I love it when unexpectedly good things happen. Last night at about 6pm I was all set for a long, boring night of waiting. I had dinner at a vegan, Indian restaurant called Spicy Spices (not very Austrian, I know, but the lack of vegetables in my life is really getting unacceptable). It was pouring rain so wandering around the city, my usual evening plan, was not sounding so appealing. I figured I would just go back to the hostel and surf the web or something until my 1:30 am night train to Croatia. But then luck struck!

 First, I decided to read rather than surf the web. I finished my last book, Animal Dreams, a few days ago, and so bought a new book from the limited English selection in the oldest bookstore in Austria in Altstadt Salzburg. It is called "Watching the English" and is a hilarious ethnographic study of the distinctive aspects of Englishness. Being American is kind of hard in Europe because I feel like the butt of everyone else jokes, so this book is helping me by providing fodder to laugh at someone else for a change. Anyway, I bought a glass of red wine, and lay on a couch listening to the rain and laughing at the English for several hours.

By 11:30, it was time to catch the last bus of the night to the train station. I walked to the stop, but, since I can't read German, hadn't realized that the last stop of the night didn't apply to Saturday night. Oops. But again, luck struck!

A guy walked up, checking the timetable for his train, but realized his train was done for the night as well. I asked him if he could read German, and he explained that I needed to go to a different stop, and it was on his way so he would take me there. I then had one of the most interesting conversations I've ever had with a stranger. He told me he is 24 and he bakes cakes at Tomaselli's, a fancy cafe in Salzburg. He and his brother were from Bavaria, but were both living in Salzburg, he as a pastry chef, his brother as a cook. He had just gotten back from dinner with his brother and brother's girlfriend, where his brother had cooked and he had made dessert. (How adorable is that?!) So we walked through the 500 year old buildings and across the Salzach river and he asked if all Americans thought that Germans were Nazis (apparently he had been asked if he was a Nazi by the last American he met). I asked him what Germans thought of Americans, and he said they thought Americans didn't learn enough history about the world. I don't know if I can deny this…He wasn't really happy making cakes; he felt like he wasn't doing anything important with his life, and asked what I was studying. I gave my now standard answer, which is "Studying the social sciences, but I don't really know what I'm doing with my life, haha." Maybe someday I'll end up making cakes. Then we reached the stop, and wished each other well, and went on our way. I have no idea what his name was but this nice stranger is now forever documented in my travel experience.

I reached the train station around midnight, and was prepared to sit for an hour by myself in the only open building, the Mc Donalds. But wouldn't you know it, luck struck! First I met a man who had just returned to Austria from New Zealand, where he was a chef for Formula 1 racers. He now lives near the the Slovenian border, in Austria, and since I'll be coming back through the country in a few weeks, offered me a place to stay on a lake in the mountains! Then, a few of us in the Micky D's realized that we were all on the same train to Croatia, and so spent the rest of the wait talking about our travels, past and future.

Seven hours later, I stumbled off the train and into sunny Croatia! I walked through the town to the produce market in an old square, where I loaded up on fruits and veggies for the next leg of my trip, and then found a pleasant cafe with patio seating where I had a cappuccino and some kind of Croatian pastry that the waitress recommended (although it was also the most expensive thing on the menu, so I can't be sure if she was recommending it for its taste or its prices).

Now I'm on the train again, riding through the Croatian countryside to the town of Split. I've only been in the country for several hours but I think I already like it.