Hello from Salzburg!

Did you know that German keyboards (it turns out they speak German here in Austria) switch the Y and Z keys? I need a dollar every time I've typed 'Salyburg' the last few days...

So I last wrote in Prague? It's a very beautiful city, but is very, very stuffed with tourists. It's tough to decide how to feel about that - we went there to see the old city, and we're not going to tour the outskirts just to see how 'real Praguers' live. So...if they want to stuff their downtown with souvenier shops and 'Czech Me Out' T-Shirts, so be it.
Despite all that it was nice. I've never seen so many statues. The centerpiece is the Charles Bridge, built in 1300-something across the Vltava river, covered with statues of saints and martyrs (often both). Ironically, jazz is very popular there, and we saw a few good shows in our nights there.
Next was Vienna, which had much more of a big-city feel than expected...really more than any city we've seen so far (except London, of course). For some reason I was completely unable to get a feel for the roads around the city and kept getting lost - they keep changing names and going off at random angles. Also, they have 'Zip Bike' there! I've always wanted to see this in the US...you pick up a bike at a station (at most Metro stops) and can drop it off anywhere else. The first hour is FREE, then onlz y 1 Euro/hour after. We used them to get all over the place. The bikes are a little rough, especially over the cobblestones, but it beat walking. Also, I had a personal connection to the city - my paternal grandparents were both from Vienna, so I found the neighborhood where (we think) they used to live. It was neat to be there 70+ years after they left.
After Vienna we took a train across Austria to Salzburg. Alicia will fill everyone in on the city below...

Oh! We've finalized our plans for the rest of the trip, and they've changed! We were planning to go from Salzburg to Munich to Venice, then fly to Dublin. Instead, we're going from Munich to PARIS, then a bus to London and a ferry to Dublin...saves on those outrageous airline prices, plus get to see more than we would in the air. I'm pretty excited for Paris. Plus, I'll get to see Venice some other time in my life...maybe with a hotel room and everything.