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Published: September 4th 2008
The train ride to Vienna was not without incident. We boarded comfortably in Budapest, found a seat sat down and it was the nicest train so far. The train seemed empty for a while till a whole bunch of Asian tourists started filling the cabins. That' weird, we thought. We hadn't really seen any huge groups of Asians on the trains before. The train started to depart and there were only two other people in our cabin. Both middle age men, this was going to be an easy three hours.
A few minutes later a conductor asked for our tickets. We handed him our Eurail Passes and he explained to us that these were 2nd Class tickets, which of course we knew, what we didn't know was that we were sitting in first class! DAMN IT! Thoughts of the packed out 2nd class carriages filled my mind, no where to sit, people staring at you as you walk down the isles. How could this happen?
Just like i'd imagined thirty seconds earlier, we walked down the isles of second class, coping greasies from the lower class. Now that i thought about it the greasies we got from the Asians,
did kind of say, what are
you doing here. Now we were getting greasies that said, don't even think about sitting here. I scoured the whole train, there was one compartment that had room for us. We chucked our luggage on the shelves, sat down and thanked the Austrian lady's who had welcomed us in.
When the train arrived at the next station a group of passengers made their way to our cabin and gave us that most annoying of looks! Your in my seat! This time though it wasn't just Kell and I, it was the whole cabin bar one. I love European trains, apparently no one is allowed to reserve tickets, that is unless of course they do. Annoyed I told them that they can have their seats but our luggage is staying, after all we payed for tickets as well! All i got was blank stares, so i grabbed their luggage and rearranged the shelves and eventually got most of everyones stuff stored. We spent the rest of the trip in the cafeteria, which was actually way more comfortable than even first class was. We had booth seats multiple windows and waited service. A few coffees
later and we were in Vienna.
Probably the easiest hostel to find ever, the Wombat Hostel was just round the corner of the train station. We arrived before check in though, which meant dumping our bags and going for a wander. We got some lunch and checked in, and realised they had washing machines AND driers in the basement. FINALLY! This was an opportunity not to be missed. That afternoon we washed our clothes for the first time since South Africa. It was good.
Once our clothes were dry we headed out to explore and get a bite to eat. Going on a Lonely Planet recommendation we found a pizza place in the city. It was possibly the best pizza we'd ever had, which worried us because we were still to go to Italy. We jumped on a tram and randomly got off when we saw a whole bunch of commotion and lights. The Vienna Film Festival was on. We walked through the crowds, drinking at, outdoor bars. Not dressed for the occasion we were thankful that our clothes were at least clean. There was a black and white film screening on a huge outdoor screen, with rows
of chairs and onlookers. We didn't stay long, we had to get up in the morning and get a good days sightseeing in because we would depart that afternoon.
We managed to see what we wanted in the morning but way faster then we would have liked, We realised Tim, from Plymouth's, recommendation of one day was a touch off. Two or three would have been ideal, Vienna was beautiful and we would have loved to go inside Schönbrunn Palace, but there was simply no time, we had booked the train and booked accommodation in Salzburg.
We made it back to the hostel in time to have a shower and go.
The train was waiting.
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Kathy
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OK who didn't ask their aunties opinion. I could have told you you would need a least a few days in Vienna. So much to see and take in. Schonbrunn spectacular, what about the opera house and just so much to soak in. Also there we went on the world's largest fairest wheel. Hope you had more time in Salzburg, one of my favourites. Loved Brugge if you get there, need a few days there also.