Monday, October 28, 2013

Vienna, Austria

Vienna. We made it. We walk to our hostel and find the owners to be big, muscular "German" men. They speak German, but they aren't actually German... I guess it sounds better than Austrian. (I'm not even sure what this means)

Funny thing... we get to talking and told them we came from Budapest, and told them our little story. One of the guys was from Hungary and left because he didn't like it! He said that our deal in Budapest most likely would not have been a problem had we been from there. But.. I will say that that is the first time I've been treated badly because I am an American. 

It was getting dark, but they told us it is pretty safe and that we should go explore. We stumble upon a festival. Wine, beer, people, music... fun!! We grabbed a beer and started walking around when these two guys asked us where we were from. (I thought it was a little weird just because I was wondering how we were sticking out so badly from everyone else?? Maybe they had just heard us talking) We stopped to talk to them.. they were early 30s probably. One guy was really into metal music and kept saying "Yeah!" In a deep rocker voice. he said he loved American music, so I asked if he was a Lamb of God fan. (Super heavy metal-screamer music) He was so thrilled that he hugged me and kissed me on the cheek!! Wow. That I wasn't expecting. I've now been kissed on the cheek by a 60 year old Italian man and a 30s Austrian rocker man.  



There were these little cabins set up with bars in them, and one of the ones we walked into were people playing music, climbing in the rafters, screaming and singing. It was kind of interesting that when you buy a beer there you have to pay a little extra and when (if) you bring your glass back you can get your 2 euros back. I had never had that happen in the US, I thought that was kind of interesting. It was a cheap couple souvenirs ;) 








We decided to call it a night. The next day we got up and wondered around all day. The hostel was so great and let us come cook our pasta before our overnight train. Which reminds me that this hostel had an really good breakfast with a few different cereal options etc! Got to love eating something besides a little bread! 







This is our hostel and notice the toilet and how it flattens out and the hole is on the opposite end. 





We leave the hostel with 15-20 minute grace period to have at the train station. We knew exactly where the station and stop was----we thought. We get to where the station should be. We ask a lady just to make sure we were in the right place. She told us that we needed to get on the subway to a stop switch subway lines and it is a couple stops away!! Oh shit. Why are there two metro stops with the train station name in them!?!? Surprise to you yet?? More panic and running. Get on the subway, ok. Switch lines... 7 minute wait. Oh, no. After what seems like forever it gets here. Ok. Sophie we have 2-3 minutes before our train LEAVES (our estimated time from when we arrive at the right stop. You just go. You sprint. Ok, on the subway they stop and go so quickly. Except this one time when we are desperately trying to make our train. We get on the subway and wait. More people are coming and getting on. Why are we still here?!?! Still waiting.... 2-4 minutes now that we have until our train leaves and we are still on the subway. We have the slightest sliver of a chance. This lady hears us talking and she explains exactly what we need to do when we leave the subway doors. Bigger station than we thought. Sophie sprints and i'm tailing behind, but hopefully she can yell wait?? We sprint to the platform and the train is just arriving. Oh. My. Goodness. 

If not for those amazing directions from the nice nice lady we probably wouldn't have made it. Our train literally stopped (you usually have time to walk to your cart number--ya know, just get on) they blow the whistle and we have to jump in a car and go. Jess and I were seated with nice men. They reminded me of my dad. I miss him. I felt safe. Sophie had to sit in a different pod. We were supposed to arrive in Prague at 4:09. I wake up at 3:45 and we are already there. My gosh. So many times, everywhere we travel we are doing this!!! Soft of frantically get off. Our last night train. Pretty happy about that even though they are so cheap. 

Hey, Prague.

Did I mention that our whole time using the metro in Vienna not a single person checked our tickets. Not once. 

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