Trip to Vienna

I decided that seeing Vienna in the cold of the Christmas season was not the only experience I wanted to have there, so Justin and I went on a weekend adventure to the beautiful city. We originally wanted to go to Eger, the wine tasting region, but this was just as good, with our own wine tasting on the side.

With the confidence of a seasoned European traveler, we set out early on a Saturday morning to catch a train to Vienna. We had to stop and change trains, which was not a big deal, but when our train that would land us in Vienna came, things began to go downhill. I don’t remember if I wrote about it at the time, but the last time I rode to Vienna, I had no seat reservation and sat in the stairwell for the two hour ride. Not a big deal, but I didn’t want to do that again. When the train came, I grabbed Justin’s hand and just told him to get on the train and that we’d find a seat later. Not usually a big deal, but we had gotten on at the sleeping car end of the train and there weren’t any seats for us. The people in these cars had come from Bucharest, Romania and weren’t looking to share with two Americans on their way to Vienna. After walking back and forth through three cars about four times, I decided we’d just hang out for a while, get off at the next stop and then get back on to find some seats.

Knowing that this was a train that made few stops, I tried to make the best of it since we’d be standing for a long time. I leaned back and supported myself with his body since I knew he'd keep me from going anywhere when the train jerked. At the first stop, the Hungarian boarder, we got off the train and hustled to the other end to try and find some seats. We were successful and settled in for the rest of the ride. We got to Vienna, and were running a little bit late, but it was okay since I had been here before and was fully confident, map in hand, that I knew where we were going and what to do. We got off the train, and as I walked toward the train station, I wondered why people were leaning out the windows of the train looking at us. Why weren’t they getting off? This was the end of the road… wasn’t it? I looked at the sign for the station, and it was the FIRST stop in Vienna, not the main train station. SHIT! I grabbed Justin’s hand again and we hauled ass to get back to a door on the train to re-board. As we flew up the stairs, all he could do was look at me and shake his head. The first thing out of his mouth was “my mistake at the Budapest train stations doesn’t hold a candle to this Chinese fire drill you’ve got us doing here.” My only response was “it’s all a part of the adventure” – and the adventure didn’t stop there. When we arrived at the main station, TOGETHER we looked at the map and decided on a direction to walk. We were only one metro stop away, so I figured that it would be nicer to walk rather than to take the metro. Well, that was the wrong decision. When we found out where we on the map (after about 30 minutes of walking) we had gone in the totally wrong direction. Now, while we were not exactly where I figured we would be, it actually ended up being okay since we were close to the Schonbrunn palace and that was one of the things I wanted him to see. So, even though we BOTH made a mistake (I hope he’s laughing as he reads this) it was all “a part of the adventure” and it was fun. (the first picture is Justin in front of the train... hmph. The second is of Schonbrunn palace) It's a good thing we've grown so fond of each other, or it could have been really ugly. A quick kiss, and hand in hand all was solved and we kept on trucking.