I’m writing this the evening of the 27th at 7 PM Austria time. We came down from Munich on the train this morning. It was a two hour trip that started in the flat land around Munich and ended in the foothills of the Austrian Alps. Other than the train car being extremely warm, it was a beautiful trip through the ever rolling farmland, woods and through picturesque Bavarian villages. Think of the postcard. That is how it looked.Before going on about Salzburg, last night, while still in Munich, I checked my email and found an note from a friend that he was in Munich, wish he had read the blog the day before ( that’ll teach him) and wanted me to know he was at the Sheraton Westpark. The same hotel again. We connected in the club lounge and had a great laugh as Andrew was my first Westpark discovery. Geoff is from Lansing, loves to pick up and go on a moments notice, and was in town using some of his vast, and I mean vast, pile of Northwest miles.

While sitting in the lounge he mentioned that he noticed another guy in the lounge that was on the computer on the Flyertalk website. When that guy walked by heading to the free wine, I hollered out “Flyertalk” and the guy looked like a deer in the headlights. We explained who we were and now had 4 crazies in the same hotel all seeing the world at prices we could afford. These guys got this hotel for §220 Euros for 3 nights with the current weekend night free promo.

We hit Geoff up for breakfast in the lounge to keep expenses low, (free) and I got him to take back 6 Business Class amenity packs to Michigan for me for the Ann Arbor July DO. Surprisingly to me, three of us have Gold status, I got the crappy room and no club access, Andrew got the OK room and no access and Geoff got the good room and club access all with the same status. I think my shortfall my have been because I had the longest stay of four nights.

We got the group photo and all headed out our separate ways, Andrew and Amy, Geoff, and Tim all heading back to the USA, and Katy and I pushing on. What a treat to see familiar faces halfway around the world.

I think I finish up with Salzburg day 1 tomorrow as we will have seen more of the area and I can stick in a photo or two. We did the old town today, the castle and had a beautiful stroll through the gardens. It is picture perfect here as was the weather. Tomorrow rain is predicted, and if so, we will explore the local salt mines. If not, the infamous Sound of Music Tour. It means nothing to the Austrians, as most have not seen the Sound of Music, but it is a Big seller with the Americans and Brits so says the hotel desk guy. Even my son has been on it and said it is worthwhile. Photos and updates tomorrow.

Thanks again for coming along.

7AM the 28th Salzburg

Now they got my chilli sauce warm. I wake up early to add two photos of Salzburg that are stored on my Acer and head down to the business center where internet is suppossedly free. I can’t log in using my laptop as I could in Munich to add the photos. These guys kill me. The house wired computers do not have a photo program, so I’ve got to think this through. Between 21 Euros for breakfast and 25 Euros for internet, why bother charging for rooms?

We found the grocery store, a kebap shop and the bus station across the street. The weather is turning bad so off to the salt mines we go by city bus. I’m not going to pay 30 euros for a bus ride of 15 minutes on a guided tour.

Our first impressions so far are these:

Zurich: busy, vibrant, alive

Munich: A hub, business center with tourist mixed, less of a scenic city, but party animals when off work.

Salzburg: Cultured, sophisticated, historic and beautiful scenery.

We would have shorten our stay in Munich by one day if we’d known better. Two seems enough including Dachau half day.

Zurich downtown we saw in an afternoon and several have suggested we get up in the Alps around Interlacken and we will do that. Zurich a day or two at most and Salzburg we have seen the old town walking tour, but there is so much more with hiking in the mountains nearby, Music Tour, Salt mines and Eagles Nest in Berchtesgarten in the summer. There is still too much snow in the mountains and they will not open the Hitler stronghold until mid to late May this year.

Now to figure out how to get from my own computer to your blog.

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