Day 9 - Vienna

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My first day in Vienna. After having a walk around town I headed to Stephanplatz to check out St Stephan Cathedral (Stephandom). This is the main gothic church in Vienna. It was amazing to see inside. Visiting these old fashioned churches kinda makes me understand how the church could have had such a big influence in the past. Just the scale and design of the buildings, particularly considering the age in which it was built, must have been extraordinary. I bought the All Inclusive Ticket which included the Audio-guide tour for the main cathedral, the Catacombs, the North Tower, the South Tower and the special treasures section. The Catacombs tour was very busy, I guess it being summer everything will be busy, but it was still really interesting to see. Particularly this one area, which looked into a chamber of bones from plague victims. Going up to the North Tower there was a lift but to get to the top of the South tower required walking up 343 steps. It was a mission but it was totally worth it too see the view. After spending the better part of a day checking out every nook and cranny of this church I decided to head out to a restaurant and get a schnitzel before calling it a day. To do that though I needed to get some cash out. It was at this point that I realised my latest dilemma. Arrive Homes had still not deposited my bond back into my account. Not cool. The rest of my night was really spent in crisis mode, I had 70pounds to get my through the weekend. This make not sound like something to stress about, but I was meant to be travelling to Salzburg on Sunday and still had to pay for the accommodation when I arrived, which totalled more than I currently had. I transferred the money I had been sent by my sister from my Australian bank account to my UK account but even still, this money would not be available until Monday – if I didn’t want to be sleeping rough on Sunday night I had to come up with another plan. It was outside office hours but I persisted in trying to contact Arrive Homes and was finally successful around midnight. The lazy buggers had not bothered to go and inspect the property in the 2 weeks since I have moved out and subsequently they would not repay my bond until they had. This is despite the fact that they person who is replacing me is due to move in on Monday. What would they do if I had left the room in a pig-sty? Anyway I ended up getting quite emotional on the phone and got an message a few hours later telling me that he had deposited 460pounds into my account and would deposit the other 100pounds when they inspect my room on Monday. This technically didn’t solve my dilemma though as even though he had deposited the money I would not be able to access the money until Monday. So what to do? Right off the bat I knew that Salzburg was off the cards then. I just couldn’t afford it. Staying at the hostel in Vienna seemed to be the most economical option, and also allowed me to have more days in Vienna. There is a bus from Vienna to Prague so I am planning on staying here until Wednesday.

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