Germany, Day 4

Monday:

Wake up and check out of the hostel. Kelsey and I wanted to shop; unfortunately we had one debby-downer who is currently driving me crazy. I didn’t get any German souvenirs yet, so hopefully he’ll back off in Munich and quit complaining.

Headed for Salzburg. It’s supposed to be a two and a half hour trip, which we somehow stretched to eight hours. I almost shot someone. I drove the whole way; I love driving through the mountains but our resident backseat drivers made me want to drive off a mountainside. It was scenic, but when we pulled over at 4pm for lunch I was ready for some alone time.

Fortunately I found a fantastic place for our lunch; it was a cute park with lots of lush grass and sun to sleep in. While they slept I took off for a walk through the park.

Found fantastic views of a castle and made new friends—they were maybe 5 and 6 years old. I was wandering through the woods and stopped to admire their fort. They ran up and started speaking to me in German. I shook my head, put my hand on my chest, and said, “English”. The little blonde boy looked to his friend then to me and said, “lkjadkd” and the other said “oadkjtbj”. Their names—how cute! I laughed and said, “Nein nein, Michelle”. They smiled and started speaking German again. I waved goodbye, pointing to their fort and giving a thumbs up (universal, no?). They shouted “Tank-jew, and Bahee-bahee” = “Thank-you, bye-bye”. Adorable overload.

Got into Salzburg pretty late. We scored a snazzy hotel for cheap—opening week prices. We have a huge room and friendly receptionists. My favorite is this super enthusiastic guy from Munich. After we wandered around Salzburg looking for a cheap place for dinner, without a map and ignoring the receptionist’s recommendation, until we settled on the one and only McDonald’s. Oh well. Tomorrow will be better, and hopefully not include a date with a BigMac.