Salzburg

We arrived in Salzburg shortly after 4am, quietly sneaking out of our overnight cabin and onto the freezing cold platform (it was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit). We walked about ten minutes to our hostel, conveniently located just around the corner from the bahnhof, and dropped our luggage off in their storage room. After signing up for a salt mine tour, we braved the cold once more to grab a quick bite at a nearby bakery. We returned to the hostel in time to catch the shuttle to the pick-up location in town for the tour, then waited for what seemed like an eternity in the cold before the tour bus arrived and we all boarded. We drove a short distance, maybe half an hour (Pat and Joanie were both out cold for the majority of the drive), over the border into Bavaria where we made a brief stop at the base of the Eagle's Nest, an infamous spot visited by Hitler and his top servicemen during World War II. From there, we went to the main attraction: the salt mines.

Though we couldn't take photos inside the mines, the experience inside was quite impressive. After donning our miners' overalls, we rode a miniature train into the caverns of the mines, then slid down a wooden lacquered slide in small groups, leaning back slightly while holding onto the shoulders of the person in front of us. Walking through the mines, we learned all sorts of interesting facts about salt and the importance and value of it; for instance, the word salary contains the root word "sal", which means salt, a reminder of just how precious salt was in earlier times (equivalent to gold, in fact). We even rode across a small salt lake within the mines on a wooden boat as a light show enchanted us with sparkling white lights dancing upon the cavern walls. Toward the end of the tour, we entered a room filled with touch screens that taught the inquisitive visitor dozens of facts about salt, from its molecular structure to the necessary daily amount a human ought to consume. Altogether, the tour was extremely fascinating and well presented.

After a stop at the Golden Bear in the nearby town of Berchtesgaden, we headed back to Salzburg where our tour reached its end. We walked a short distance back to our hostel, and now that it was after noon we could finally check into our rooms. After showering up, I left the hostel to meet up with Judith and Sabrina at the bahnhof, friends I made at our hostel in Berlin who lived in Austria, about an hour or two from Salzburg. It was so great to see friends I had made earlier on the trip! We walked from the bahnhof over to the old town, where we explored a bit before discovering there was a small-scale Oktoberfest going on in town, on the eve of the real Oktoberfest taking place in Munich, just a hundred or so kilometers away. The three of us went into the colorful beer tent and eventually found seats at one of the long dining tables scattered with large steins and plates of traditional fare.

It was a great evening in the beer tent, in many ways preparing myself for the more massive festival that would begin the next day in Munich. It was at this Austrian festival that I found and purchased my lederhosen, which would come in handy for the next three days at Oktoberfest. As it got later, the girls and I decided to head back to their car at the bahnhof since they still had a bit of a drive ahead of them. After saying farewells, I headed back to the hostel to rejoin Pat and Joanie, who were enjoying a beer at the hostel bar. I wasn't able to keep my eyes open much past midnight, but Pat and I managed to watch most of Beer Fest in preparation for the greatest beer festival in world. Meanwhile, Joanie was practicing her front desk skills. Not sure how much sleep any of us got that night, but we were up and on our way to Munich by 5:45am.