Today marked the end of the bike trip. I don't have much to say about today. I took my time leaving the hotel this morning while the cleaning crew banged about out in the hall. I've never heard such a loud cleaning crew. I'm not sure what they were even cleaning be ause it certainly wasn't the shared bathroom! I caught the train from Salzburg to München Hauptbahnhof with the intention of hitting up a grocery store since the train station is the only place anything is open. I finally gave up on that mission. The Hauptbahnhof was crammed with people making it hard to move about and me concerned about my bike being stolen. Plus, I never actually located the grocery store, and not from lack of wandering about either. Finding an elevator in the Hauptbahnhof is no easy task. In fact, to reach the S-Bahn to get out to my hotel by the airport required locating 2 different elevators, neither of which were easy to find. Signage for elevators is minimal and usually points in just a general direction. Maps showing locations for things are also rare and do not include a "you are here" marking. I also had elevator location problems in the airport, the Hauptbahnhof in Linz, and probably some other places I've forgotten about. Europe has a long way to go to make itself accessible for everyone. That's one area the US has done a much better job with. There were several times this trip that I thought about how difficult it would be for someone with limited mobility to get around. Europe would do well to improve in this area. Once I located the elevator, getting to my hotel was easy. Packing up the bike went quickly. There was another gentleman also packing up his bike, though he was going through a much less pleasant process. In fact, he had to fully disassemble his bike to fit it in a special bike suitcase. He doesn't have to pay the large baggage fee that I do, but having to take apart every last bit of a bike to avoid that fee doesn't sound worth it to me. His trip was unfortunately ending early. He hit a curb wrong and went down jamming and breaking his thumb. He'll require surgery to insert a pin and properly set it. Bummer of a way to end a trip!  He said another time he broke his femur. That's some pretty awful luck. My flight leaves mid morning which means heading early to the airport to check the bike and get through security. Fortunately there is a bus directly from the hotel to the airport so I don't have to deal with hauling the bike over to the S-Bahn Station and deal with the broken elevator (a special thank you to the awesome guy who, after helping his wife take the stroller with their kid down the stairs, came back and helped me take my bike down!)

This trip was a rougher one. I've calculated that at least half the days had cold rainy weather. Not so bad when you're wandering through old cities, but when you're here for mountain scenery, rain is not exactly what you want. I'm also bummed by how few bakeries I encountered. I don't know if I was just not looking hard enough, in the wrong kind of area, or if chain groceries are putting small bakeries out of business. I've only had 2 pieces of apple strudel while here. Ok, actually one of those pieces will be part of my breakfast. I never did get any Erdbeerschnitte. Only Himbeerschnitte. It was good, but just not the same as Erdbeerschnitte. I'm very much ready to go home this time. Europe is nice to visit, but knowing where you'll sleep every night is awfully nice. I also miss my psychotic kittens and it sounds from talking to my house sitter that they miss me as well. I'm told that they knocked over the fake tree in my living room yesterday along with one of the trash cans in the kitchen. Such good kitties. I also won't miss all the smoking here. The hotel staff at the hotel in Salzburg liked to stand right outside the door and smoke so that if you wanted to leave the hotel, you had no choice but to walk right past them. Along with accessibility issues, Europe has some work to do on curtailing smoking. The number of youth smoking is alarming as well. I'll miss the scenery, but I think I have enough pictures now to remind me of what it's like and maybe by next year I'll miss it enough to come back. Maybe.