• So we drove into Austria around mid-morning.
• Wow. That's all I have to say.
• The first stop was the Crystal Museum, which I didn't go in because I don't want crystal. They had a giant cable swing outside (you know, the kind that looks like a dog runner thing) and a bunch of us took turns on it. The museum also had a labyrynth in the shape of a hand, which Jeri and I tried to get through.
• Then we drove for about an hour to Hopfgarten, and Kate put on the soundtrack to "The Sound of Music" and we had to do hand motions to the Do, Re, Mi song.
• It was cute.
• At the end, Jeri yelled, "You guys are all idiots."

  

• So we got into town and had some lunch (spinach dumplings in cheese sauce in case you were wondering) and then the cows came home.
• Oh yes, they did. They marched down the main street with ribbons in their hair and big bells and little mountain children with bandana hats and walking sticks.
• You've never seen a bunch of tourists get more excited over cows.

  

• After lunch, we rented some mountain bikes and went out for a long ride out in the country.
• Pretty fall colors. Very nice.
• Then we walked around downtown and went into the church, which was amazing.
• With real dead bodies of saints, freeze-dried and put into plexiglass cases for display. Mmmmm.
• I am not making this up. I thought they were dolls until someone said, "Look at their hands."
• We checked into our hotel around 5, and found that Grace, Miriam, Jean, Jeri and I had been farmed out to a guesthouse, where we got to share a bathroom down the hall.
• A real Austrian pensioner, just like in The World According to Garp.
• I was grateful for the experience, because we had access to soap, and the hotelers didn't.
• Ha-ha.

  

• So Kate cheerfully suggested that we do our laundry in the sink, which is what I did.
• Except that nothing in Europe ever dries. Ever.
• So I have a big plastic bag full of soaking wet underwear and socks sitting under me on the bus, and I hope I can hang it out tonight before it molds.
• Sigh.
• But, anyway, we had dinner, which was like another college cafeteria meal (I had French fries, rigatoni, and peas) and ice cream for dessert (praline or orange, very good) and then we sampled Schnapps.
• I had vanilla and butterscotch Schnapps.
• The bar had some black lights on, and Kate had a glow pen, so everyone got "tattoos" drawn on their foreheads in glowing orange ink.
• Black lights are cool.
• I had washed my hands in Dove soap, which is phosphorescent. So my hands and fingernails glowed brightly, as well as the places on my face that I'd scratched.
• This blonde chick from LA who calls everything "disgusting" decreed that my glow-in-the-dark hands were indeed "disgusting."
• I just laughed.
• Then a bunch of us danced until we got really tired and went to bed.

It's on to filthy Venice!