Good thing my iPad tells me what day of the week it is because at this point I have no idea. All the cities and sites are starting to run together and I have no idea where I am.
This morning we left for Salzburg by bus at 8:15. We rode until around 10:00 when we stopped at Moon Lake which had a nice restaurant, bathrooms and gift shop. We had a 30 minute break and then rode on into Salzburg.
The scenery on the trip was amazing. The fall leaves have peaked in color but are still hanging on. Lots of green pastures, rolling hills, and the mountains had a light dusting of snow on them – it looked like someone sprinkled powder sugar on them.
Our tour guide for Salzburg was the most delightful woman. She said she was our mother for the day and if we needed anything she would see that it got taken care of. Nicole asked to be shown a pharmacy and she remembered when we were downtown to point one out to her.
One of the things she said as she was describing some sort of Austria famous dessert was “you have to carry some time with you”. What a great way of saying be patient! She would tell a joke and then be the last one laughing at her own joke. She really made today fun.
I liked Salzburg. It is a town of about 150,000 people but it felt smaller than that to me. It is the site where most of the Sound of Music was filmed and our guide made sure to point out any spots we were in or close to and how it was used to make the film. It is also the birthplace of Mozart.
We had lunch at the Mozart Cafe. Not sure I would recommend it or eat there again. The wait staff was very busy and not exactly responsive. We walked in the same time another man from the tour did, tables were scarce so we invited him to sit with us. He was most impatient and rude to the wait staff and they mirrored back his attitude.
Nicole got the waiter to smile when we gave our order and I got him to smile when we left. I had a hot chocolate and the Austria famous dessert. Since we had been warned it would take 30 minutes to fix I ordered it with my cup of soup. I was served the hot chocolate quickly followed by the dessert. I finally got my cup of soup last.
Four other people from the tour came in and I ended up sharing the dessert with them. I really didn’t care for it and Nicole wasn’t impressed either. The soup was not what I expected but it wasn’t bad if I dipped the bread in it and ate it that way. Sometimes you pick a winning place and other times not so much.
I did find a pair of gloves and a hat to replace the ones I lost way back in Warsaw.
We saw the sun today! I had expected it to be really cold today but it warmed up more than expected and this afternoon the sun showed up. We saw a beautiful sunset on the way home.
Our cruise ship sailed today so we went back to a different city than the one we left from this morning. We are sailing now and will be in a new place in the morning.
I am not going to go on the tour of Regensburg tomorrow. It is another long bus ride and I need a day of quiet and rest to prepare for disembarkation and travel to Prague on Sunday.
Our tour guide said we won’t be sailing all the way to Regensburg but he really didn’t explain what that did to our schedule for Sunday. He is long on stories that have nothing to do with anything and short on tour details. I guess we find out when we find out.
I didn’t get much to eat at lunch so went to dinner tonight to get some more protein. I had about half of a chicken breast for dinner. It was well prepared and tasted good. I didn’t stay for dessert and I think they are playing some sort of game followed by a dance party. That will happen way past my bedtime!
We have one more full day on board and then Sunday we disembark and head to Prague. We stay at the same hotel in Prague for three nights. Wednesday we will have a very early departure for the airport to start our long travel day home. We fly from Prague to Brussels, then from Brussels to Chicago and finally from Chicago to KC. We should land early evening Wednesday. All that travel gets to happen in one very long day thanks to time changing backwards all the way home.
What an adventure this has been. I felt rested this morning and was able to keep up all day. I’m grateful I have learned how to practice good self-care and have slowed down when I needed to so I could really enjoy the trip.
Grateful to get to see the beautiful city of Salzburg, grateful for a very fun tour guide today, and grateful for this river cruise experience.