9/3/2023: Exploring Salzburg

Salzburg, Austria

We were stoked to learn that our friend Carmen was in Salzburg with an open schedule on this lovely Sunday! We had planned for a day trip to Salzburg anyway, so the timing couldn't have been better. She's been living in Salzburg for a few years (though shortly moving to NYC) and was generous enough to be our tour guide for the day. We had the best time! She showed us around Mirabell Gardens, Altstadt, and the apartment Mozart was born in, checked out a church (that sometimes doubles as a rave venue), two music halls, tourist central, and a hidden bar on a hill with an incredible view where we watched the sunset. We were even able to squeeze in a Facetime call with Brad (Carmen's boyfriend and our former travel buddy in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lake Como)! All in all, the town was stunning. So clean and quaint with so much charm. Huge shoutout to Carmen for being a phenomenal tour guide and translator for the day!

It wasn’t until 8 or 9pm that we remembered that the last train to Munich would be leaving shortly. We ended up running back to the station and hopping onto the train only moments before it departed - James literally had to hold the train door open as he waited for me to grab water from a vending machine (it took two tries, but I got the water)! Still out of breath, we found a seat and almost immediately received the announcement that our passports were subject to be checked by border patrol agents. Given that the train ride between Munich and Salzburg is less than two hours, it was easy for us to have left that morning not comprehending that we would be traveling between countries. It wasn't a problem on the way into Austria, so were totally caught off guard by the announcement on the way back. Shoot! To our good fortune, the people in front of us on the train must have forgotten their passports too, because the group checking passports never made their way past the first row of our train car. Lesson learned! We won’t be forgetting our passports again.

~ Savvy