Venice & Vienna

Well, I am now in Vienna, Austria, writing to you from the hostel I am staying at here. I arrived this morning after riding the train through the night from Venice. I actually left Florence yesterday at 12:40pm local time and went to Venice, spent a couple hours there and then hopped a train for Vienna at 9pm.

So far, this is what I've learned about myself since venturing out by myself on this leg of my trip: I can not sleep on trains for the life of me (granted, I had a "couchette," which is a fancy word for an uncomfortable seat, so that may have been part of the problem), guys named Andre in Venice are crazy with a capital C-R-A-Z-Y, and Vienna, though beautiful and awesome, really sucks when it's raining. .I've also realized that I don't particularly care for hostels - though I'm not really sure anyone does. I mean, it's a great cheap way to have a place to shower and sleep, but I just find them a little uncomfortable and worry that I'm bothering them while I try to cram my huge-ass backpack into my locker in the middle of the afternoon while they're taking a nap. That reminds me, holy crap do I need to throw away or ship home some crap. What the heck was I thinking? Oh, yeah. I was stationary in Florence for 4 weeks straight and didn't have to deal with lugging my backpack and daypack around with me. Ugh.

Ok, so for the scoop on crazy dudes named Andre in Venice: Whoa. Dude was totally harmless and I was completely safe because tons of people were everywhere and it was daylight, but wow did this guy say some weird stuff. I think he tried to tell me he was bisexual, but in a very lewd sort of way. Don't ask. Once I got back to the train station (after making fun of him mercilessly about following me around, even when I purchased fruit at a fruit stand and told the gentleman helping me that the guy was just following me around) I was sitting on the steps thinking about dinner and a beer, besides still trying to avoid Andre, when I was saved by a slightly drunk Polish guy named Gregory. Turns out, Gregory was pretty rad, even though he had a completely idealistic idea of America. We chatted, I left and got dinner, came back and sat on the steps and he was still there, we talked music for a bit and he told me all about what I should do while in Krakow (he was pretty stoked I was going there), and then wished eachother well on our respective journeys and parted ways. I've seriously met some of the coolest, laid back people on this trip, that's been pretty awesome. Not counting Andre, of course.

Even though I didn't have much time in Venice and didn't take a ride on a Gondola and have the driver (pilot? captain?) sing to me, I did get to see the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco, which was amazing. After that I relaxed on the edge of the Grande Canal and watched the cruise ships come in. It actually reminded me of home a lot, which made me a little homesick, but was perfect to chill me out for a long train ride.

I arrived in Vienna this morning at around 8:30am, found a hostel and then set out to check out the city. It's been raining all day, so I ended up completely soaked by the time I got back to my hostel, but I had a great time looking at all the sights and eating the most awesome bratwurst I've ever had yet. Emphasis on the "yet" as I will be heading to Germany next week.

To be completely honest, even though I was totally miserable and wet, I was completely blown away. I mean, I'm in Vienna! Seriously, this is Mozart country. In fact, I'm going to hear some Mozart and Strauss tonight as I ran into some people selling tickets for the opera and got a special deal because I'm a student. Sweet!

If you would have asked me last year what I would be doing right now, there's no way in hell I would have said (or even guessed): "Hanging out in Vienna, heading to Krakow tomorrow night in a sleeper car and then onto Warsaw, Berlin, Luneburg and Hamburg after spending 4 weeks in Florence and running around other parts of Italy." Whoa. I mean, it hasn't all been perfect and sunshine and rainbows, there have been 2 days where I seriously pondered shortening my trip, but for the most part, this has been an incredible experience and memories I will cherish for a lifetime. And it ain't even over yet! I still have 16 more days before I head back to the U.S.

Oh, and Austrain advertising is hilarious!!! Seriously. I am completely unsurprised that Ah-nuld came from here as I've never seen so many cheesy gym ads in my life. Thumbs up, beefcakes!