May 17: Up and at ’em for our free day in Austria – two trains later the group makes it to Salzburg and the weather is not ideal but the city is still amazing. I did not realize there was a fortress above the city that is open to tourists; the view was insane!

We confirmed when to meet up to head back to Augsburg, then the group split up based on what everyone wanted to do. Rory and I were craving sushi – it was top 3 best sushi I had ever had. A local girl came up to us at lunch asking why we were in Salzburg because she heard us speaking English but we “don’t seem like typical tourists”. I was so flattered and she was so sweet! After lunch we walked a LOT (what else is there to do) and went up to the lookout over the city.

We did not go the entire way to the top, but we were finally able to see the Alps which we were deprived of at Oberammagau. It was a similar feeling to when I saw the Grand Canyon; the view was so beautiful I had to take a few minutes to process what I was looking at and take it all in. The amount of fountains in Salzburg is wonderful and there were so many horses everywhere. There were also a lot of statues/paintings of people and horses with fish tails. I would have loved to have a walking tour in this city. I will just have to take another trip here again!

Today was the most relaxed I have been in two weeks. The fact that there is a free day included is so great because after all the energy we’ve spent everyone needed a day to decompress with no schedule. One of my favorite activities is sitting at a cafe/bar and people watching. Luckily, I got all my souvenirs so the shopping we did was just to look around. I went into Red Bull World – am I the only one who didn’t know they did F1 and a bunch of other stuff? One last night with the German friends we have made and then it is an early morning to head to Munich air port. I look forward to thinking about this trip and everything I learned. I hope my family likes their gifts!