We were quite excited to go to Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, and a place known for its great music. But we didn't know where we were staying, so we knew we had a little extra time to arrive, and decided to take a little detour. We wanted to see the Alps one last time on this trip, so we took the train south to Innsbruck on a beautiful blue sky morning, saw rocky peaks, lush valleys, and were amazed to see towns that seemed to be perched on the top of mountains, and that people had gardens where normally only the mountain goats can go. Then right back out of the Alps, and alongside them, through Bavaria, on the Austrian RailJet, we had a comfortable ride. We arrived in Salzburg to extreme heat and humidity, and took the bus cross town to where we thought the venue was. We then, unfortunately, had a couple of frustrating hours waiting to hear from the organizer about which hostel we were staying at. We sat by the green glacial river and wondered at the beauty and serenity of this town. We could literally hear echoes of Mozart's melodies. We passed the rest of the time in a good restaurant and got some emailing done, and luckily he eventually got back to us.

While we were in the restaurant, the most vicious of thunderstorms blew through town. The most intense rain I've seen in years turned quickly to hail, and the winds howled through the narrow streets. We dropped our packs off, finally, at the comfortable and clean youth hostel and dehumidified ourselves (showered), and relaxed for a moment. We then went to sound check at Denkmal and were greeted by the friendly staff. We grabbed a quick dinner at the nearby trattoria, and had been sitting outside when another torrential downpour forced us inside. It was a crowded place, so soon after we went in, we were joined at our table a friendly Australian couple. They regularly travel the world, and even offered to book us an Australian tour (hopefully it happens!).

Back at the Denkmal, we had some time to kill, so I went back to the hostel to change into warm clothes since the night was getting rainier and colder. There's something about being a composer and knowing that this was Mozart's hometown- in my mind I had these orchestral moments playing out, partially me creating and having ideas in the moment, but also inspired by the magnitude of what this young man had created.

Since the Denkmal has a bit of a later crowd, the sound man offered to open for us. He played four or five songs, his own compositions, they were very epic, german/austrian folk songs. He was a really bright, motivated guy. A good crown showed up, and before we started, they moved all the couches and chairs close to the stage, so it actually felt like a living room concert, except we were amplified, and even had a sub-woofer that intensified the rhythmic aspects of my playing. We got a lot of good fans there, and talked with some really nice people afterward. We enjoyed our musical adventure in Salzburg.