ticket to ride

Ryan and I have both traveled by train on past Euro-trips, but we had yet to travel by train since our move to Munich in late July. We had a holiday weekend in Bavaria in early November, which translates to all stores and a good portion of restaurants being closed on Saturday. Additionally, in case I have not yet mentioned it, they are never open on Sundays. Knowing there would be a lack of things to do in Munich with the holiday, and because Salzburg is fairly close to Munich, we decided to take a two hour train for a quick weekend trip.

We left on Saturday morning and caught a regional train from the Hauptbahnhof. We, in typical fashion, pushed it to the wire and made it to the train with only seconds to spare. We didn't have prime choice of seats, and finally found what I will call a four-square (when two sets of seats are facing each other across a small table). It seemed to good to be true; we had so much space to ourselves. We soon realized why. After we began chugging along, we glanced to our right and noticed that we were seated next to the toilet. We had the pleasure of a constant opening and closing bathroom door for the next two hours. But wait, it's about to get better. We thought, at least we still have all this leg room. Little did we know, we would be picking up more passengers at several stops along the way, soon making the train filled to capacity. By a stroke of fate, an extremely tall couple sat down in our four-square and positioned themselves so that the woman was sitting across from me, and Ryan got this:

The Scissor

Tall guys always love the aisle seat, right? What a comfortable train ride. One last note about the train ride, for all of you fellow game lovers/total nerds. I did in fact play Ticket to Ride: Europe while on the train. Unfortunately, they do not have Salzburg on the map, but I am happy to share that I connected Munich to Vienna and felt pretty content with the whole experience.

We arrived in Salzburg, walked to our hotel to drop off our bags, and set off to explore the city by foot.

First things first, we were hungry for breakfast. We found a cute (and touristy) place in the city center that seemed popular. We decided to go both Bavarian and American with our order; Ryan got a cheese strudel, and we decided to share an order of bread with butter and jam and a sausage scramble. I'm not sure when we will learn that breakfast sausage is hot dog, but at least you can enjoy a photo of our food and laugh at us.

To be clear, I did devour that hot dog.

Generally, we always like to find a free walking tour, but for some reason this does not exist in Salzburg. We did find a walking tour that was charging 12 Euros per person, and we decided we were willing to pay this (I'm as shocked as you are). However, no guide ever showed up and the tourist office said to just look for a guy in normal street clothes that other people seem to be gravitating toward. Helpful. We scratched the walking tour and explored on our own. We visited a very pretty cemetery and catacomb and then climbed a steep hill to the castle. Upon realizing they were charging for entrance, we swiftly turned and headed back down the hill. This did afford us some nice views and a photo opp.

What better way to cap off a long day of walking than to head to a monastery that brews beer. Ryan had visited this Braustubl before with Jesse and Amy, so he led the way to the beer garden. Fun facts about this place: 1) Austria's largest beer tavern; and 2) you get to pick out your own stein, wash it, and then hand it over to be filled.

After a few steins, we headed back in the direction of our hotel, with a couple of pit stops along the way. We dropped into an Irish pub to catch a bit of the Bayern Munchen football game, and I'd just like to point out that they support the University of Portland Pilots.

Also, go Mariners!

After finding ourselves fairly drunk, we left the bar and headed for a late dinner at a new and exciting restaurant (just kidding, we ate at a pizza restaurant that we also have in Munich).

On Sunday, I made Ryan shop for Christmas ornaments with me. I purposefully left all Christmas decor in Seattle to have an excuse to buy new stuff in Bavaria. Here is a glimpse into the craziness.

We spent the rest of the day on a long walk through the trails surrounding the castle. We capped it off with lunch at Zwettler's Stiftskeller. If you are ever in Salzburg, you should eat here. We decided we want to make a return trip just to eat there again. The other part of Salzburg that is worth a return visit: the vanilla bourbon ice cream from a street vendor between the church and the cemetery. We stopped here both days, and I often find myself wishing I had brought my ice cream maker with  me so I can try out some recipes to duplicate this creamy goodness.

Until the next post!

xoxo,
L & R