September 17, 2023
This was a long day, to be fair, every day of this trip was a long one but all worthwhile. I had a similar morning routine, eating the complimentary breakfast at our hotel (orange juice, hard boiled eggs, and pancakes) before headed to our private bus which left at 8 AM. We traveled from Venice, Italy to Verona, Italy where we stopped for just under two hours. While in Verona, I saw the inside of two churches, a bridge, Portuguese dancers for Tocatì (The Festival of Traditional Games), Giulietta's balcony (from Romeo and Juliet), and of course, we shopped. I paid to use the bathroom before we headed back onto the bus, it cost me 0.70 Euro to pee (not paying for restrooms in America is a slay).
Our drive from Verona, Italy to Innsbruck, Austria was stunning with views of jaw dropping mountains and vineyards. Along our way, we stopped at a rest station where I ordered wings, and potatoes (French fries) for 12 Euro and watermelon for 4 Euro. We were able to use the restrooms for free at this stop (slay) and I still am thinking about how good my wings were to this day. Once we arrived at Innsbruck, we had about an hour to explore before we had to get back on the bus to drive to our final destination, Salzburg, Austria. While in Innsbruck, we walked around the town, took pictures near the river, and shopped at the Swarovski store. Innsbruck was beautiful and quiet but before we knew it, we had to continue on with our journey.
We made it to Salzburg, Austria! It was a long day of traveling but I so appreciated all of our stops! We settled into our hotel, Austria Trend Hotel Salzburg Messe, then all 40 or so of us piled into a public bus to get into town. Our private bus driver was unable to drive in the town by their laws, so public transportation was our only option. We walked around the city of Salzburg for a while trying to find a place eat but it was getting late at this point, so we settled on McDonalds. I ordered, or so I thought, ten chicken nuggets with a small fry and a water bottle, but I received twenty chicken nuggets. I am not sure where the miscommunication was, perhaps my hand gesture of 10 looked more like 20 but I accepted my fate, and my friend Melody who ordered after me got a water bottle for me. After our meal, we went for a nightcap at East. The service was curt, they were not friendly, but they did provide us with what we asked for in a timely manner. I ordered two wine spritzers; they were refreshing and light. From East, we went to catch the bus back to our hotel to end off our day. We found a bunch of other people from our tour group also waiting... and waiting... and waiting. We waited for a bus that would not come despite saying it would on the schedule. Eventually, we all split into small groups and took cabs back to our hotel. Traveling, am I right? Salzburg left me with a mixed first impression, but I was hopeful for a clean slate in the morning as we had of course another busy and exciting day planned for us.
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