Vienna round 2

Before I start again with the end of my Prague misadventure, I want to talk a few minutes about my week last week in Vienna (well the outskirts of Vienna with nightly late night trips in to our hotel).

First, we stayed in a "real hotel". Well it was real except that I could literally brush my teeth while I sat on the toilet

Second, while I ordered most meals from a German menu, i still more times than not at least had a vague idea of what might show up in front of me - it was nice. However, I think the perfect moment of ordering in a foreign language was the last night for dinner when David, one of the Hungarians, ordered a cheese plate for dessert - which is on the dessert menu. When it showed up, he had a look of utter disappointment on his face and looked up to the waiter and said, "I thought I ordered cheesecake :("

Third, I was totally expecting to struggle to order a non meat dish on Ash Wed last week and instead all of the restaurants we ate at had an entire special menu dedicated to just fish items - NICE. On a related note, I still haven't decided on a lenten promise. I can't figure out something to give up or something to do. I normally would do something food related but let's be honest, my diet is already severely restricted - not sure I can afford to futher limit my options. TV - well I have mostly given that up too. Diet coke - yeah that too is not an option. Elizabeth suggested giving up hot showers - um NO. God, do you really want me to freeze to death?? I am taking suggestions.

Fourth, posted signs with incorrect English translations are hilarious. This sign was posted in our hotel's "parking lot". We are not reliable for values in your car. haha.

Last, I thought I didn't like nutella. I think I was wrong. I had the Austrian version of Nutella on a Croissant for breakfast one morning - ummm yeah I think those who describe it as crack might be right.

Anywhere but here

I had one major goal for the weekend.... get out of the Pest. It's not that I haven't been loving it here, I have. However, it is about time I start to knock off some of my travel goals.

After a longer night than I had planned on Friday night, (when I glanced down at Peti's watch and noticed it was 4:30 am, I knew there was a problem) Jo, Ari (the new kid from the NYC office who will be here through July) made our way to Kelati train station in hopes of catching a train to Bratislava at 9:30 am. Unfortunately, we managed to miss the train by 5 min. At this point we knew we didn't want to wait for the next train to Bratislava later that afternoon. Jo, in his attempt to be heard through the thick window of the ticket office, shouted loudly to the ticket agent, "tickets for ANYWHERE BUT HERE". I am sure any English speaking person in the ticket office was sure we HATED Budapest. We did finally determine that a train left to Vienna in about an hour. So we bought our tickets and headed off to Vienna. I thought I was going to get my passport stamped but alas - dumb EU - no stamps added.
Once we arrived in Vienna with no map and no pre-knoweldge or research as we had not planned to go to Vienna we rode the underground to St. Stephen's Cathedral. It put St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest to SHAME. Wow. so beautiful.

Next we wandered downtown a bit to find a cafe for some "coffee". We somehow managed to wander into just the right place - teeming with locals and excellent coffee. The coffee was the best I have had since leaving the US. I could have had 2 or 3 more. We got a few tips from the girl sitting at the table next to us and headed in the direction she gave us to see more architecture and beautiful buildings. Although I had no idea what I was looking at, it was awesome. I will have to do some research this week to figure out exactly what it was we were seeing.
We then wandered through the shopping district for a bit and found dinner at an excellent restaurant. By that point it was time to head back to the train station. It was a long day but so well worth the trip. I am eagerly anticipating a return trip to Vienna but this time I will be prepared with a bit more knowledge of what I want to see in the city.