Today saw us on yet another train, this time headed to Salzburg, Austria. Former home of the Von Trapp family. Due to our limited time and budget, I did not do the Sund of Music tour, even though everyone said it was good. I look at it as a good reason to have to come back. :) When we left the train station and headed towards the old town, we passed through Mirabellgarten, which was just beautiful. And those of you die hard SOM fans (yeah, that's what it gets referred to in guide books) may recognize the stairway from, I believe, the Do Re Mi scenes. From there we continued on to cross the Salzach River. Deb filled me in on a custom over here in which a couple gets a pad lock with their names written or etched on it and locks it to the fence on the bridge for good luck. There were lots there! This bridge led us right to the old part of town, which is really picturesque. And apparently has become the fancy shopping street for the area. Louis Vuitton, Hermes, etc. I stop there because I just don't know these names. :) We did also find the prettiest McDonalds sign in the world. Sorry turquoise arches of Sedona, Arizona...Salzburg has you beat. We also saw the cathedral, Mozart's birthplace, and the St. Peter abbey and cemetery. Not where they filmed the scene where the family hides behind the tombstones from the nazis (that was filmed on a Hollywood set), but definitely the inspiration for the set they designed. Apparently this is quite the exclusive cemetery, too. You have to be in certain families to get in. Due to that, there were some really old graves, but also some from recent years. Kind of different to see that mix here. Our big accomplishment of the day was climbing all the way up to the Hohensalzburg fortress. I have climbed more towers and hills here. Anyway, this fortress has really done its job. It looks so intimidating up on its cliff that it has never been attacked. Well done, architects. Well done. So, we took a little mini tour inside, but to be truthful, after three weeks it all starts to look the same. At this point it is more about enjoying the views and the atmosphere. And we made this happen by ordering yet another beer at the top of the castle, overlooking the city. Gorgeous. The alps were a bit hidden by a haze (it was really hot again), but it was still beautiful. After that it was a 2 hour train ride back to Munich, followed by 3 more beers and dinner. While at the Hofbrauhaus, a group of men sat down at our table, and what do you know? They were all from Spain. So, I had the ultimate international experience as I sat in the Hofbrauhaus and spoke Spanish. Phenomenal. This was unfortunately capped by getting to our overnight train to find our car wasn't in existence, and they were shoving 2 cars worth of people into 1. So, instead of getting the bottom berths we had booked and were very excited for, we wound up in a full car with 4 random people (one of whom had very stinky feet. American college boys...) and about 90 degree heat. And mass chaos. The one German girl in our compartment was probably the most annoyed (she had actually paid extra for a female only cabin, only to wind up with 2 guys) and her main commentary was "Yeah, welcome to Germany." So, after a not so great night of sleep, we made it home, and promptly showered and changed to get the train yuck off! Not much doing today - did a couple of errands for things I wanted to buy before leaving. One more day tomorrow - we're off to see the windmills!