This is the view of Salzburg that we didn't get as we rode into town tonight. When we woke up in Weyregg it was cold and gray and wet (as it had been when we arrived) and I celebrated the morning by donning my windbreaker for the first time. The brilliant Eddie Bauer purple did its job dutifully. We hazed around the peaceful shore of the Attersee and then humped our way up to the Mondsee. The stretch along the Mondsee was one of the prettiest so far, a true alpen lake. Leaving the shore near Sharfling, we pushed up a steep pass towards St. Gilgen. The rain got harder as we got higher; at the peak it reached a crescendo. We flew down and landed in the first restaurant we saw. We waited here until the rain seemed to subside, until our appetites were quenched and Rony had managed to call her brother in the US.

Then we rolled off toward St. Wolfgangsee, through a light refreshing drizzle, then one long final hill before the final descent to Salzburg. It was interrupted only once when Rony got a flat, but we fixed it in good time and continued on. We planned to stay somewhere before getting into Salzburg proper, but the only place we tried was full, then the city was upon us. So we found the youth hostel. By this time it was driving rain (and I had experienced one of the scariest bicycle descents of my life on the steep, soggy slope outside of the city with cars piling up behind). The youth hostel only had two beds left for women, but after a little patient waiting, the woman let myself and a nice Swedish fellow sleep on the floor in the ironing room. A private room for two, a luxury in a hostel.

The next morning she assigned me a bed in a real room. That night I returned to discover that it had turned into a women's room and I had to sneak in and steal my stuff out. The ironing room was so much nicer. The view in the morning was nicer as well.