We've been in Salzburg the past eight days. One day for every hour spent on the train from Berlin. It turns out that doing anything for eight hours is exhausting, even sitting and snoozing on a moving train. I understand now why it's important to say to anyone who has been traveling, "You must be tired from all that traveling. Let's get you some rest."

Of course, we rode backward the whole way save the first hour between Berlin and Leipzig. Who knew the train would pull into a platform in Leipzig and then pull out going the other way? When we finally changed trains in Munich, I felt all funny, like I was suddenly moving forward fast. And then, when we boarded the next train, it pulled out and turned and we were facing backwards again.

On the way, we passed little castle towns and lethargic rivers. Just south of Naumberg, we saw a giant stuffed Tweetie Bird floating down a slow, treelined river in a patchwork of cow pastures. It was the weirdest fucking thing and a total delight. Andrew said, "Uh-oh, Tweetie's sleepin' with da fishes."

The Salzburg train station is dingy and a bit far from the center of things. We walked 30 minutes to our hotel through throngs of tourists in the altstadt. Here were the meringue-y baroque buildings of Mozart's time, stuffed with cheap tourist shops and the same chain stores you find in the mall. It was a disappointment.

We've been stuck in a hotel on this leg of the trip too, the kind where everything you touch costs you five euro. We've had to go out for every meal because breakfast at the hotel is 22 euro per person, which is about double the amount of eating in a cafe next door or down the street. I've been to the grocery store every day for snacks and drinks small enough to fit in the minibar. Overall, the hotel has been comfortable, though: A large square room with sofa and chairs and a giant bed in a 300 hundred year old building.

Although going out for the morning coffee has been a bit of pain, like when you're backpacking and you have to crawl out into the cold to get the food from the bear line, it also has meant that we've spent every morning in the neighborhood and have gotten to experience something of the neighborhood breakfast customs. The tourists are still tucked into their hotels, so if you're eating at a cafe, you're eating with the locals. Breakfast is quiet. People sip coffee and nibble at a roll while reading the morning newspaper.

We're here because Andrew is doing a little cultural exchange with the Salzburg office of his company. Weekdays, he's taken the bus to the suburbs and the surprising industrial monoliths that exist in the shadow of the Alps. Meanwhile, I worked remotely from the hotel room, going out for lunch at an imbiss or at Il Sole and later in the afternoon for coffee and cake at Cafe Furst or Cafe Tomaselli. Of course, not a day without Mozartkugeln.

It didn't take much scratching at the surface to uncover intriguing pockets of local culture. After a few days, it became clear that there's much more here than we would see in eight short days. This charming little town has grown on me!

Because we've been working, we haven't had time or energy for tours to the salt mines or the campy Sound of Music tour. But on the weekend, we walked every pathway of the altstadt and later in the week I tried to return to all the little corners we'd found that we wanted to know more about. On Sunday, we climbed to the massive fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg, dating to 1077, that spills over the cliff behind the altstadt. The views of the city and the Alps hugging it on three sides were the images of fairy tales.

We're not quite ready to leave, but it's time to go. I hope to write more about our experiences here. I'm not sure why I haven't felt like writing. I was exhausted the day we arrived ("May I suggest you take a rest?"); after that, I began to use the computer for work and couldn't quite make the shift to this.