Today was a great day – one I view to be a classical European vacation day, at least for me. Chilly, cloudy weather but no rain, for which I was grateful. Day spent exploring Altstadt (Old Town) Salzburg, some by bus but mostly on foot, with lots of hills thrown in. I will provide more detail when I’m back – so much to tell but it’s really a pain in the you-know-what to type lots of words without a real computer keyboard.

Funny, self-deprecating story from yesterday – on the way back from the Bavarian tour, I was sitting next to the couple from Nashville. I was waiting for my iPhone screen to go dark before putting it back in my pocket. I said, “you know, this one minute waiting for the screen to go dark often seems like the longest minute ever.” The gentleman from TN said, “What do you mean? You don’t have to wait, just push this button and it shuts down immediately.” He pointed to the most obvious button just on top of the phone that I use to power down the phone. Apparently a quick tap of that button works wonderfully for the power saving, avoiding inadvertent dialing shut down. I immediately expressed my embarrassment, and we both started laughing, he a bit too heartily, and for much too long. I then said, “Ah, my stupid American moment for the day,” and everyone laughed because we had just been talking about stupid Americans. Then the gentleman’s wife, said, ” No, that’s just a female moment.” I didn’t really like that too much! 🙂 and for all of you who I’ve Sid the same thing to, why didn’t you ever point out that button?

this evening, heading to the lobby in the elevator after my room key stopped working for like the 5th time, a woman got on the elevator with me. I pushed the button for 1 and she pushed the button for 0. After I second, I realized I needed the 0 floor myself, and so I laughed and made a gesture towards the button. The lady said, “Do you need the lobby?” I said, “Yes.” She said, “Are you from the states?” Again, I said, “Yes.” She said, “we often have the same problem” (pushing a button for the 1st floor when we really need floor 0). I asked where she was from. She said, “Japan,” and then, as she left the elevator, “We learned from you!” It was so funny – the tone of her voice was perfect, implying that their occasional problems with elevators came from us Americans. It was awesome!

Foot Report: After breaking out in at least one blister on day one, I was worried that this week would be a repeat of Warsaw where I limited my walking by Thursday because my feet hurt so bad. but with some treatments and other precautions, I’m still walking all day and no new blisters have formed. Thanks to Vaseline, moleskin, staying off my feet in the evenings, etc. I think I’m going to make it thru the week okay! Fingers crossed – and thanks to Maria McCouch for the pointers!