Travel day Vienna. An easy day. Took a nice stroll up Wenceslas square to the train station and in short order was boarding the train. There was an interesting moment on the way to the platform. I had to use the WC In a very bad way, and decided to hit the pay toilet. The very clean bathrooms at the Prague station cost 20 crowns to use. I only had a 50 crown piece on me but, luckily, there was a change machine near the entrance. I put the heavy copper coin In the machine and it stopped just I inside the slot. I could see the coin stuck there, unreachable. I had to pee like a racehorse and the platform was a ways away. I made a few token attempts at dislodging the coin, and was about to bolt when a funny little old lady with bright red hair, and a light blue uniform dress identifying her as the WC attendant, waddled up to the machine, used some sort of tool to push the coin through and then she grabbed the 5 10 crown pieces that came out, pocketed two, handed me the balance, and used her key to let me through the turnstile and into the bathroom. I looked at her quizzically and she just shrugged and waved me on. She had a good thing going.

Getting to the train was a minor adventure, getting to Vienna was slightly more challenging. The train was at the platform on time, but the first class car had a different number than expected. An older American couple, he with an impressive head of white hair and and expensive golf shirt, she in a beautiful wool coat and a perpetually worried look, were wandering up and down the car, asking everyone around if this was the train to Vienna. If someone they asked spoke no English, they simply asked more loudly. To be fair, there was some signage in the car that said “Hamburg”, and the word Vienna was not posted anywhere. (I did see Wien a few times, but did not make the connection)

The loud, frantic Americans looked at me and I just gave them my best continental shrug, hoping they would think I was French. I just did not want to take on any of the stress they were doling out. I had already decided that if the train was, in fact, headed for Hamburg that I would just accept the adventure. Hell, what greater adventure is there than being on the wrong train in Europe?

The train moved out of the station, then back, then out again, and back again. Our car was being attached to another train. Finally we were off and headed for a place called “Wien”. Yes, there is no “V” in Vienna. Mr. And Mrs. Loud were still unconvinced, even after the conductor inspected and punched their tickets. The countryside was green and beautiful, and there was a power plug at my seat so I was able to use my iPad, but I had forgotten to pick up a snack and there was no dining car so I was getting pretty hungry only 1 hour into this 5 hour journey. As ever the movement of the train lulled me to sleep though and when I awoke we were only 30 mins out from Wien Hauptbahnhof.

I was really, really hungry as I entered the station, my stomach was rumbling while the ticket agent was arranging my night train ticket to Venice 3 days hence. Ticket in hand, I hopped a cab and was at the hotel in 10 minutes flat. I checked in and asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation. She directed me to a place a couple of blocks away and I hit the street and spent the next hour not finding the place. I wandered about, hungry, tired and frustrated. My hotel was in a non tourist district so a lot of places were closed and others did not appeal to me. At the end of my patience I saw a McDonalds, then a place called Optik and finally a restaurant looking place called Vapiano. It turned out to be a self service Italian buffet. I passed and headed back toward the hotel. I saw another Italian place called Prosecco and went in. I ordered a pizza and a beer and ate every bite. I was famished. Paid the bill, went back to the hotel and crashed. No shortage of Italian restaurants in the non tourist areas of Wien. Love the hotel room btw. It looks like something out of the IKEA catalogue.

(many thanks to my dear,dear, friend Beth Kral for pointing out my misspelling of Wien, and apologies to Wieners everywhere)