/ A Clean Slate /

Late last night I flew into W.A. Mozart airport in Salzburg, Austria.















A bit of insult to injury, the van that picked us up last night had this license plate. Interesting to see after flying for 15 hours from Japan.

















This morning I woke, remarkably well rested, and sauntered around town like a proper tourist on my first of two days off. This is a shocking anomaly these days to have 2 days off, really off with nothing to do, in a place where there are options for a good time. The weather has been amazing as well. I suppose I deserve a little here and there. The travel yesterday from Osaka to Seoul, Seoul to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Salzburg was emotionally trying to say the least. This morning (while well rested, as I said) I had absolutely no idea where I was. There was no pillow under my head filled with beans or pebbles, there was no kimono lying on the floor (and no note under my door kindly requesting that I not wear said kimono in the lobby again, thanks) and no minature furniture from the future. I took it all to mean that I was no longer in Japan. To celebrate this (maybe not celebrate, since I had a blast, but still) I ordered a big breakfast with lots of bread, oatmeal, fruit, nutella and such. There wasn't a grain of rice withing 100 meters of my plate. I did eat remarkably well in Japan though, and, for a variety of reasons, I will sincerely miss the catering.















We came, we saw, we bought Godzilla masks and ran around a festival site howling at the locals.















Oh, and we saw Gwen Stefani too.















I wasn't sure if I should take offence to the fact that somehow 'Western' and Handicapped' are synonymous with one-another, but then I realized that it said 'handicaped,' and I was confused all over again.
















At the airport in Japan yesterday I got this little magnet when I ordered tea with soy milk. It was like a little 'hooray soy milk' moment in the coffee shop. I left, as I've left many Japanese establishments this past week, befuddled and slightly amused.


















Brutal flights in tiny planes.....














3-2-1 Chaos.















Nothing like a fistfull of Danish beer to ease you into it. It's hard to go wrong with anything associated with vikings, I think.















At the airport in Frankfurt we had five hours to kill before the flight to Salzburg. There was a small waiting area when we got off the flight from Osaka which consisted of a duty free shop, a magazine store, a McDonalds and a bar. Ally and Bobby were directed through passport control and security directly to our departure gate. They were stuck there without even a bathroom for five hours. I managed to find them and waved beyond a pane of four inch, bullet-proof glass as they sat, rejected, by themselves. There wasn't much going on, but I bought a new camera at the duty free shop. I had been looking for one in Japan, but wasn't impressed by anything there. I saw a really sweet one in Korea, but it was pretty expensive. I managed to find the same one in Frankfurt at a better price. It's a pretty complex little thing. I've decided to name it Ed-209 after the robot from Robocop. Hopefully it won't decide to shoot me in the back someday and then fall down a flight of stairs trying to get away (robocop humor?). I also found this little gem. There was all manner of bits of The Berlin Wall mounted in glass with framed certificates of authenticity and such, and then there was this little piece with a plastic car glued to the top of it. Sold, to me for 5 Euro.
















And what all goes on in the world these days? You'd think I would know, but actually not so much. Travel is a vacuum sometimes.