Another beautiful morning dawned. From the 12th floor we are looking at a huge church across the street. I must find out what church this is.

We were on the road to Salzburg at 9 am and reached the autobahn on the outskirts of Vienna at 10 am [Traffic: we were going OUT of town but still it took forever]. We stopped at a Shell gas station and purchased our Vignetten. This is a sticker punched for a specific number of days that allows you to travel on the autobahn. It cost $10 for 10 days minimum. These must be purchased separately in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia. In Italy the tax is paid at toll booths like the Eastern US. Driving is free on Germany’s autobahns.

We took a detour off of the autobahn for a trip through the Wachau Valley. I had wanted to see this place for several years. It is a valley along the Danube where wine is grown and legends have been passed along for 13,000 years (oldest artifacts). It reminds me of the Rhine River but unspoiled by huge cities and commercialism. The two lane road would have been a traffic nightmare if this were a glorious sunny summer weekend. Fortunately it was a glorious Fall Wednesday. No traffic so I could travel at 35 mph because I WANTED to! Along the way we stopped at the tiny, perfect medieval town of Durnstein (late Renaissance, really). This was one of those trip detours that was truly magical.

We arrived at Salzburg very late in the afternoon, found our hotel and wandered into the center of town. There is something big happening this weekend that is for sure. Bleachers are being erected along the main street; the squares are being filled with booths for selling food, beverages and whatever else. We will be long gone by Saturday though.

Dinner was at the brewery restaurant, Stiegl. We enjoyed the beer which was first brewed the year Chris came to visit the New World, 1492. It didn’t taste that old fortunately. Home to bed after a couple of beers each with dinner ended the evening. Ann’s cold is getting better each day and she can motor for miles now on foot. I am now feeling the effects of something happening to me. I must overcome this cold bug!

We get CNN on the TV! We are in contact with the USA. Well, International CNN actually. Besides some people shot in Montreal I see little has changed in the homeland. That is good. Seahawks played an ugly game but won. Tonight I watched Hamburg v. Arsenal in a UEFA cup match in German. Besides seeing a goalie get a red card and sent off I was bored and fell asleep 10 minutes into the game.

Lesson Day 9: After a day in the country then going to little Salzburg I realize Vienna doesn’t suck, big cities suck.