Literal insanity - Vienna and Budapest

If I said any previous trip was crazy or insane, I’m sorry, but I was lying to you. This weekend has been the most insane trip ever. Ever.

We left Thursday night for Vienna. One of our connecting trains was one hour late and there were no other trains to Munich. So we waited. For an hour and a half. And then the train came. I played fuck the dealer with a few people; I was the fucked dealer – I had to drink a whole little bottle of wine and a good half a beer. It was a nice distraction from the insanity of our train issues.

Of course, we were late for our overnight train. This didn’t matter, however, because there was a strike in Munich. Our train didn’t even take us into the main station, it took us to a smaller one and we had to take a small connecting train. There were people putting up posters and holding picket signs when we got there. We were told to get on a train and it would take us to Salzburg. So we got on the train and waited; we were told the strike would be over at 7:30 am, and the train would leave. 7:30 came and went, and we figured we would have to find another way out. We finally got tickets onto a 9:30 train that would take us directly to Vienna. We arrived around 3pm, a full 6 hours after we were supposed to get there.

Vienna was lots of fun. We saw the Hapsburg palace, Mozart memorial, Beethoven’s grave, a cathedral, and the ballet Onegin. We stayed the night there at a hostel called the Wombat, that had a bar downstairs and gave us one free drink each. After the ballet on Friday, we all went down to get drinks. I was lucky, because two people gave me their drink coupons, so I had three drinks – a white wine and two wine spritzers. Also, when I went to get change for Valerie, the bar tender handed me a free shot. I met this cool Australian guy, Jay, who, of course, bought me a drink. I stayed to talk with Jay when everyone else went to bed, and we had a good time. Around 1:30, Kim found us making out on the couch and made me come with her back to the room.

Saturday we left for Budapest. At the border, Divya and Mishna were hassled because they didn’t have visas for Hungary, but luckily they were allowed through. Budapest is really scary and sketchy at night. Finding our hostel was an adventure, we tried not to stick out, but we are very noticeable. Everything got better once we had found our hostel, we went out to eat a really nice meal. We went out to go clubbing, another adventure of walking around and being lost. At one point we thought we had found the club; it turned out to be a bank. But we made it and danced and enjoyed ourselves.

We saw a little of Budapest on Sunday – we went to a park with a castle and climbed up to the Citadel. But we spent most of our time in the Turkish baths. We wanted to just get massages, but you had to buy a bath ticket to get one, so we went for it. Only two of the seven of us brought bathing suits, so the rest of us made do. I went about in my bra and underwear, which was really awkward, but who cares? I enjoyed the baths and had a great massage. We ate a nice Chinese dinner before returning home; all our trains on the way back were very uneventful, a nice change.

So that was my insane weekend, the highlights version. There is no way I could document all the craziness. I doubt anyone actually read this far, this post is so long... To keep it shorter, just check out my facebook for pictures.

Venice, Padua, and Oktoberfest (Munich)

This weekend we went to Italy!!! It was awesome to be there again, and I had so much fun.
We left Thursday night; we had to run the whole way from the dorm to the train station (over a mile) because some people were late. We caught the train, but just barely. What a way to start a trip, right?

Several trains and 18ish hours later, we arrived in Venice. We checked into our camp ground hotel and then went to see the city. We saw San Marcos square and then went in search of a gondola. In the process we lost half of our group, and looked for them to no avail. After a time, we figured they knew what they were doing, so we wandered through Venice and some people got on the gondola, while some of us just waited on church steps, talking and people watching. We had problems on the bus home as well, but made it back, finding the people we had lost in the process. So we all had gelato to celebrate.

Saturday we went to Padua to see the university, one of the oldest in Europe. We stopped by a market before returning to Venice to shop at their market and wander the city. I bought several souvenirs, rode in a gondola, and ate more gelato.

We caught a train that night that took us to Munich, where we spent Sunday at Oktober fest. I wandered around for a while with one group, before we met another group, who were waiting in line to get into one of the places they serve alcohol. So I switched groups and joined them. I got in line around 8:40, and we waited there until 10, when the doors opened. The mob pushed us inside, where we found a table. Between the five of us, we split two liters of beer and a half liter of wine. It was not bad, but not good enough that I could chug any of it. I tried, split some, and the German guys next to me told me not to waste the beer. We had a great time, and didn't get too drunk, though I'm never drinking before noon again. Being tipsy + crazy bright sun + cheap, broken sunglasses= pain.

We left Munich, endured more train mishaps and group separations, but arrived home Sunday night (an hour later than we meant, but not a big deal considering we took the wrong train to Cologne).

I would post pictures, but I need to pack for Vienna; we leave in a few hours and still have class to go to...