Rick Steves VHS cover

The first Rick Steves PBS episode I remember watching was sometime during my sophomore or junior year of high school, on a 12-inch, black-and-white television with rabbit ears. Back then the show was still called Travels In Europe, and Rick was wandering around Europe in massive chrome aviator glasses. “Today, I’m in Salzburg!” he said — or something similar — in a very dorky voice. So Rick, this one’s for you…

I arrived yesterday after a mini-bender in Munich. The last evening in Germany, I led some friends to the Hofbrauhaus, Munich’s most notorious beer hall/tourist trap. When you walk in, the first thing you notice is the crowd… hundreds and hundreds of people (mostly English-speaking tourists, but a fair amount of German drunkards too) and the booming echo of voices. The conversation is loud and so is the singing: a cheesy German oompah band plays traditional folk music dressed up in “traditional” lederhosen.

At our table, we met a group of three travelers who go to school together in Scotland. One of them was Greek and one Spanish but they spoke perfect English. The only actual Scottish kid had studied in Minnesota for a year, so he greeted me with an unexpected “what’s up, dude!” in a perfect Midwestern accent. We were joined by two girls from Munich who were probably hammered and enjoyed the prospects of messing with some tourists’ heads. The prettier one explained that she learned English “on her back,” but wouldn’t divulge details.

Saturday I hopped the early morning train to Salzburg, and before I knew it, I was sitting in an Austrian monks’ beer hall with Matt, exchanging stories about our trips over ceramic steins of delicious local brew and hearing about his new job at an Irish pub here in town. A friend from high school, whom I hadn’t seen in years, is also here. He is attending grad school in Austria and decided to join me in Salzburg and Vienna for a few days to get away from the Germans he was staying with. So it’s been pretty fun here, despite seemingly endless rain. The Yoho hostel is great… cheap, modern and well-run, with a fun crowd during happy hour and soccer games.

So this has been a fun little excursion before I roll into Prague on Wednesday to join the Euro Cup hooligans rooting for the Czech Republic when they take on Germany that night. Until then, more Austrian action and, ideally, dry weather for my whirlwind tour of Vienna tomorrow and Tuesday.