And on the 8th train, they rested. . .

Salzburg, Austria.

So it's been 48 hours and we imagine that you are beginning to wonder if customs picked us up somewhere and has us in a holding cell.

Not so! Rather we have simply been busy traveling and haven't had a chance until now to sit down and write an update.

When last you heard from us we were in Karlsruhe, at a tiny 24 hour cafe at the tram station there. After we updated, we jumped on the tram (the third time with a single as-yet-unvalidated ticket--we're downright criminal!) and got back to the Karlsruhe hauptbahnhof (main station). From there we train-hopped for the rest of the afternoon until we arrived in Titisee, a small German town in the mountains of the Black Forest region.

The views throughout the afternoon were gorgeous, and we had a wonderful time on the local trains, since they moved slowly and stopped regularly.

We had been recommended a gastehaus (Guesthouse) in Lenzkirch called HausBaader, and we planned to hop a local bus through the winding mountain range (€1.90 -- a steal). However, once we arrived in Lenzkirch we discovered that despite having an active website, HausBaader no longer exists! This took us a bit of time (and a lot of walking around with packs) to discover, and our confusion was compounded by the fact that most of the people we asked for directions were German tourists on holiday, so they didn't know the town any better than we did.

Eventually we found a substitute with a double room for €40. Including a fantastic breakfast, and checked in there.

We got into the room just in time to notice that the sun was setting and the deck outside our room gave us the perfect view across the valley. We then got to watch one of the most impressive sunsets we've seen in all our combined travels--from a swing which Adrienne found luxurious--and we took several pictures which we hope we'll get a chance to upload later.

[Editors Note: Pictures like this one.]


Sunset

The next morning (Palm Sunday) we left Lenzkirch on the bus and then began train-hopping. Our plan (decided over breakfast) was to head around the north side of the Bodensee (an inland lake separating Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) and south into Austria, in an attempt to reach Salzburg or Wien (Vienna) by late that evening.

We averaged a local train and a change every hour for the next 8 hours, like so:

11:19 Titisee -> Neustadt
11:32 Neustadt -> Donaueshingen
12:18 Donaueshingen -> Radolfzell
13:38 Radolfzell -> Friedrichshafen
15:00 Friedrichshafen -> Lindau
16:25 Lindau -> Bregenz
17:16 Bregenz -> Bludenz
19:35 Bludenz -> Salzburg

It was a fantastic day filled with amazing vistas and lush countryside. When we had finished we were 300 miles (as the crow flies) from where we started.

We found out, over the course of the day, that we could ride for free on the more luxurious EC (Eurocity) trains, which we had previously thought required a reservation. This will make travel even easier and speedier throughout the rest of our trip.

We arrived in Salzburg around 23:30 and checked into the Yoho at Salzburg Youth Hostel. This morning we stowed our bags and reserved our couchette for tonight on the Munich-to-Paris Nachtzug (Overnight Train) which we'll catch a connecting train to Munich for late this afternoon or early this evening.

Now we're off to explore Salzburg and get a taste for the city. It will be nice to have the whole day to explore!

- Patrick and Adrienne