THE DANGERS OF TOUR GROUPS

So basically we (and by we I mean Carol) averted total disaster this morning- and it all started with breakfast in Salzburg at our hotel, an American tour group and our luggage. As it turned out- a pretty large tour group of Americans also stayed at our hotel last night- and as we know, tour groups move in packs- ever try to cut through the middle of one of them walking down the street- you can't- if you don't believe me, try it sometime. There is an indelible cement among its members. That umbrella, or red flag, or whatever- is in their focus and there is NO breaking of the group. This is important, because its the reason that I wanted to check out of our hotel before going to breakfast this morning- because I didn't want to get caught in the mob when we had tight times to reach our train for Innsbruck.

So I told Carol to watch the luggage and I'd go check out- that went fine- and when I came back up to the floor where breakfast was served- our luggage seemed safe enough outside the breakfast room- the honest truth is, I didn't even think about it- because you see, this hotel, unlike any hotel I've stayed at in Europe this summer- had an American breakfast buffet spread out- I'm talking scrambled eggs and BACON! I came to learn last year that breakfast at European hotels usually means bread, and then bread served with bread on the side (although they do often mercifully throw in Nutella by the small package...). So again, I only saw bacon! and eggs!

So after my nirvana moment of savoring the closest thing I've had to Perkins in nearly two months- I said to Carol- want to go? That's when we stood up and walked out to the room where our luggage was stored and when I heard Carol say, "oh no.... oh NO"- and all I saw lying there were our two coats- OH and I saw the back of Carol breaking into a full spring headed down the stairs of the hotel...with the words, "t....o.....u.....r............g......r.....o........u.........p!" ringing in the stairwell-

I'm like......wait!! and I dashed after her!!!