history as they say.

Maria and Georgh had three children of their own. But the original 7 children did not like the book or the movie for that matter. They even did not like Maria that much either. The movie seemed to portrait the opposite. The childrens biggest concern was that their father was portrayed as very strict. He was not and he was very seldom home. This much Maria admitted at a later date.

The Von Trapp family did do singing tours in the US as a means of livelihood and finally settled in Vermont and openned a wellness resort. Maria has actually visited the place on one of her trip to Vermont to see her friend Carol.

That’s it for the SOM tour. I hope I didn’t break anyone’s heart. But it is what it is.

I can’t wait to watch the movie and look at the scenery. It should be interesting.

Ended the evening by having 3pints of guiness at the Dü wählst den literally 100ft from the hotel door. This place was voted the Irish Pub of the Year 2005!

Cheers Mate!!!!!!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Tomorrow, travel day to Füssen!

Where: Salzburg, Austria
When: Friday, Sept. 16, 2005

Travelers always says that if you arrive in a new town and need some company, always head to the nearest Irish pub. More on this later.

We were running a little late this morning. Had to rush through breakfast and got in the lobby for our Bavarian tour that I set up with Bob’s Tour. I found out later that Bob is no longer running the show that he has been divorced and got back to the states about 20 or so yrs ago. His ex-wife took over but kept the name. She eventually remarried to Bruno. But Bob’s tour sounds better than Bruno’s don’t you think?

After seeing some very nice little towns and breweries, that’s been brewing beer for over 500 yrs. We finally got to the Eagle’s nest. This place a present for Hitler’s 50th birthday and it took 3 yrs to build. They had to build a roadway to leadup to the tunnel that leads to the elevator that took you up to Hitlers retreat. All the original building material is still in tack. The marble fireplace that Mussolini gave to Hitler for his birthday has been chipped over the yrs by people looking for souveniers.

The views are what brings people up here. Can’t wait to show the pictures. We stayed up there for about 30 minutes. After touring Eagles nest we went into the town of Bergtesgarten. Had a traditional german lunch of bratwurst, mashed potatoes and sauerkrout. Most excellent. We also had an order of pretzels with white sausage.

After lunch we went back home, while Claudia, Markus tour assitant sang Edelwies and the Salzburg songs for us. She’S a good singer.

Late that night we did go to the Irish Pub as its called and had one to many pints of the Guiness. So, every half hour we had to order chicken wings so we can drink more. It was a fun time. They started out with traditional Irish songs and then switched to more rock tunes like the POLICE!!! This really made my night as one of the bartenders like the Police alot. Maybe more so than me. He was a great guy to talk with but had a very thick Irish accent and I had ask what all the time.

I’m certainly feeling the effects of the Guiness and the cigarette smoke this morning.

Gotta run to breakfast.

Auf wiedersehen!!!!

Where: Vienna – Salzburg
When: Sept. 16, 2005

Travel Day.

Maria and Deanna got up early to get coffee before we had out to WestBahnhoff to catch our train to Salzburg. We packed most of our stuff last night except for toiletries and overnight clothes.

We bid Tina farewell as she has been a gracious host. She autographed my guidebook as her picture was in it. I’ll make a copy of the page and mail it to the author.

There was a little confusion at the train station as I checked the board it said that our train to Salzburg was leaving at 9:34 at Track 5. But I could not locate the car, number 313. So I ask a train rep that roams around the tracks helping helpless tourists like me. He said the train at track 5 is the slow train. I didn’t understand by slow train as it was not painted yellow and it had long cars. (bad humor). Anyway, the train weÄre looking for is at track 7 the faster train to Besl. Which I believe is in Switzerland if I’m not mistaken. They posted the final destination of the train. But they did not post the intermediate stops which included Salzburg. Oh well. We found the right car and the reserved seats.

The ride itself was ho-hum. Mostly flat terrain with quaint villages here and there. It got prettier as we got closer to Salyburg.

We got to Salzburg at near 1pm. We got our tickets for Füssen on Sunday right away, so we don’t have to wait last minute. We then got a taxi to our hotel. The taxi driver was very nice as he spoke english very well. He was also very engaging. He pointed out places and gave historical accounts as we headed for the hotel. He mentioned that he had just dropped off 4 people from Wisconsin just an hour ago heading for Vienna. Ok. He then mentioned that he has a brother that lives in GB and that he gets numerous packers paraphenalia(sp) as presents from his brother. I’ll give him a benefit of a doubt here. I didn’t see any packer stuff in his van, which was very nice. A mercedes benz by the way. We were at the hotel in no time and it only cost us 8€. Not bad considering the luggage we have.

The Hotel Weisse Taube is located a block away from Mozart Platz. There’s this guy Moyart again. As we were checking in we booked a dinner & concert at the Hohensalzburg. Which is the castle high above the mountain that overlooks the entire city sorrounding. The rooms are nice and clean as Mary and Don has a great view of the castle from their window.

We took the furnicular to the castle. Very expensive. Will not take this again, I’d rather hike. The view are breathtaking! even though it was in the foggy side, the mountains as you look towards Germany are very impressive. Awesome view. We will be in and seeing the mountains tomorrow on our Bavarian tour. The view of Salzburg is equally impressive. You can really distinguish the old town from the new town. The old town being the “touristy” side of town. The two places are divided by the Salszach rive. This was called the salt river because in the olden days when salt was worth it weight in gold, pretty much all the salt travelled down this river from the salt mines of Bavaria. So, Salzburg was strategic and wealthy as they would tax these salt boats. The fortress built here was never breach in its numerous attempts. But the railway station was heavily bombed during WWII.

The dinner was great food, but the restaurant overlooking the west side of the fortress has a commanding view of the valley to the west and the Bavarian mountians. We had a spectacular view of the sunset.

The concert was great as usual. Everyone thought it was great including myself, considering the location. It was in a chamber that when peering over the windows, you can see all of Salzburg. This will probably be my last concert of this type for a long while. I can only hear of Mozart so much.

We had a great walk back to our hotel after the concert. The streets were void of vehicular traffic with patrons talking and laughing at various cafe’s along the way having their last coffee or beir for the day. The window shopping at night is great as there is no chance of purchase. Whew!

Will have to try that Mozart chocolate tomorrow. See if this Mozart guy is as good of a confectionary as he is a musician!

Having a great time! but miss you all!

Auf Wiedersehen!