Meat, meat, meat....

These countries eat a lot of meat. Or they serve a lot of meat. I don't know how vegetarians survive around here.

I had Austrian sausage, sauerkraut, and potatoes for dinner. And Salzberg beer, Spiegl? I think it's called. It was a half liter, so...it was good and it made me forget the name.

I signed up for the Sound of Music tour, otherwise known as the Super Silly Tourists Being Tourists tour. Heh heh, it'll be fun.

In the internet cafes and shops, I can hear a lot of american voices. I didn't know this place was so popular.

4 more days. I think I'll go to Innsbruck on Friday. I have a 5 day Eurail Pass (3 countries), and I think Salzberg is pretty but I've also heard Innsbruck is cute too. And they have some museum or something for Swarovski crystal.

Austrian sounds a lot like German, but slightly different. I ate my first dinner alone tonight, the beer is a good companion. Two ladies were sitting behind me, I think they were portugese. Spanish, but different.

I turned on the TV, caught a show about Munich's oktoberfest. In the Munich train station today, I saw some folks walking around in costume. They looked really funny.

Travelling alone is fun, and I can do whatever I want whenever I want however I want. The freedom is nice. The loneliness, however, is a little tough. To compensate, the internet cafe is good, and I take pictures of people.

There was a guy playing the accordion today in the square. His face looked like that was the only job he could do. I dropped some coins in his basket. I couldn't bear to take his picture, and exploit his suffering. The fact that he played music was nice enough. I have seen a few beggars or very poor folk here, which surprises me.

The taxi driver was the nicest I've met so far in Europe. Not only did he talk to me, which is a first, but he spoke great english, and pointed out that my hotel is right downtown, and he told me I can walk across the river and be in the main town center area. Very sweet. It's amazing what a difference a taxi driver makes.

I have 4 days left, after today. The c0untdown is on. How much fun can I have in that period of time? Okay, I have to qualify it - without Jeremy, without Alyssa, without Stacey, without Jeannette, Russ, Denice, and so on and so on and so on.... I'm excited about Oktoberfest. A whole bunch of drunk Germans in silly costumes. Sounds like a good time.

The trains here are soooo smooth and quiet, it's amazing. The countryside around here is really pretty. It being Austria, they have these big things called mountains. I wonder how high you have to be to graduate to Alp status?

Mozart apparently made chocolate here. There are whole stores dedicated to mozart chocolate. I didn't know that he invented chocolate, in addition to composing a bunch of music.

ok, the smoke in here is enough, and the beer is wearing off. auf wiedersehn until tomorrow...

--kimba