I rolled into 32’ heat and a hostel that didn’t have airconditioning when I arrived in Vienna o n Friday night. I was still sporting a sore throat that had hung around since Dresden and was feeling like it was moving its way towards my lungs. After checking in and taking a shower I organized a few things and then headed out for some 6 euro schnitzel down the street with a bunch of the people off our bus.
The schnitzel was good, and after the meal everyone headed down to the travel shack, which is a bar specifically for backpackers and tourists. It immediately struck me as the shittest bar in Australia, just in Vienna. I was in no mood for drinking and without some serious drunkenness, this pub would remain completely unacceptable. A few of us decided to head into the city for the evening and look around. Vienna is a city filled with beautiful and overly excessive buildings, thanks to the ruling Habsburgs centuries of decadence as the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The next day I was feeling significantly sicker, but went out to do some shopping with Hannah and Nic. I needed sunglasses after losing two pairs to the Vltava and had decided to go something adequately stupid like mirrored aviators. At around 11am it started absolutely pissing down with rain. We had gone from 32’ and hot to 16’ and wet in one day. We spent the rest of the day at the hostel working out what we would do for the rest of our trips. I have now decided that I will be going to La Tomatina. This decision cost me about $400 for the accommodation and the bus for the 40km out to Bunol, which is the town where La Tomatina occurs on the last Wednesday in August every year. I then had many other things to re-arrange as hanging around on the west coast of Spain waiting for La Tomatina means certain other things get thrown around. I now have flights to Paris to meet Kate, Porto where Nic and I will catch a train down the Lagos for a few days before going up to Lisbon for 2 days, then back to Madrid, out to Stuttgart in order to catch the train to Salzburg for my 3 week trial at Alpen-rider in the Austrian Alps, over the Oktoberfest period. That night we all went out to see the new Harry Potter movie at the English cinema down the road from our hostel. We were sat 2 rows from the front and the movie had an interval. Other than that, it wasn’t anything special.
The next morning I woke up sicker than ever, even though I’d been off the turps for 2 days and hadn’t been doing anything strenuous. I was supposed to do a grape and winery tour that I had already paid 48euro for, but I needed to be smart and see a doctor. I would be in Hungary the next day, and four days later in backwater Czech Republic, so this would be my last chance for over a week to easily see an English speaking doctor. The doctor quickly diagnosed me with a bacterial throat and lung infection, charged me 80euro and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. So before the day had even started I was down about 150 euros, plus the fact that I was only staying in Vienna on the Sunday night as I was supposed to be doing the Grape tour. Not happy.
As it turned out, Charlie, the girl I had met in Dresden, was in Vienna for some dance workshops as part on the Vienna dance festival and I got to hang out with her all day. It was a very amusing and affronting day as we both like to search for the other person’s weakness and pick at it for our own amusement. It meant that my conversation revolved around her propensity to have her mouth open in all her photos, how her ‘self cut’ haircut was awful, and how her clothing resembled that of a hobo. Her conversation on the other hand revolved around the pigment fluctuations of my skin, my tiny hands and my age. We both took it all with and laugh and had a great day looking around at all of the buildings, beauty and overpriced food and drink that Vienna had to offer.
That night Nic and I sat down and booked all of our accommodation for Portugal in September. It looks like that is going to be an absolute blast. A couple of the other travelers we have met along the way look like they’ll be meeting us in Lagos so that should be mad fun, and it will be good to have some last minute partying before I have to work for three weeks and be responsible in Austria.
The next morning I woke up with a killer sore next as I slept head to toe with Hannah due to her not wanting to pay for another night in Vienna while waiting to go to Budapest because of my misadventure with the grape tour. I had no problem with this, apart from the fact that she stole the pillow, but at least my throat and chest we feeling better so I was confident I would be back to full fitness for at least some of my time in Budapest.
We said our goodbyes to Nic and some of the other travelers and made our way to the train station to get our tickets to Budapest. Tickets Hannah had ensured us were 38 euro. We got to the counter to find out they are 70 euro. Vienna. It’s a really pretty city, and I can see the quality of life would be excellent if you lived and worked here, but damn it knows how to suck the cash out of your wallet.
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