By Fröliche Weihnachten!
On my last trip to Europe, I splurged for Delta One for the overnight journey. It’s a splendid but expensive way to travel. I’m never sure how much I sleep, but just being able to lie flat during the night makes the next day more bearable. For this trip I was back to slumming it…flying Delta Comfort, which is frankly rather uncomfortable. My cohorts and I landed in Munich on Monday morning, bleary-eyed but excited for our 8 day adventure, starting with a trek to Salzburg, our first destination.
Sometimes it is not so about the destination, it’s about the journey…and this journey started with a BANG! After grabbing our bags, we meandered through the Munich airport to get to the S/U-bahn station. From here we were to grab a train to Munich’s main train station and then change trains twice (as I recall) to get to Austria.
Knowing the Germans intense desire for punctuality, I directed the ladies to the exit as our train headed into the Munich train station. The doors opened but we were a tad slow exiting…I was the last man standing so to speak and got slammed by the train doors trying to close. The jolt was so jarring that my phone flew out of my hands and perfectly landed in the gap between the train and the platform. My friends…I am not proud of this moment. I let out a loud F-bomb for all to hear, which surely caused fainting spells to my church-going crew!
I got off the train and saw my poor phone, intact but certainly unreachable from where I stood. I ran up a and down a set of stairs to the opposite platform as I saw there was someone in what I guessed was a train controller office. In my pigeon-Deutsch I explained my mobile was on the tracks. He told me to come back tomorrow as there was nothing he could do with trains coming every 2 minutes. I honestly have no idea if this conversation was in German or English as I was delirious. We were headed to Salzburg so sticking around in Munich wasn’t an option. I ran up the stairs again and approached a set of gentlemen wearing bright yellow ‘Sicherheit’ vests. I explained again in my German (no idea if it was getting better or not) what had happened and they followed me to the platform. One of the guys left for a moment and came back with a long-handled grabber, waited for another train to leave the station and grabbed my phone. Disaster averted! I thanked them profusely auf Deutsch and we proceed on our adventure. I am pretty proud of myself for telling a joke in German that I thought was hilarious (I told him in if they found any money it was also mine). Anyway, we eventually arrived in Salzburg. I bounced back as best I could and we enjoyed the Salzburg market on Monday and Tuesday (leaving on Wednesday for Regensburg).
Years ago I had participated in a summer program in Salzburg, so I was familiar with the city. Nothing can prepare you for how beautiful it is at Christmas time. We didn’t have any snow, but it was still quite enchanting. First order – drinking some Glühwein and eating some bratwurst. I’m not fond of hot spiced wine, but when in Rome…or when in a German-speaking country…
We ended the first night with a short carriage ride through the city and a nice meal involving Späzle. Tuesday we enjoyed a visit to the Christmas toy museum (that’s me with St. Nick and Krampus!) during a light spritzly morning. There was more meandering and shopping in the city and a free Organ recital at the Dom. I bought what I thought were authentic Mozart Kügeln…but from googling I’m not sure of their authenticity. Regardless, I’m sure they’ll taste good.
Hotel = Weisse taube is nice and a great location for wandering in the city.
I had the joy of introducing Kaiserschmarrn to my friends. They now love it as much as I do.
