Made my way from the Kalvin Haus in Pest to Kelleti train station and picked up a ticket to Wien (43.80 euro). It’s a perfect travel day – gray and rainy. The train had to be rerouted through Slovakia due to extensive flooding in parts of Austria. En route, I got booted from 1st class back into 2nd – forgot to check my ticket.
Arriving in the Westbahnhof of Wien, I had some time to kill before I was able to get into my hotel, so I decided to be proactive and pick up a ticket to Prague. The clerk was incredibly rude and surly — not unlike the similarly unhelpful people at the tourist info desk.
He seemed baffled that I wanted to buy a ticket in advance since the train to Praha left from the Sudbahnof. Still he very kindly sold me a ticket. I didn’t realize until later in the evening that he sold me some sort of voucher (actually turned out to be just a receipt — see 5/19). Note: Austria is not Switzerland.
Made my way to the Alpha Hotel on Bucheldgasse just west of the Inner Stadt via the immaculate U-bahn and a quick walk through gale force winds and howling rain. I need to get a new umbrella as mine kept inverting in the wind which isn’t very efficient at keeping the rain at bay.
Hotel is situated perfectly, central to the Univeristy, Parliament, Innere Stadt, and Museum Quartier – but is itself Nothing Special. Dumped off my bags, donned some dry clothes and headed out only to discover that the storm had blown over, the sun was shining, and everything was crisp and new. Perfect!
Walked around the Hofburg imperial palace area of the Innere Stadt and the surrounding gardens. Really, just stunning. Walked around the pedestrian mall of Kartner Strasse up to the gothic Stephensdom. Great people watching and candid shots. Many toursits already although not yet clautrophobic.
Wandered around the surrounding side streets before ending up at a great sidewalk cafe on Graben, watching the world spin madly on over a grappa and beer.
Ended up the night back near the hotel, first at a coffee shop with free wireless, then a little local place down the street for some weinerschnitzel and house beers. Fun day, but really tired.
