In the Nick of Time

---

---

I woke up at my usual 6:30 time, but didn’t want to get up just yet (my train wasn’t until 11:10), so I laid in bed until 8:00 when I got up and finished getting ready to leave. I wanted to use up most of my Hungarian Forint change so I pooled what I had together and it came to 440 Forint. I went to the market to see what I could get for breakfast and a light snack on the train and I was spot on as the grocer told me it would be 402 Forint (well 400 since they don’t have pennies and either round up or down depending), so I have 40 Forint to keep for souvenirs! (It’s approximately 1000 Forint to $5).
I went into the common room and said goodbye to Emma (I am going to miss this Swedish chick), she was so much fun and so nice, and her English was perfect! She doesn’t know exactly where she is going next (seems like we all have that problem) but I am sure she will have fun. Elyane had left for Vienna the day before but both of us failed to get her contact info so I don’t know if I will run into her or not, but at least we made a great trio in Budapest!

I ended up taking a little too long saying goodbye and I was a bit later leaving for the train station than I would have liked, but I figured I would take the excellent public transport to get to the train station (it’s about a 30 minute fast walk to the train station from the Loft hostel), but wait . . . I used up all my money this morning. Oh well, time for a power walk with my pack! I was running out of time; I seriously had to book it, and it was humid (doesn’t sound stressful at all!). By the time I got to the train station I was soaked with sweat! No time to stop and worry about that now; I needed to figure out what platform my train was stationed at . . . and look at the time! It is 11:05 (train leaves at 11:10)! Ok, I need to figure this out NOW. I see that my train is platform 1 (ok good sign) but it’s a little confusing, so I walk down the right side of the train station (it’s quite a big station) and I don’t see what I am looking for. I ask a very nice attendant in my best Hungarian “Vienna?” and he points to the complete opposite side of the station, crap. So I book it back to where I started and then over to the left side (it has to be 11:09 by now) and I finally ask another attendant again “Vienna?” (do I sound like a broken record?) and he nods, YES! I made it, no sooner than I boarded and was looking for a seat did the train take off, that was a close one!

Whew, it was a very short ride to Vienna, I almost wanted it to be longer so I could veg out on the train and recover from the morning’s escapades. Luckily I knew that my next hostel was very close to the train station, so I wouldn’t have to worry ( . . .as much – keep reading in future blogs for more blonde escapades dealing with train stations!) Although on the train ride over, the Viennese ticket collector was one of the nicest I have had. (this is a good sign!) She started talking to me in German and I just gave her the universal “I’m not stupid but I am giving you a stupid look right now because I have no idea what you are saying” and she smiled and click she was in English.

I arrived to Vienna and sure enough the hostel was super easy to find! I had just walked into my room and was making my bed when guess who walks in the door, Elayne! Now this is quite something as this is a good sized hostel and plenty of rooms, but she is in my room (it’s a sign)! She told me that she booked a different hostel, but that it was horrible, so she came over to this one. Happy days!

We went and got lunch together at a little kebab shop, and I soon realized just how many Turkish people live in Vienna (it seems like they make up half the population!). I said what little Turkish I knew to the guy and he freaked out (I must say I was very happy too) he came from around the counter and gave me a hug! He then started spouting in Turkish and I understood a little bit of what he was saying. He then started talking to me in a Turkish German mix (I started learning German before I left, but I am very basic at that as well) with a teeny bit of English thrown in. This was just about too much for my brain, but we got our points across to one another. When we were about to leave he hugged me again, what a nice guy! (and typical Turk)

We got back to the hostel and I went exploring, it’s a larger hostel than what I like, but it is done up well. It has a nice big common space with a piano for free use as well as a couple guitars (I was treated to one of the best piano concerts by a fellow traveler, he was amazing on the piano!). There is an outdoor courtyard with a large chess set that is peppered with flowers. It’s probably the prettiest hostel I have stayed at.
I then sat down and made my plan of attack; I had read on the way over that the Spanish Riding School is in Vienna and you can watch the morning exercises of the horses until the end of June and the next day was the last day in June (whew just in time!) they also have performances, and they are lovely, but I have seen them twice back in the states and the performance itself was a little out of my budget. So I made a plan to get up early the next morning and get to the ticket office to reserve my spot for the morning exercises. Since I have such a bad sense of direction I decided to make a dry run to it before it got dark.

Vienna is so pretty! I love how the new really meets the old at the Ring. It is a very modern and westernized place with the most English on signs that I have seen in a while! (Even when I was on the train there they would say things first in German on the intercom and then again in English, I was so surprised!)

There are plenty of parks and statues in the old city, and it would just be lovely to pack a picnic basket and just spend the day taking it in. (I definitely need to extend my stay here!)
Sure enough it took me a bit to find the Spanish Riding School and its ticket office; I was so glad I had made a dry run of it!

I then went back to the hostel after stopping at the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. It was a very relaxing evening and I went to bed fairly early since I wanted to get up early to be at the ticket office at 9:00am when it opened for the start of the “Morning Exercises to Music” at 10:00. I am so excited!

B

---

Photos

In the Nick of Time
Just sat down on the train!

Just for you Dad
Its a Boombah!

I found the ticket office!
Spanish Riding School Ticket office

Oh no!
Not my map too!