Write Again Soon

« Basic Human Needs - Creation | Main | Fun in Austria »

April 16, 2005

Vienna

We're in Vienna!

I'm writing from the computer room in our hostel. For a mere 2 Euros, I have a whole 30 minutes. Unfortuntely, I have neither the time nor the inclination to transfer over my pictures, or to give a hugely detailed account of the last two days. 'Cause I'm tired.

But here's a quick overview.

Yesterday we left Karlskrona on the 13:38 train to Copenhagen. The fun started right away when a rowdy, drunken bunch of college students decided that our car was the prime locale for their agitated ramblings. Mandy and I, in particular, were graced with the presence of one, who proceed to tell Mandy that she was beautiful. Her eyes, they were perfection; her face, "like a flower".

At one point he looked over to me (sitting next to him) and said, "You, you alright. But her," turning to Mandy, "her beautiful." We found it highly amusing and also greatly annoying.

Thankfully, they only rode with us as far as Kristianstad, where the rest of the journey was uneventful. We spent a couple of hours in the airport (our flight was delayed) before finally boarding our Maersk flight to Vienna. Once we arrived, we took the shuttle over to the Westbanhoff Station, then hoofed it over to our hostel (getting only slightly lost on the way). After checking in to our room (which is tiny, but very clean), we took a quick walk and called it a night.

This morning we were up and out the door by 10 a.m. We headed for the main part of the town and proceeded to see most of the Innerstadt (spelling is iffy on this, since Mandy has the guidebook upstairs). The weather was absolutely gorgeous--with people in shorts, t-shirts, and sunglasses. We meandered through the park next to the Hofburg Imperial Palace, saw St. Stephan's (and took a tour of the crypts), walked around a bunch of the side streets and generally had a good time.

We had planned to go to the Statsoper (the premiere opera house in the world, or so they say) to see a performance of La Boeme, but we were just too tired to get back to the hostel, change into nice clothes, get back to the Statsoper, buy cheap standing-room tickets, and stand through a performance. Plus, we realized that we hadn't had any solid food all day (unless you count ice cream as solid).

So instead, we found a little Italian place, got seats outside, had a nice glass of wine, and ate a leisurely dinner. A round-about walk back to the hostel has brought us back to where we started 10 hours ago.

Our plans for the night include a little thesis work and a little "other work". I'll be working on a school project, having been asked to help revise the textbook for next year. Mandy will do whatever it is she does when she's not working on her thesis.

The plan for tomorrow is to spend the day at the Schonnbron Palace. The weather is supposed to cool down, and nothing else is open on Sunday's anyway. We'll be lucky to find anything to eat. On our way back, all the grocery stores had closed and won't re-open until Monday morning. We're bad planners!!

Comments

Posted by: kevin at April 21, 2005 09:26 PM

Posted by: roya at April 23, 2005 08:37 AM

Post a comment