New Years 2003: January 2

This was the last day of our trip. We still had the morning left to use the Salzburg card, so we tried to make good use of it. We started by trying to tour the archbishop's residence, but it was closed for the morning (contrary to what the hours were supposed to be). So we started walking towards the nature museum. Along the way we saw a toy museum, so we popped in there. It turned out to be much larger than we expected. Sara liked the old paper theatres and doll houses. I preferred the model trains. Downstairs was another museum of old musical instruments. I thought these were very interesting. There were some I had never heard of before -- like a viola with two layers of strings.

The nature museum was quite large, and also pretty crowded. It could have taken us most of the day except that most of the descriptions were in German so we didn't have much to read. It still took us about 3 hours. There was an aquarium, a bunch of nature scenes set up with fake animals (sort of like Cabella's in Minnesota, but on a smaller scale), some technology stuff, human biology stuff, geology, and more.

For lunch we went to a potato bar. The ingredients were a bit different than what we usually have at home, but it was good.

Next we went to St Peter's church (there are lots of churches in Salzburg). Behind the church is a cemetery which was rather interesting. Apparently in Salzburg the grave sites are rented rather than sold -- so every few years somebody has to pay up so you don't get evicted. There are also catacombs which were apparently used by early Christians, but they were closed so we couldn't see them.

Before leaving Salzburg we took a last look at the big ramp which they had erected for the World Snowboarding Championships which were being held the next day. They were busy covering it with snow. It had rained in the city, but no snow, so I guess they trucked it in from the mountains. Salzburg is a candidate city for the 2010 Winter Olympics, so I think they wanted to prove they could do it right.

Our train left Salzburg at about 5:00 PM and went back to Munich. There we changed to the train which would take us all the way back to Copenhagen. It left Munich at 7:00 PM, and arrived in Copenhagen at 10:00 the next morning. We had reservations for a "couchette" car. This is a compartment for six people (we were expecting 4, so it was a bit more cramped than we expected). The seats fold down to bunk beds for the night -- three on each side. The door to the compartment locks, and you sleep in your clothes. It seems like it wouldn't be a bad arrangement if you were with people you knew. It's not quite as comfortable with strangers.

When we got to our seats, we saw that we were sharing the compartment with a couple and their little girl (maybe 2-3 years old). Before the train even started moving the girl vomited -- getting our seat, Sara's pants, and our suitcase. Sara's sense of smell is extra good right now, so she was able to smell it pretty well even after they attempted to clean it up. She also had to change her clothes from comfortable pants to overalls -- not exactly good for sleeping in.

Next, the conductor tried to tell us that our tickets weren't valid. Fortunately it was her mistake. But the trip wasn't starting well.

We found another compartment which was empty and stayed there for a couple hours to eat and read. Somebody showed up when the train stopped around 10:30 PM, so we had to go back to our seats. We went to sleep shortly after we got there. Not the best sleep we've had, but it could have been worse.

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