Our group would only be spending one night in Salzburg, Austria.

But unlike a lot of the other stops we made that only lasted one night, this wasn’t packed full of activities. Or maybe after Venice I was just very much in need of a break, so I took one.

We weren’t even in Salzburg yet, but I took the photo above at our first rest stop in Austria. We pulled into the parking lot and everyone had a collective reaction of awe. I don’t often see mountains, and the view was getting everyone ready for Salzburg.

When we arrived in the city and dropped our things at the hostel, it was pouring rain. And it didn’t stop. Even when we had to leave to go on a walking tour of Salzburg. Many people brought umbrellas, but many people didn’t, and regardless of whether or not we were protected from the rain, it made everyone miserable. It was a good walking tour, but our guide could tell we weren’t feeling it.

After the tour, a friend and I decided to backtrack towards the hostel where we had passed by a McDonald’s on the way that looked super appetizing right about then.

It was one of my favourite lunches of the trip for a few reasons. It was great to be able to order familiar food from a familiar touch screen, it was great not have to talk to anyone to get it. And it was nice to sit and chat with this friend one-on-one for the first time since Day One.

It felt so good to be able to take a chill walk back to the hostel and take a nap until dinnertime. Downtime I desperately needed and hadn’t taken since San Sebastián, which was weeks ago.

That night we were all going to head to a farmhouse for a real Austrian dinner. Our hosts cooked up the most delicious ribs with potatoes and carrots and the drinks kept flowing.

As if the wine and beer wasn’t enough, the family whose farm we were visiting also made schnapps, and encouraged us to sample all of the various flavours. It was an incredible experience.

When we were all sufficiently stuffed, it was time to say goodbye to our wonderful hosts and head back to the hostel for the night.

On the bus ride back, out trip manager taught us about the Contiki-popular helicopter song that apparently people love to play at the bars we go to because it comes along with a dance that everyone is able to participate in. So Laura got up and taught us the dance. And we’d all be doing the dance by the end of the trip.

I think we were all pretty excited to return to the hostel and get into bed for the next day’s adventure.