Today, I walked around Salzburg in the daytime. The gardens are beautiful to walk through on my way toward the castle. The outside is all I will see, as I can't afford the admission. It looks like I'll be heading to Munich a little bit earlier than I had planned.
Munich has placed an hour long stroll between the hostel and the train station that takes me through a park with plenty of pleasant scenery to offer distraction. I could have taken the subway, but the criss-crossing lines were too confusing to figure out over the single, well-marked cobblestone path to follow to the hostel's front door.
The hostel is busy, but I'm able to find a bunk in a 4 bed dorm with a family of three from France. The husband and son say very little other than civil pleasantries. The wife is quite the dictator, friendly but very matter-of-fact about where I should put my bag and making sure I am aware of which bed belongs to whom. I only have to put up with her for a few moments now and while I'm asleep tonight.
 |
| Picnic basket by Jonsu Sampson |
The scenery I was mentioning earlier is worth a much longer second look. A nearby grocery store has all the ingredients for a lovely park picnic, including wine at $1.40 a bottle, some chocolate and fixings for a sandwich. There are musicians scattered about the park jamming cohesively with other musicians within earshot, and a group of people engaged in a role-playing game of chess. Each person represents a chess piece called to move by another person perched on a tower chair. It appears to be a very intense game.
 |
| Human Chess game in progress. Photo courtesy chess.com |
It's warm and sunny and I am in Germany.
• ¤ •
"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. "
