Rock Me Amadeus...

Salzburg, Austria

September 5, 2007
N47°48.222
E013°02.831

Before leaving Cesky Kromlov this morning we stopped in at Deli 99 to grab lunch for the train ride and to spend some of our remaining Czech money. The young guy that prepared our sandwiches advised us to spend our Euros wisely in Salzburg. He said a cup of coffee in the city can cost $6 USD; it’s a beautiful city, but the prices are outrageous.

Marc believes a good gauge for determining how expensive a city is can be estimated by the cost of a pint of beer. For example, a pint of beer in London will run about $8USD, a pint of beer in Bangkok will cost you about $2USD and a pint in San Francisco will be about $5. However, a $6 cup of coffee, that’s a new ballgame… I think we’ll have to stick with our tried and true method and find a pub tonight.

We bundled up before heading to the train station. The temperature must have dropped to 45F and the rain started to come down. It only sprinkled on us as we climbed up the steep cobbled streets out of the village, but as soon as we arrived at the station the skies opened up. I kept reminding Marc that it’s September, not even winter yet; it isn’t supposed to rain or be this cold in September!

When we arrived in Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, there was a break in the weather. We high tailed it to our accommodations for the night—a double room in St. Sebastian next door to the cemetery where the Mozart family is buried. Our clean, but very simple room has a private bathroom, and a 2 foot wooden cross hanging above the door. The room was once used as part of a dormitory for nuns enrolled in the St. Sebastian monastery; today it houses music students and travelers, like us, looking for reasonable accommodations in an expensive city. The “reasonably” priced room is still setting us back $85/night, more than we spent for all of our nights in Laos combined.

We spent part of the afternoon getting to know our new city, but after walking through the rain for a few hours we headed back to our room for a little relaxation. We really hope the sun breaks through tomorrow to allow for a few photo opportunities, including another castle, which looks very impressive from afar.

As we go to sleep tonight, in our monastery, we’ll pray for good weather tomorrow.