Sweet Music.

Wow. So apparently I'm really bad at posting on my blog (procrastination at its finest) or I never have internet access. Most likely, a tad bit of both. Let me update you on life in Europa!

Last I left you hanging in Munich. On Monday night. That evening we were entertained by thousands of ROLLERBLADERS skating by our hostel's corner, accompanied by police patrol, hoots and hollering, glow in the dark wheels, boom-boxes, everything you could guess. Supposedly Munich has "blade-night" every Monday night. A greener version of Sioux Center's annual "Sunday-night cruising" ? You tell me. It was fairly amusing, until they kept blading past for at least 2 hours. It was a surprise to say the least.

Tuesday morning arrived and we left our hostel in search of Dachau. We again stored our big packs in a locker at the train station so that we would be free to explore, without 30 pounds dragging us down. Dachau is one of the first concentration camps opened in Germany, and the only one to remain open the entire 12 years of Nazi-rule. I hate to minimize my experience there, or the impact it had. But one must really visit a concentration camp and read the stories of survivors to get a glimpse of the horrors that occured during WWII. Terrible things were performed and carried out on human beings during those 12 years in Dachau. Things that you and I should hope would never happen again.

Somber. We left Dachau after a four-hour audioguide/self tour.

Our group arrived back at the Munich station in time to catch a train to ...AUSTRIA!!! Salzburg to be exact. The city of "The Sound of Music" if you'd like a little more detail :) We spent the majority of our day in a smooth riding train, where I slept and caught up in my journal (a necessary item if you're ever going to travel, and want to remember what you've done at the end of your journey).
Our hostel in Salzburg was decently clean, with 4 bunkbeds, a community bathroom, and of course...hundreds of kids running around. Except this time, I swear I saw kids as young as seven or eight! I guess school fieldtrips are popular at this time of year? But I still wouldn't want my 7-year old daughter wandering around a strange hostel with her other young friends.
I'll share with you what I've written in my journal:

"...After figuring out the slightly tricky city bus system, we arrived in time to get settled in our hostel and then head out to scout out town-and some supper. We walked around some of the old town squares, peeking in buildings and reading cafe menus..and prices :) before settling on the cute cafe the attnedant at the hostel recommended. It turned out to be quite the succes and we were all very satisfied-especially after eating sandwiches for the past couple of days ANd eating bread at EVERY meal in Holland! I think the best part of the night was that we got to run back from supper in the rain, cracking jokes at eachother, while the storm turned thundrous and black clouds rolled in over the city..."

Wednesday May 27.
"....It was still raining this morning so everyone pulled out their dorky ponchos and I put on my even nerdier big black garbage bag! All set with our rain gear we went in search of the path up the hill/cliff to the might white fortress that overlooks the entire city of Salzburg. ANd what a fortress it was! After climbing stairs and hiking up some of the steepest one way roads Ive ever been on, we arrived, The medieval castle fortress was built in 1077 and met my imaginations image of a castle in more ways than one. Thick walls, tall skinny windows, winding staircases, turrets, guard rooms, large gates, torture rooms, and a deep dark dungeous! Cheesy sounding? By no means...it was in everything grand. Fancy state rooms and large courtyards, PLUS a breathtaking view. We arrived while it was still wet and early (930am)......we virtually hgad the entire fortress and its museums to ourselves. We probably could've skipped the creepy puppet museum -BUT we'd already paid the all-encompassing pass. So we even looked in there. We took the funicular/tram car back down the nountain where we viewed the spring involved with the fortress' plumbing system, the oldest aquaduct system in Western Europe. From there we used our 5 euro buss passes (gotta love public transportation) to ride to Hellbrunn castle. Markus Attikus built Hellbrunn and its quirky fun water works purely for fun and entertainment. With hidden-trick fountains along walkways, walls, stairs, and statues, our tour guide got us good! Surprising us several times. We were in a group with a class of Austrian tweenagers...and we're pretty sure the guide told them in German where to stand to avoid getting wet...and didn't kindly warn us...lol. We had a lot of fun. Afterwards we found a playground on the summer palace grounds with a zipline! So of course....us college kids played :) Because we're in Salzburg, we've been singing Sound of Music songs non-stop. So when we happened upon a gazebo in the palace gardens, we thought of "16 going on 17". And guess what? It was the gazebo! From the movie! We went to a grocery store to get food ( the cheap way) for supper and ate it in the gardens of Schloss Mirabell. We continued wandering around in the old city for the remainder of the evening. We stopped at an Austrian hot dog stand where Melodie and I shared the BEST hot dog I've ever had (called a Kase Krainer), before we headed home to our hostel and called it a night.