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Published: July 25th 2010
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I've known for a while that I had a voice mail waiting for me. I just hadn't bothered to check... Turns out one of the jobs I applied for in Ottawa wants me for an interview... Called the woman back to advise it wouldn't be possible until I got back. So I guess that's something to look forward to. I really don't know any more. Anyway, enough about work. For those of you that are interested... Bell charges $1.99/minute for calls in most European countries from my iPhone - definitely for rare/emergency use only. Texts are $0.75 each, a little better. What kills me though, is the rate for data: unless you have a plan, you're looking at $50.21/MB. No, that's not a typo. So in case you're wondering why I don't just upload things from my iPhone on the run... That's why.
Left Salzburg for Vienna this morning. Oddly enough, in spite of the fact that I don't think it's 40 degrees out (sadly there were no pharmacy signs on my way to the Hauptbahnhof telling me the current temperature), I think this was quite possibly one of my sweatiest mornings. But that is totally beside the point. As the scenery went by today, I kept marvelling at the number of churches with onion-type domes. I don't tend to think of Austia as an eastern European country, but let's face it, there was an Austro-Hungarian empire for a reason! Austria undoubtedly has closer ties to the east than a lot of other countries. Sadly aside from the church domes and the odd field of sunflowers or something else that catches the eye here and there, the scenery on the inter-city from Salzburg to Vienna is much less interesting than the scenery I mostly slept through on my way from Ljubljana to Salzburg. Go figure.
The train does give one a chance to ponder... I think that my next European vacation, whenever that may be, will have to be a week in someplace in France outside of Paris (eh, Pat?), one in the Austrian Alps, and one in Tuscany. It would be, like, the perfect three weeks, I think.
Over the last few days I've discovered my German is almost as useless as my Italian, although I did manage to get through a "zwei Briefmarken für Canada" conversation unaided and without resorting to English. I was pretty proud.
Arrived in Vienna and found my hostel without problems, but my room wasn't quite ready. Already I'm excited by the free internet in the lobby and the prospect of having my laundry done FOR me for only €4. Wandered into town long enough to get my bearings ... and realized I have no idea why I'm here. There isn't anything in particular that I want to see... Just kinda playing it by ear. Stopped by Haydn's house (which is really quite close to the hostel) on the way back, wrote some emails, updated some folks on things going on, ventured out for dinner, and have decided to try (again) to get a good night's sleep. Still haven't shaken this sinus thing, so am watching a movie on TV5 Monde (the only channel I've found that I understand!).
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