Day Sixteen...

We wake up today in Munich after our second "night on the town", and we split up briefly in the morning. Kate, Susie and Mike go shopping at Tack, Gina goes to see Minnie, and John goes to BMW headquarters to find out if it's possible to order a U.S. car in Munich (it's not -- you have to use a U.S. dealer -- and NOT Allison BMW if John has anything to say about it).

Gina decides to spend the afternoon with Minnie, while the rest of the gang decides to hop on a train for an afternoon visit to Salzburg, Austria, 1.5 hours away. Pictured below is a view looking towards the Old Town, fortress, and Dom (church) from a bridge over the river.

Inside the Dom is beautiful and cool, and there is a choir rehearsing, accompanied by the sounds of gigantic pipe organ. The church is full of tourists escaping the heat and relaxing in this peaceful atmosphere. Outside, you can look up a steep hill to the fortress above.

You can walk up a steep path to get to the fortress, or you can pay two and a half bucks each to ride the funicular. Which way do you think we went?

The pictures don't show how hot is was in Salzburg this day, about 95 degrees. We would have taken a horse-drawn carriage ride around the Old Town, but we felt sorry for the horses. Apparently, most of the other tourists felt the same way.

Along the shopping street is a house that composer Mozart once lived in. Also seen here is the Salzburg Sleeping Marathon.

We get back to the train station in plenty of time for our 7:05 pm departure. So we kill a little time in a nearby internet cafe. On the train, we find that it originated in Budapest, and the dining car had a huge manu featuring a variety of Hungarian specialties. Mike's goulach and John's Budapest-style beef steak can be seen below. John's steak was 160 Austrian Schillings, but at about 15 to the dollar, that's less than 11 dollars! Delicious, and cheap! Bonnie Nunke, eat your heart out!

Upon our return from Salzburg around 8:30pm, we meet up with Gina and Minnie at the train station, say goodbye to Minnie, and then we go hang out at the "Times Square" internet cafe for a couple hours. Around 10:45 we board our 11:06pm overnight train to Berlin, and begin exploring all the features of our tiny sleeping compartments. Kate+John and Gina+Susie each have a double compartment with bunk beds, and Mike has the luxury of a single (like the others, but with the top bunk folded intothe wall). Each compartment has its own tiny washbasin, toilet, and shower, two apples, and two bottles of mineral water.

Despite the noise and movement of the train, Kate slept like a baby and says that from now on she only wants to sleep on a train.

Today's quiz: There is a chess game going on in one of today's pictures. Can you find it?