Update Two: Freiburg, Luzern, Munich, Salzburg

Kelly and I are now already in the fourth city since I last updated, so prepare yourselves for a long update! A recurring theme of the trip is getting frustrated over finding the internet. We either can't find a place with wifi, or my computer will refuse to connect to it. We end up in some sketchy internet café where we have to pay, and so we try to make it quick. It's tough because when you finally find everything you need, you are on to the next city and have to figure it out all over again! This also means we have been booking our accommodation very last minute, which is a bit stressful (and probably more expensive).

In Freiburg last Monday, we actually just showed up that afternoon without any reservations, but ended up at a very inexpensive, very hippy youth hostel. We got a private room that was quite large, and we stayed in and cooked spaghetti that first night. We did walk around the neighborhood, and got some ice cream down the street. The next morning we got up early and went to the open-air market they have in Munsterplatz, the main square with its impressive church in the center. We bought some things for a picnic lunch and hopped a train to Titisee, a small lakeside town about a half-hour away. We wandered through the tiny center and then onto a wooded trail until we found a decent park bench. While we were eating our lunch, we heard rain which was apparently pouring down around us, but we were thankfully under a big tree. We managed to time it right to get back the train station without getting too wet. After we were back in Freiburg, we explored the city and had a cheap Italian dinner with far too much garlic. We ended the night at a small café with a delicious slice of Black Forest cake-- it has chocolate and cherries and some kind of alcohol in the mix. Because there are so many regional dishes I can't eat (meat!), I have been trying all the desserts. It works out quite well. [As a side note, I did have duck in Paris, which Kelly then reported everyone she knows.]

At 10 am Wednesday we were on the train again to Luzern, Switzerland. When we were getting off, the Swiss people who had been next to us asked where we were from. They said that from our accents, they knew we were either east coast, or from New Zealand. (I think I said "card" pretty terribly. My accent has been getting inexplicably stronger.) The hostel was pretty amazing-- we had a private room with a balcony, although it was very damp and drizzly the whole time. But the whole downstairs was very clean and cute. We had to run some some errands, and Brady called from Arizona to say hello and see where in the world we were. We ate dinner at a little pub-restaurant where a woman was very adamant about cleaning every shutter outside. My meal was basically a piece of thick bread with cheese melted over it in the oven, and then an over-easy egg on top. Very delicious and fairly cheap, but then we killed our budget on a movie that cost 16 francs! That's like $15.89 USD. It was an Irish film, "Once", that was really good, with amazing music that won an Oscar or something, but it was rather depressing. It made me want to drink heavily (I restrained myself though). The next day we had an easy morning before walking around the amazingly charming old downtown area. We looked in some of the cute shops, and then walked along the remains of the old city wall, and climbed one of the towers. We went to the bank quite a few times, trying to get rid of all our Swiss francs. We cooked dinner at the hostel (and drank Californian White Zinfandel that seemed so sweet after all the French wine I've sampled) and went to bed.

Friday we left at 7:20 am on a 5-hour train to Munich. After check-in at our very budget hotel, we had lunch at an organic market down the street, and did our laundry nearby. Dinner was at a place "Literaturhaus" which was described in our guidebook as inexpensive gourmet. Apparently, that means French food! Kelly got quiche Lorraine, and I had a goat cheese tartinette with a flaky crust and salad on top, but the atmosphere was just really nice. We then strolled around Marienplatz, one of the main squares with a huge church (what else) and called it a night. Saturday morning we went to the Munchener Stadtmuseum, which had exhibits on Munich's history with lots of visuals. We fought our way down Kaufingerstrasse, which was filled with people in traditional costumes, to meet Sabine (Brady's German girlfriend from Nancy). She filled us in that it was Munich's 850^th anniversary and the first weekend of celebrations. She took us around a few of the main areas and gardens, and to get lunch at a salad bar where Kelly and I both had Lowenbrau beer! We met her mother and grandparents for dessert at a café on the top floor of the oldest department store in Munich. Her family was very sweet, though communication was difficult, and I had a very good German cheesecake, with the promise that Bine would try the New York style when she comes to visit in August. We parted ways there, and Kelly and I went on an unsuccessful mission to find free internet downtown, but the hotel woman's son actually lent us his laptop for an hour so we could book our hotel for Salzburg. We then fell asleep watching Jon Stewart on CNN.

Sunday morning we went on a guided tour to Dachau, the site of a former concentration camp. We had an Irish tour guide named Patrick who was very good, but he almost made the whole group of 45 people miss the bus back. We learned a lot about the psychological torture of life there, such as giving the prisoners pockets and shelves, to highlight the fact that they had no possessions to fill them with, and pitting different groups of prisoners against each other. I can't say it was "fun" but it was really interesting and moving. When we got back to Munich, we called home from an internet café, making my mother think something bad happened, so apparently I need to call more often! We had dinner at a typical German restaurant Bine had recommended, where the waiter was really awesome. He kept smiling at us as if we were doing something really funny, but he was very friendly anyway. We went to bed and woke up early to head out to Olympia Park, where we went up a tower for a nice, misty view. But it is also right near the BMW factory and museum, so we wandered around their floor, gawking at the cars and exhibits. We then checked out and ate lunch at the train station, and grabbed our train to Salzburg.

That first evening we tried to walk around the main squares, but that's when we remembered that the European cup for soccer is being held in Switzerland and Austria. We've been seeing lots of fans who are very loud and dressed like maniacs, and that night it was impossible to get through the crowds. It does make it very exciting, though sometimes the car horns are still going at 1 am. We walked on the other side of the river instead, and crossed back to eat dinner at a traditional looking place. Though I ended up with "green pasta" in a Gorgonzola sauce, Kelly had "cheese dumplings" which were some unidentifiable little bits smothered in cheese. It was raining again, so we took the bus straight back to the hotel.

Tuesday was rough because we decided to get a pass that made practically everything free, but we only had 24 hours to do it. We started by taking the funicular to the fortress on top of a huge hill, and explored the site for a few hours-- they had a few tiny museums and shops, a short guided tour, and an incredible view. Then it was the grounds and catacombs at St. Peter's at the foot of the hill, and lunch. Next we made our way across town to the Museum of Natural History, where it was so warm I felt like I might nod off. We then took a 40 minute boat cruise down the river, where I again almost fell asleep staring at the water, until the driver decided to spin the boat in circles five times to be funny or something. We had planned to cram more in but we were too tired, even though it was only 4:30 pm. So we got coffee and hot chocolate instead, bought our next train tickets, and I actually found some cheap sneakers. We ate at the same salad-bar chain we went to with Bine, but we got meals. Kelly had steak that was too bloody, and I got some delicious veggie fajitas. So we've done absolutely nothing involving Mozart or the Sound of Music, which Salzburg is famous for, but they're everywhere you go anyway.

Which finally brings me to today! We decided to stay an extra day in Salzburg to rest and catch up on things. Our hotel here is incredibly nice, since there were no cheap options by the time we booked, but it is definitely worth it to pay extra every once in a while. It's a 3-star hotel, the mattress and pillows are actually comfortable, we have a TV and bathroom all to ourselves, and there is wifi and a sauna downstairs. So we definitely picked a good place to have our relaxation day. We leave at 7 am tomorrow for a very long train to Venice. I need to dig out my Italian book and start studyingI'm really looking forward to this portion of the trip, and I hope we'll be on to some better weather. But I have to go pack up and hit the sauna before bed, so I'll leave you all here. Ciao!