This plane ride to Europe was much better than that last one I was on. (Remember the broken window and 3 hour delay?) The food was sub par but let be honest, when you see those ladies handing out food trays it's the highlight of the flight. 9 hours later (8:15 our time 3:15 ATL time) we all got off the plane regretting the strange, German, egg sandwhich we had so eagerly gobbled up about 30 minutes ago. We had a quick team prayer and went over a few details before heading on to customs and baggage claim.
We decided to stop at a kiosk to double check that the tickets Wolfgang had pre-purchased for us were ok. This turned out to be a great idea since the tickets were invalid without Wolgang's credit card with us. We ended up having to buy 4 more tickets for a train that left about 2 hours before the one Wolfgang had originally purchased. It was only going to be Aaron, Sara, Ryan, and myself traveling on the train. The kids were flying solo. I imagined this train, the one that took us from Munich to Salzburg, to be like the bullet we took to get to London. Maybe something roomy with a table in the middle where I could take a long nap. Instead, we get on something more like Marta where no one checks our tickets and we sit in the handicap seats that fold out from the wall. Meanwhile, we can't read the stop on our ticket or find it on a map. This did not going over well with Sara, Ryan, and Aaron, who all needed a good Xanax by this point in the trip. I missed my optimistic and go with the flow travel buddies Liba, Janae, and Katie. I think not speaking the native language, staring far too long at train maps, and shamelessly asking people questions is all part of the experience. Traveling wouldn't be fun if you were comfortable all the time.
To Ryan and Sara's surprise, I got us successfully off the German "Marta" and onto the second train that would take us into Salzburg on time. We only had 9 minutes to switch trains while carrying all of our luggage but we did it and even made a friend along the way. Everyone on the train was packed like sardines; people and luggage, wall to wall. Being the problem solver that I am, (ok impatient and sleep deprived may be more accurate adjectives at this point in the day) I politely offered to shuffle some suitcases around so we could once again sit on the pull-down handicap seats. I just love really hard and angular seats, they're great. This suggestion made Ryan explode a little (lot) on the inside but I was not about to stand and just look at empty seats for two hours. It all worked out fine and we befriended the elderly couple whom's luggage we shifted. They told us all about their travels, kids, jobs, and asked us lots of questions as well. They made the train ride really fun!
By the time we got to the final train station, we had no where to go and 4 giant duffle bags of stuff with us. We stopped at a Starbucks for some wifi but about 20 minutes later we piled in the back of a taxi and headed toward our hotel. When we got there, she told us we needed Wolfgang's signature since he booked the hotel. Again Ryan: turmoil, Emily: problem solver. I tossed out a casual, "oh he's coming I'll just sign now!", and she was like, "ok! Here are three room keys" That would never fly in America but I sure am happy it worked here! We settled in our rooms and passed the heck out for four hours. It was now 7:30 am America time and the first time we had real sleep.
When we woke up, everyone was a lot happier (ok I was a lot happier) and we quickly got ready to head out to town. We stopped by an overlook and took really cool pictures overlooking the city and castle. Salzburg is like most European towns, with cobblestone and colorful buildings lining the streets. It's also very touristy but I can see why so many people want to visit! We ate at a delicious Italian restaurant where everyone loved and devoured their plates. We finished the night by getting gelato and walking around the backstreets of Salzburg. My mom keeps talking about seeing churches and museums tomorrow but I don't know if I can take that again after the three non-stop weeks I had. I might go with my dad to the national park... I guess we will see!
XOXO
-emily
