I’m at the hostel in Düsseldorf now. I haven’t seen much else of the city because it’s been torrentially down pouring since I got here. A few minutes ago I packed up my things and started heading toward the nice big block of green on my map because I thought the sun was finally out, but I didn’t get very far before it started raining again. So now I’m back here. I’ll keep trying.

So, Salzburg. It’s one of those places where you can close your eyes, randomly point your camera at anything, and take a picture that looks like a post card. The trip there was a bit foggy and we were verbally assaulted by a random man in the train station, but after that things got better. Our hostel was on top of a mountain overlooking the city. We wisely shelled out for the lift instead of trying to climb up with our luggage. The hostel was super cute, run by people in dirndls and lederhosen. We spent the afternoon exploring the city, which entailed climbing a mountain (not the one our hostel was on but another one) and seeing the house where Mozart was born from the outside, because going inside would have cost ten Euros. Nothing in Salzburg is cheap; I survived on margarita pizza and ice cream. It was a nice trip nonetheless, especially the second day when the weather cooperated and we bought a first-class Bayern ticket off a guy at the train station for what we were about to spend on a regular ticket.

Monday morning I got the bus to Stuttgart. The trip was longer than expected because the highway was closed, but it’s not like I was in a rush. Schlepping my suitcase to the hostel was a bit tiring but once I actually got there it was perfect—clean and quiet. My room had six beds but I only shared it with one other person and the internet was free and fast. I had a nice nap and chat on skype with Ader and my mom for the first time post-storm. Tuesday I had a nice stroll around the city before settling on a bench in the beautiful garden outside the Schloss to write. My only complaint about the hostel is that the bathroom had windows but no light, so I couldn’t take a shower at night and had to go to bed kind of sweaty.

Yesterday I carpooled to Düsseldorf. That was the only part if the trip I was kind of nervous about because I had arranged it on the phone in German, so even though I thought everything was clear (and it was), I worried that I would miss my ride because of some misunderstanding and then not have enough money to get all the way up here. But my worries were unfounded, and so far everything’s been going according to plan. Knock on wood with me.