Happy New Year from Vienna! I rang in 2010 dancing the Viennese waltz with a Malaysian nanny with an eyebrow piercing in the city’s street party while simultaneously trying to watch/avoid being hit by low-flying fireworks; but more on that later. First I have to do some catch-up on my trip!
Not sleeping for 24+ hours sure looks good on us.
I took this stunning/flawless/professional/delightful photo of Conrad and yours truly when we first got to our hostel in Vienna. Conrad’s holding my coupon for a free drink at the hostel bar, which ended up being the absolute worst white wine I’ve ever had. It took Conrad 14 hours to get here; me, more than a day. Fortunately, we don’t look any worse for the wear….
Given the recent terrorist scare (I’d dig up a hyperlink to give context, but seriously? Someone’s hearing about this for the first time from me?), I was pleasantly surprised at my curb-to-gate time of about 25 minutes. No bombs on my flight to Atlanta; just an irascible cat and a well-behaved — i.e. quiet — Yorkshire terrier in the row directly behind me. My second flight was okay; long, but okay. I’ve never flown internationally on Delta before, so here is my completely scientifically evaluated feedback for them:
- Michael Bublé for in-flight music? Really? -1
- The food was surprisingly edible. I had a chicken teriyaki thing with carrots for dinner and a piece of Tillamook cheddar cheese for dessert. +2
- Diane the flight attendant gave me a package of peanut M&M’s on the house. Four for you, Diane Coco. You go, Diane Coco.
- And none for whoever made me sit through Love Happens, bye. (Tomatometer score: 18%) -3
- The plane didn’t crash and we got to Zurich 15 minutes early. +5
All in all, room for improvement but I’m not dreading flying with them in the spring. Well done Delta!
The Zurich airport is fantastic. Lots of glass — reminds me of the Ontario, California airport. And toilet seat cleaner! My inner germaphobe (oh, who are we kidding, I’m a proud and vocal germaphobe) rejoices. Also, Switzerland doesn’t have a customs form to fill out. I just showed the official my passport and said “Hallo,” (one of the four or so words I learned, danke Youtube) and walked through the exit that isn’t for smugglers, and I’m good for the Schengen states!
Anyway, I got about an hour’s worth of sleep on the plane, so waiting six hours for my train was kind of torturous. (Getting from the airport to the station was fine, made memorable only by my discovery that the tram was called a “Schindler waggon.”) The train station is pretty nice — colorful art, warm waiting room. I kept myself awake — but just barely — by people-watching, exploring the area around the train station, and making a fool of myself in my German-speaking efforts. I don’t even want to think about how many times I’ve uttered a phrase, followed immediately by, “I’m sorry, I know I slaughtered that.”
Art in the Zurich HB
The uniform for young women in Zurich: black overcoat, black blouse, black pants/skirt with tights, black leather boots, and a scarf (sometimes pink or gray, but usually black). Lots of makeup. Both my dress sense and my pores felt a little suffocated just by proxy.
After sticking my suitcase in luggage storage, I wandered around for a little while in the hopes that I would somehow generate energy by moving. I guess it’s because train stations are generally not the classiest areas, but the shops jumped from strip club/burlesque joints to streetwear boutiques to head shops. The river which runs through the city is fairly lifeless-looking, but the water’s clear and birds skate above it, so I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed a fifty-something couple strolling hand-in-hand by the river. Both were wearing fedoras with feathers stuck in them.
I eventually ended up at the Museum für Gestaltung, the Museum of Design. The main exhibit was portraits and advertisements by the photographer Michel Comte. There were some photos I hated, such as that of a stick-skinny nude Carla Bruni — it looked borderline exploitative, even though it was apparently for a safe sex campaign — but others, such as portraits of Sophie Marceau, Miles Davis, and Tina Turner, were magnifique (to copy one francophone who was also in attendance).
Johnny Depp? Nope, it's Demi Moore. (from michelcomte.org)
Anyway, I finally got on my train, and got out of gray Zurich. Several hours later, I reached Vienna.
Happy New Year! Sounds like a lovely time aside from the crushingly frigid, gray atmosphere. I was only in that region during March, but by then it was still 1. Cold and 2. Snowy, which should make for a pleasant contrast when you finally reach Italia.
But it seems like you’ve made it in (mostly?) one piece, so keep on truckin’ Cosmopolitan! That Demi Moore pic had me totally fooled.
~Sam
Thanks so much for reading, Sam! Hopefully I’ll be less delinquent about updating in the future.