14 July: Bastille Day - Salzburg
I must admit I had no appreciation of the deep significance of this celebration for the French. Sure I've seen Les Miserables and love the songs, but seeing the preparations, happening upon the horses moving in dressed in their full regalia, and then being woken by the military rolling in, and early risers with their flags to the ready was real. The hotel had warned us to get out before Place de la Concord was locked off so we shot out like rabbits.
We stumbled around Paris Est and were very thankful that we had all this extra time to ascertain how to catch a train. It all became extremely crowded. We had booked 1st class thank goodness so were on the top deck for the 3 hour trip to Stuttgart.  Then we had to struggle off and find a different train to Salzburg.  We absolutely definitely had excess luggage. However, we made it but into the wrong carriage. It was a great relief when the guard told us to shift half an hour into the trip. We are certainly not 2nd class passengers. There is a huge difference. Very interesting seeing the countryside instead of flying over it.

Much more to this story but Peter has now woken up and wants to go shopping for breakfast in our little village in Salzburg.  There'll be some photos for you today for sure.