I would love to provide a more exciting title for each day's story. But, unfortunately, the most appropriate title for this entry is RAIN. And I will tell you in advance that the best titles for Day 5 and Day 6 (where I now reside) would also be RAIN. Because, in total, it has been raining, usually hard, for all but perhaps fifteen minutes of my entire stay in Salzburg. Summer in Europe. Winter in Seattle. I am having a hard time noticing any difference.
As I mentioned earlier, on this trip, Rachel needed to work on four of the days. That is part of the reason why we are staying in Salzburg from Monday through Thursday, instead of touring around Austria or other countries. They are only allowed a certain amount of vacation time, and we decided that we should save all of that for my second visit, when we will travel to Italy. That does seem like a reasonable tradeoff. Because of the rain, and because of the fact that I did not mind laying low, and getting some relaxation, and perhaps some writing and reading in, I decided to spend the day at the Schloss, in the library that Rachel is managing for the summer. It is a beautiful old library, and it truly looks like something you would find at Hogwarts. That way, we had breakfast together, which is the Schloss's morning buffet of cereals, cheeses, pastries, eggs, coffee, juices, fruits, and nuts, and then we could have lunch together (which required leaving the Schloss since, while Rachel's lunch would have been free at the Schloss, there are no options for me). Plus we could say hello throughout the day. And honestly, though this trip to Europe is a trip to Europe, it was first and foremost, for me, a trip to see Rachel. Oh, how romantic!
So, we had our breakfast, and then I made myself at home on the balcony of the library, with a view of the lake that faces the Schloss. It was quite easy to enjoy the time writing, and reading, and spacing out, happy to not be working (though I did respond to a couple of work emails).
For lunch, we walked part way around the lake to an Italian restaurant called Milano Ristorante, where we ordered from a menu that was nearly identical to what you'd find at Tutta Bella or Via Tribunali, in Seattle. Except for the fact that the prices, even taking into account Euro-to-Dollar conversion, were slightly cheaper than the US analog (especially since tax is included, and tip is considered optional, though we have been tipping as if it were the US). I should note that this is not typically the case here. Food is indeed more expensive, by about 20%, than in Seattle. But I think the Italian gourmet pizza phenomenon is a function of those Seattle establishments having the obnoxious belief that pizza is a delicacy that should be overcharged as if it has slivers of platinum on it, instead of pepperoni. When we got to the end of the meal, our server who looked neither Austrian nor Italian (he seemed Turkish or some other Mediterranean origin to me), did some funny stuff with the bill. For Rachel's pasta and my pizza, the total came to 18,4 Euro, which is about $26. We took out a credit card to pay, and he says "Oh, cash please". And we say "Hm... I am not sure we have enough. You don't take credit cards?", to which he replies "Oh, yes, we do take credit cards, but it costs us a charge from the bank if we use card". So we're fumbling about and realizing that we do not have 18,4 Euro on hand. So Rachel (astutely, I might add) asks the server "How much does the bank charge?", to which server replies "Two percent". And then Rachel notes that she only has 16,5 Euro, and that we'll have to just put it on the card. And then, server says "No, no. Actually this is fine. This is fine. That is enough", to which we debate and say that we don't mind paying a little more to cover the card cost, and that we could also come back and pay him the extra two Euro (plus the tip, that we certainly would have left). He says again "No, no. This is fine. This is enough". Um. Okay. So we thank him. And we leave. But there's something weird about this. Two percent of 18,4 Euro is not even half a Euro. And we underpaid him by two entire Euro, plus whatever tip we couldn't leave. So something fishy was going on. We had a few theories. Rachel's theory is that maybe they have under-the-table workers, and he wants to pay them with cash, so he doesn't have to claim them. My theory was that they are trying to avoid taxes. There is no other logical explanation besides these two, other than the possibility that this guy doesn't know how much two percent is. And I seriously doubt that is the case.
After lunch, we walked the remainder of the way around the lake, where there are many sets of baby geese, baby ducks, baby coots, and all sorts of other baby things. Very cute. Rachel wanted to take them home, and I said no. Plus the cats would eat them. I was just thinking about whether or not I need to make up pseudonyms for the cats too. We'll leave that for another time.
After Rachel got done with work, it was raining a bit harder, but we decided to walk into town to find some dinner. We were very hungry, but nonetheless, we walked past the first place we found that looked good, and wandered up and down the narrow cobblestone alleyways of the entire altstadt, investigating all of the restaurants and shops. Halfway through this process, we'd decided that we were definitely going to eat at the first place we had seen, but nonetheless made the complete tour of the region. Finally, both dizzy from hunger, yet surprisingly not at each others' throats given the state of hunger, we made it back to the original restaurant. What was it called? It was called Zipfer Bierhaus (thank you Google... I mean, Bing... no, I mean Google). This was a very authentic feeling, non-touristy Bierhaus (Beer House, for those who are language challenged). Rachel ordered the Cordon Bleu, and I ordered Schweinschnitzel. Both of these were amazing, and I could not resist but help Rachel finish hers. Along with the fried meats was more beer, and eventually a dessert that was not as good as the meal, but still interesting. Some sort of ice cream cake with whipped cream and nuts.
We left the restaurant, rather late, and it was now raining very hard. We had umbrellas, and were getting drenched anyway. Narrow streets. Puddles. And splashing from cars. It was going to be an unpleasant, at the very least, 35 minute walk back to the Schloss. Taxi. Screw it, we're on vacation. Even if it's a hundred Euros, it's play money, and we'll be much happier back in the Maierhof, comfortable in Rachel's hobbit bed, than splashing around to the Sound of Music in the streets of Salzburg.
So we get the taxi, and he explains to us that we need to go to the "Cash Automatik", which was initially tough to follow, but eventually it becomes clear that he doesn't take credit, but he'll gladly drive by an ATM for us. Very good. While I am getting money, he and Rachel have a discussion about the weather in Salzburg. Turns out, July and August will be beautiful, but June, as he put it, is "Fifty/Fifty". I guess there are going to be a series of sunny days that will balance out the "Hundred/Zero" that we've been having during my visit.
So we took the taxi home, and we were safe in the warmth of the Maierhof. This time, the hobbit bed positioned on the floor, so that if I needed to bail out, it would not result in broken limbs. All in all, a good day, followed by a good night's sleep.
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