2010 Trip: To Vienna

20th May 2010

Today, I organised myself, mucked about, ate lunch, booked tickets, and did other vitally important things. Then at 2pm, I headed out to Budapest Keleti, the main train station.

I caught the train, an express ‘RailJet’ to Vienna. It managed to get up to 160k/hr. I really felt the German influence, with screens throughout the train informing one of the current speed, the next destination, the scheduled and predicted arrival times. One must be punctual!

We passed through agricultural and pasture land, small towns of increasing cleanliness and organisation, and surprisingly large wind farms. Eventually we hit Vienna (Wien Westbahnhof). I haven’t been here for five years.

The station was under repair so there were no ATMs so I wandered around down the main street and eventually found one. The notes it gave me were too large to purchase a tram ticket, so I had to buy some pizza to get change! I caught the number 5 tram north through the city to meet my host, Maria, who had kindly acquiesced to provide me with a couch/bed. I found the place without any problems and Maria turned out to be a very friendly host, with a terrifically bubbly personality. We chatted while I helped her put eyeholes into a green screen for an upcoming filming shoot that involves battles and knights (exciting!).

Later in the evening, we headed down to the local for a few pints and the place’s speciality - shots of vodka with a pickle chaser (this is a little strange, but actually surprisingly good). Maria’s friends were most amusing and when they were speaking German, Maria kindly translated!

We got back fairly late and crashed as Maria had work in the morning. N.B. If the last couple of posts have been a little lacking, it is because I am a little inebriated. I am confident that blaming things on alcohol is a valid excuse for anything. “Why didn’t you pass your exam, Jimmy?” “I’m sorry sir, I was drunk.” “Oh, thats ok then!”