Oops. So much for keeping ontop of this thing.
What came after Krakow? Ah yes, Vienna! Land of the Wienersnitzel, the von trap family, attractive people, the Danube... couch surfing?
I'd always wanted to go to Vienna, even the name sounds good looking. Ah yes! Just spending the weekend in Vienna, makes me sound like well bred heiress or monocled millionaire with un tres French looking mustache.
So there were 5 of us; four boys and me, typical.
Ken and Nick had already left for Austria the night before, so Peter, Stuart and I hopped on the bus Friday morning 8 am to meet up with them. The bus ride was a short 4 hours of uncomfortable seats and growling tummys and by the time we arrived in Vienna (or Wien as they say in Yerman) we were more than ready for a good leg stretch and some jidlo- but as the bus pulled into the station we were taken aback...
Where the hell are we?! I ask, looking, slack-jawed, at the concrete and metal surrounding me. I panic, worrying Vienna won't live up to my "Sound of Music," size expectations, and proceed to have a heart attack when suddenly, Stuart, map in hand, points us towards the U-bahn across the street.
Ah! Hope!
The train takes us to the center of Vienna, Stephanplatz, where we begin our hour-long search for Ken, Nick and Mike. We know they're in a museum, but which one...? We walk towards "museum isalnd," the part of town where... well I assume its function is self-explanatory. Soon enough, whether by chance or divine intervention, we spot the trio across the street.
We yell! We cry! We Rejoice!
We're starving, so we make our way back into the center of the city, looking for a traditional Viennese lunch. It takes foreverrrr to decide on a place; "too expensive, too touristy, no seats, smells bad, blah blah etc etc." But, when we finally do find a suitable dining location, the endless trek proves to be worth it. The restaurant is a quaint little pub on a far off side street with a yappy chihuahua and FANTASTIC Wienersnitzel.
I eat every last bite and wash it down with a pint of the local beer and then feel like sleeping for 12 years.
Post-food, we go in search of our living arrangements. Today is the day I begin my journey as a surfer of couches, a gypsy, an American minstrel of sorts, in short, a bum. Ken, being the daring lad he is, had, two weeks earlier, decided to sign up for the infamous "couchsurfing.com," where, for all you internetaphobes out there, people from all over the world offer up their couches for people wishing to travel cheaply and meet new friends along the way.
Ok, so my thoughts on this venture were rather polarized: a) I really hope I don't die at the hands of some wacko axe murderer VS. b) this could be the coolest thing I ever do. Apparently B won out, because in 30 short minutes after lunch, I find myself at the door of Astrid and Stephanie Shlager.
Astrid and Stephanie are sisters, both studying at the University of Vienna. They share their apartment with Bene, Steph's boyfriend. The apartment is AMAZING. Super nice, especially for a students place, edgy, modern and tres clean, I find myself immediately at home, and park myself on the smallest couch in the living room (Nick claims the pull out and, Ken grabs the larger couch so I don't have much of a choice, but I don't care, I'm too exhausted to fight it.) I fall asleep, and wake up three hours later feeling refreshed and ready to explore.
But what is this? They're throwing us a party?! There's a bucket of Sangria in the kitchen and all of a sudden the apartment is crawling with Austrians. Thats when we meet Bopsy and Gilly, two of the loveliest people I have yet to meet abroad. Both super blond and bubbly, these two girls tell us all about the Vienna and promise to take us around tomorrow for a quick tour of the city. Bopsy shares a bottle of Rose with me and smiles, flashing a sparkly rhinestone permanently super-glued to her front left tooth. Soon the apartment is full of smoke and laughter, and, the overdose of both leads our group out into the night, in search of dancing and late night snacks.
So we take the U-Bahn out to a club by the river, which is so packed that its glass walls steam over making it hard to breathe, let alone move around inside, I have a drink or two, dance for about a half an hour, get accidentally burned by Bopsy's cigarette and at that very moment, decide to call it a night. (But not before grabbing some street sausage, mmmmm!)
Hmmm, next day it rains, pours actually, and the wind is enough to blow us over as we trek around the city. Trashcans are FILLED to the brim with broken umbrellas and we laugh as we watch tourist after tourist fight flailing, out of control, metal wings as the wind overpowers them. We climb up to the top of the main cathedral in Stephanplatz, a trek which seems to take forever, and I find myself grow sickly dizzy and claustrophobic the tiny, winding spiral staircase to the top.
The view from the tower is pretty, but slightly less impressive than I had imagined, the windows are TINY, and it's hard to see much. After that we go to a cafe to eat some of the infamous Austian... ummm... well, some sort of cake that begins with an S, which was DELICIOUS. Now my memory fails me... That night brought on another party, this time at Bopsy and Gilly's apartment, and a trek for food which failed miserably, as Nick and I left the apartment looking for street vendors around 1am and couldn't find any, got so tired from walking around we just headed home after that, while everyone else stayed out till literally 8am. Nick left his camera in the cab but didnt realize it till the next morning when he was packing up his stuff to leave. Tres ugh. Anndddd then I met up with a family friend for coffee (Starbuckkksss!) and then found Peter and Stuart in time to visit the Natural history museum where we made fun of stuffed anteaters and other awkward animals. They left me there so they could pack up, for I was carrying my backpack with me and I got to hav some much neeeded alone time in the museum cafe where I munched on a Caprese sandwich and downed a pot of mint tea. Spilled an entire sugar packet all over myself, caught the bus, slept, made it back to Prague in one piece.
FIN.
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