Tuesday, the 2nd

Oh Tuesday. Tuesday was such a great day. Definitely one of my favorites for the entire trip.

So I woke up with the sunrise (again) and bugged Evan to wake up for about an hour. Then I gave up and read for about half an hour. Then I fell back asleep and slept in until Frau Gugg (that's "goog") woke us up with a phone call. Andrea had scheduled a group tour for us to go to the Salt mines and we had 40 minutes to shower and get to the other B&B before we left.

So we do the tour - our guide's name is Mannfried. He was super cool. We went driving around (in the rain) the hills of the alps, and eventually into Barvaria to get a tour of the salt mines. We were with Rob's family (Rob is Andrea's husband) - his sister's and their husbands. They were all very cool. So on our way to the salt mines we pause at the documentation center of Eagle's Point. (That was Hitler's stragetically placed Alpine Chalet). I bought the biggest pretzel in the world there ... I think it was larger than Nick Rozema's head. :) We even got a view of the place when the clouds parted momentarily.

Then we do the salt mine tour and we got to cut in front of a two hour line because Mannfried hopped over the turnstyle to get us in faster. We dress up in traditional miner's garb with leather pelts on our butts and walk through the mines learning about the way they do it and what not. Then it's down the miner's slides we go! That was super fun. Evan and I were especially good at it and got some great velocity. We made the others jealous. Then we took this barge across this cavern where apparently the salinity is higher than that of the dead sea. Wowza. They let you taste the water if you want and it was damn salty.

Then we came home and napped for a bit.

That night, we end up going back to Die Weiss with a fraction of the guests who are in town for the wedding. I had to ask some older cabbies for directions (in german) and then decipher them because Evan told everyone that he knew where we were going. Haha. I should have known better. But it was cool because we got there okay.

So we get to Die Weiss and order second dinner and start drinking Sturm and beer and Schnapps. I become very friendly with Jamie and Pete - two of Rob's long time friends. We share food, opinions, and shots. And I get drunk.

Then, I got balls.

I approached a table of Austrians to discuss politics and rant about America. Of course, I have to do this in German - and managed to have a very heady conversation with a guy who speaks some English. We alternated between Deutsch and English. I had a crush on his friend Wolfgang (everyone is named Wolfgang there) and I spent about an hour and a half talking with them - still drinking.

Tremendous fun.

So then, I guess we were still hanging out and being generally obnoxious when Evan and Pep and Kim decide it's time to go home. Pete was still with us, but his wife had left already. I showed him my boobs and he complimented Evan on them ... there may or may not be pics, we are not sure. So Pete calls Evan Seabass the whole time because Evan looks just like his cousin's husband and his name is Sebastian a.k.a. Seabass.

So Evan and Pep get Pete and Kim and myself outside. And then it's easy ... all we have to do is get a cab back to the hotel. But nobody speaks German but me ... and in Salzburg they don't speak as much English as you might think. At this point Pete and I are trying to unlock and steal (?) cars from the street so I'm not much help.

Then I found an unlocked bike. muahhahah. (yes Amber, just like that time in SC) So I get on the bike and I am preparing to ride away (to where, I don't know) but Evan and Pep literally hold each end of the bike so I am pedaling but not going anywhere. (This story made me laugh so hard I cried when it was told to me later). I guess they got me off the bike and into the cab. But stupid cabbie won't take five people, so Evan (Seabass), Pete, and I pile into a cab.

And then the singing began.

As it turns out Pete and I know almost all the words to every song in the Sound of Music. So we bust into song on the ride home, at the top of our lungs. Evan keeps telling us to shut up and we just keep changing the song, and if you've ever seen the movie you know there are many songs to choose from. So for ten minutes our super annoyed cabbie has to listen to us mock his country; in an effort to reduce the noise cabbie rolls down the windows in the back of the car. Pete and I could care less, but much more sober Seabass is cold, so Seabass keeps rolling up the windows.

Something like this:

The hills are alive ...
(windows down)
With the sound of music ....
(windows up)
Aaah aaah aaah ahh ...

The rest of the words escape me right now ... but maybe I can only do it when drunk. I'm not sure.

We drop Pete off at his hotel and send him to his wife, and then I decide it's a good idea to sprint back to our B&B. (we didn't have any more money so we couldn't afford the cab the 200M or so back to our place).

And then I went to sleep. And that was Tuesday.