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vienna!
Howdy! It's been a couple of days since I came back from my trip to Vienna. I must say, it was a really good trip. Vienna is fantastic, I suggest you visit it as soon as you have the chance! :D
So, I guess you can imagine what's about to come now... exactly! A description of my four days! :D Be prepared, because you're about to read about one of the craziest trips I've ever had. It contains people speaking both German and Italian, descriptions of very cool museums/things you just have to see in Vienna and then the final apocalypse to get back home.
DAY 1: THE DEPARTURE & THE HOTEL
● Okay, there is really not much to say about this day. XD; We had no major problems getting there. We took a bus from Udine to Villach and then we took a train from Villach to Vienna.
● Although there is something to say about this day... Well, when we got on the train, we had to find a place to sit. We came across a compartment that seemed to be empty. So I tried to open it, but it wouldn't open! XD; After a good 5 minutes of trying to open it, my friend made me notice that there was a sign on the door that said Kein Eingang (no entrance), so... yeah, I spent 5 minutes trying to open a door that couldn't be opened. XD Then we got into a compartment with two other German boys and there my other friend told me that there was actually someone in that compartment while I was trying to open the door! (I didn't see him because of the reflection on the glass.) And he was looking at me very curiously, probably thinking, '...why?' XDD Oh gawd, I laughed so much when she told me this.
● And then, we entertained one of the two german boys that was on the train with us! XD He somehow got the idea that we understood very basic German and was literally laughing in front of us when we asked for a bottle of water and some food when the food-trolley came. XD Really, I think he will remember those four Italian girls that took the train with him. We made his trip a little more pleasant. XD
● The hotel wasn't that bad. We got a room for four people and it was actually pretty big. We had only one complain - the pillows. They just WEREN'T pillows. It was like they didn't even exist. As soon as you got your head on the pillow, it just disappeared. You couldn't feel the pillow under your head. So we actually had to fold our pillows in 2 or even 4 to sleep decently. But we laughed and joked so much about our invisible pillows! XD
DAY 2: SCHÖNBRUNN & TECHNISCHES MUSEUM
● Schönbrunn is none other than Sisi's mansion. It's really big and beautiful and gawd, the gardens are IMMENSE. They seem to never end, really. I also learned some new things about Sisi: a) she was practically an anorexic who cared about her hair and physical appearance above all things; b) her husband, Franz Josef, spent all day working and loved her dearly, although she didn't love him as much as he loved her (poor guy); and c) Sisi was so obsessed with her 'diet' (anorexia) that she didn't even dine with her husband, which was the only moment she could see him. I can't stand Sisi now. XD; But well, her mansion is incredible, you gotta see it. Unfortunately, it started raining while we were visiting the gardens, so we decided to get out of there and go somewhere else.
● So, we decided to go to the Technisches Musem. And guys, if you ever go to Vienna, you have to visit this museum. It's not too far from Schönbrunn (you can just walk there) and believe me, it's by far the COOLEST museum I've ever seen. We didn't have to pay for the entrance, as we all were 18-years-old students (you get free entrance in some museums if you're under/or 18 and students usually pay less). Basically, it shows how technology evolved during the years. You get to see all different types of trains, airplanes and in general anything that evolved/changed as time passed, like kids' toys, cars, ships, musical instruments - ANYTHING, really. And you know what the best part is? You can touch things and try out different experiments with different machines. It's so - freakin' - cool. You can make experiments with water, light (both artificial and solar), and there are also a couple of machines in which you can lift a person or make a person go round! It's not one of those boring museums and I really enjoyed it. :D
● Just for the LOLs: there was a blond guy at the reception of the museum that I... kind of liked. At some point my friends had taken my camera, but I didn't know they had taken it, so I went to the reception to ask if someone had found a camera. And, well, I didn't know how to say it properly in German, so I asked the guy, 'Can I speak English?' (to which he answered, '...yes, of course!') XD Oh gawd, I must have sounded totally retarded. Anyway, I gave him all my details and he was the first foreigner who could write my name correctly without me having to spell it for him! ♥ Both name and surname. (Usually foreign people write/say 'Frederica' while my name is actually Federica, without that extra R. And my surname is made of two separate words, so sometimes people ask me if my surname is written separately or not.) It's not something that must be overlooked, you know? Given the fact that my name and surname are very difficult to pronounce/write for foreigners.
Anyway, at the end of the day I got my camera back from my friends. So I went to him and said, 'Mister, my friends found my camera, so you can write me off the list, okay?' and he looked happy for me. At first I wanted to tell him he could keep my email if he wanted, but... in the end I decided not to say that. XD; He was kinda cute, though.
● Then we went to have dinner in a restaurant near Schönbrunn. We ate the typical Wiener Schnitzel, yum! :D And, gawd, the owner of the restaurant was kind of weird. He had understood that we were Italians and so what did he do? He put on a CD of Eros Ramazzotti. Eros-freakin'-Ramazzoti. And I wanted to listen to some German songs! I mean, just because we're Italians, that doesn't mean we like Eros Ramazzotti (I actually hate him with a passion). D: At least they were old songs, so they weren't that bad. But please people, don't just assume we like Eros Ramazzotti just because he's Italian, 'kay?
But that's not all. The owner came to us and asked where we came from. We said that we were from Italy and then he added, 'Südtirol, ja?' and we just said yes to satisfy him. XD Lol, sometimes messing with people is fun! So now if somebody asks, I'm from Südtirol, okay? XD Lol.
DAY 2: STEPHANSDOM, HUNDERTWASSERHAUS, KUNSTHAUS, PRATER & DONAU
● On our second day we met up with a girl from our school that is from Austria and had breakfast together. The she showed us around a bit and we saw the Stephansdom and the Stephansplatz, which is full of shops and what not.
● Hundertwasser was a genius. Pure genius, I tell you. To put it in very simple words, the Hundertwasserhaus (House of Hundertwasser) and the Kunsthaus (House of Art) are two houses that are art themselves. You will probably understand what I'm saying better with pictures (which I haven't uploaded on my computer yet), but if you google those, you should get what I'm saying. Not much to say about those. The Kunsthaus was actually a museum made of Hundertwasser's paintings and what not. His style is kind of like Klimt's. I don't like Klimt that much, so I was kinda neutral to the paintings, but I liked his other works. Especially the two houses. Genius.
● Just for the LOLs: we went to get our tickets for the Kunsthaus and the guy immediately understood we were Italians. So he said, 'Ahh, sempre italiani!' ('Ahh, always Italians!') with a big smile and a kind of know-it-all tone. XD; Just... what?
On another note, our Italian students card seems to work in foreign countries! And it's really funny, because in Italy is actually totally useless! XD; Yay for unexpectedly useful card!
By the way, do you have any idea of how much the Hundertwasser's cap costs? 128€. At the souvenir's shop. 128€! For a cap! Or, should I say, for the reproduction/copy of a cap. That's a bit exaggerated, don't you think? I wanted to buy a shirt that said, 'Die gerade Linie ist Gottlos' ('The straight line is Godless'), but it cost 30€ and I didn't want to spend that much on a shirt. Sorry, Hundertwasser. I still think you're a genius, even though a copy of your cap costs a bit too much, in my opinion.
● Prater! The Prater is actually a very big park. Vienna's famous Ferris wheel is found there. We relaxed a bit, walked around and took photos. There was also an incredible luna park there and it looked so much fun! We wanted to go on the Ferris wheel but the cue was pretty long, so yeah... we just took photos. And walked around the luna park for a bit and got chills watching people who went on very scary attractions. XD
● Just for the LOLs: While we were at the Prater, there were lots of people with dogs. One of my friends was scared of dogs, while I love dogs (and animals in general). At some point, a dog was coming near us. So, jokingly, I told her, 'Don't worry, I'll protect you!'... and the dog actually heard me, because he went straight to get me instead of my friend! XD And I was like, 'Ahh, help! He heard me!' XD We all laughed so much!
● And then, of course, we went to see the Blue Danube! Alas, the Donau. You can see it easily from the Donauinsel. You just take the subway, line U1, and it takes you there. Yeah, we used the subway a lot. And there we met an Italian guy! I swear, people who are Italian or can understand Italian just come near you when they see that you're Italian. Italian language attracts people, like a magnet! XD Anyway, he just told us how to get to the other side of the Donau and then left. Very random, I shall add.
● Then we dined in the first restaurant that we found open in Stephansplatz. We ate a soup called Frittatensuppe. It's really good and there's nothing strange in it, so if you go to Vienna, you're on the safe side with this soup! :D And then we just kind of went around Vienna at night.
DAY 3: S. FREUD MUSEM, RATHAUS, PARLAMENT, WAHLMARKT, SECCESSION, NIGHT OUT & STRANGE MEETING
● Sigmund Freud Musem. Very interesting. We studied Freud this year in our philosophy program and I liked him. I learned some new things I didn't know, too. And did you know that Freud was actually a very romantic guy? Like, he once wrote his wife (this is not an exact quote because I don't remember it exactly, but the final message was this):
Isn't that sweet? ♥ It lets us see the human/romantic side of Dr. Freud.
● The Rathaus (town hall) was beautiful. It looked like a zen garden. Very relaxing place. But the best part of the day was the Parlament. We bought tickets for a guided tour inside the Parlament. Our guide was the best! XD He was a very nice man! He was cross-eyed and laughed every time he finished a sentence! XD Also, we were paired with a French couple and he was having some difficulties switching from French to Italian, so we helped him with some words a couple of times. In the end we just spoke in German, so he didn't have to speak Italian. :D But he was so sweet! And the Parlament was so beautiful! I took lots of pictures. Also, I liked the fact that he laughed at the end of every sentence. XD Like, '...so Austria became a republic in 1918.' *insert cute laugh here* XD So funny and cute!
● Then we took the subway and went to this big market on the street that they call Wahlmarkt. It's endless and you can find pretty much everything there. Not much to say about it, except that is... well, a market. XD Oh, and we also saw the Seccession.
● And now, for the exciting part... GIRLS' NIGHT OUT! :D On one of our guides there was a description of a bar where they played the piano, so we decided to go there on our last night in Vienna. It was near the MuseumsQuartier, so we just took the subway. At the bar, we took some desserts and something to drink. I took a slice of Sachertorte with cappuccino. Yummy! We spent a nice evening there (we only stayed until 11:00 pm).
I guess there was some sort of karaoke thing at the bar, too. At some point, a woman took the microphone and sung a German opera piece and she was actually pretty good! But then a man took the microphone and started to sing very absurd German songs, such as the German parody of 'A Wonderful World'. XD; Gawd, we couldn't stand him. At some point we even wanted to take the microphone and sing the Italian national anthem! XD We didn't do that, although we should have!
● For the super-LOLs: while we were on our way to the bar, I literally bumped into a guy on the street! I don't know how I did that, seriously. One of my friends was on the phone and I was kind of minding my own business and then at some point - BUMP! - I just bumped into a guy that was walking ahead of me! I was so embarrassed! Luckily he managed to keep his balance and he didn't fall on the ground. I was so nervous, I said, 'Oddio! (yep, in Italian! It can be translated as, 'Oh god!', 'Oh my!', etc.) Entschuldigung! (in German: 'Excuse me')'. I even used the wrong German word, so nervous as I was (I should have said, 'Das tut mir leid', which is 'I'm sorry'). Anyway, I don't know what exactly happened afterwards. He got his head up to look at me and then, when he looked at me in the eyes, he just... blocked there. He stopped his movements the moment he saw me. I'm not sure what happened myself... I was just kind of expecting him to do something. Anyway, after a few seconds of locking eyes, he just said very quietly and casually, 'No, no... tranquilla.' IN ITALIAN. (Can be translated as, 'No, no... don't worry.') At this point I was even more embarrassed. I mean, I spoke in Italian, convinced that he wouldn't understand me and he was actually ITALIAN. So I just... ran away. Yeah. That was so embarrassing. Italian people seem to just pop out of nowhere in Vienna.
DAY 4: SHOPPING, DEPARTURE, APOCALYPSE
● Anyway, on the morning of our departure we just did more shopping in Stephansplatz (don't worry, we didn't buy much, just a couple of things. I'm not really a shopaholic). We had to leave our hotel at 11:00 am, so we just went in a little park near the train station. Little did we know there was going to be an apocalypse to get back home.
To put it simply, we inverted the time of the train with the one of the bus. So we lost the bus that was supposed to take us from Villach to Udine. We went to the info point in the train station and the person that worked there told us that our ticket was still valid for any train of that day. So we took a train to Villach and my friend asked her dad if he could pick us up in Villach.
But that's not all. When we asked a man that worked for the ÖBB how many hours would it take for the train to reach Villach, he said it'd take 2 hours. That sounded a bit strange, but we believed him because he worked there, so he must certainly know these things, right? Wrong! A girl that spoke Italian had seen that we were panicking, so then she came to us and said that the train would actually take 4 hours to get to Villach and not 2 like the other guy had said! What the heck, it's your job to know these things and you give us the wrong information?
But it's still not all! On the train the ticket-inspector told us that the ticket was not valid for that train! We said that they had told us differently at the info point and he looked troubled. We were really scared and at some point we feared that he would fine us and kick us out of the train, but, to our big surprise, he didn't! He was annoyed, you could tell. He kept saying, 'Das ist nicht gut...' ('This is not good...') and he even cursed quietly at some point (me and my friend lol'd at this XD), but he was nice enough to let us stay on the train, even though we really couldn't. He didn't even fine us. Such a good man!
Anyway, we had a bit of an adventure on our trip to come back, but we managed to get to Villach in the end. After that our friend's father just gave us a ride to Udine. And we lived happily ever after.
That pretty much sums up my trip. I kinda miss speaking German, though. And taking the U-Bahn (subway) as well. But anyway, Vienna = Awesome. ♥
So, I guess you can imagine what's about to come now... exactly! A description of my four days! :D Be prepared, because you're about to read about one of the craziest trips I've ever had. It contains people speaking both German and Italian, descriptions of very cool museums/things you just have to see in Vienna and then the final apocalypse to get back home.
DAY 1: THE DEPARTURE & THE HOTEL
● Okay, there is really not much to say about this day. XD; We had no major problems getting there. We took a bus from Udine to Villach and then we took a train from Villach to Vienna.
● Although there is something to say about this day... Well, when we got on the train, we had to find a place to sit. We came across a compartment that seemed to be empty. So I tried to open it, but it wouldn't open! XD; After a good 5 minutes of trying to open it, my friend made me notice that there was a sign on the door that said Kein Eingang (no entrance), so... yeah, I spent 5 minutes trying to open a door that couldn't be opened. XD Then we got into a compartment with two other German boys and there my other friend told me that there was actually someone in that compartment while I was trying to open the door! (I didn't see him because of the reflection on the glass.) And he was looking at me very curiously, probably thinking, '...why?' XDD Oh gawd, I laughed so much when she told me this.
● And then, we entertained one of the two german boys that was on the train with us! XD He somehow got the idea that we understood very basic German and was literally laughing in front of us when we asked for a bottle of water and some food when the food-trolley came. XD Really, I think he will remember those four Italian girls that took the train with him. We made his trip a little more pleasant. XD
● The hotel wasn't that bad. We got a room for four people and it was actually pretty big. We had only one complain - the pillows. They just WEREN'T pillows. It was like they didn't even exist. As soon as you got your head on the pillow, it just disappeared. You couldn't feel the pillow under your head. So we actually had to fold our pillows in 2 or even 4 to sleep decently. But we laughed and joked so much about our invisible pillows! XD
DAY 2: SCHÖNBRUNN & TECHNISCHES MUSEUM
● Schönbrunn is none other than Sisi's mansion. It's really big and beautiful and gawd, the gardens are IMMENSE. They seem to never end, really. I also learned some new things about Sisi: a) she was practically an anorexic who cared about her hair and physical appearance above all things; b) her husband, Franz Josef, spent all day working and loved her dearly, although she didn't love him as much as he loved her (poor guy); and c) Sisi was so obsessed with her 'diet' (anorexia) that she didn't even dine with her husband, which was the only moment she could see him. I can't stand Sisi now. XD; But well, her mansion is incredible, you gotta see it. Unfortunately, it started raining while we were visiting the gardens, so we decided to get out of there and go somewhere else.
● So, we decided to go to the Technisches Musem. And guys, if you ever go to Vienna, you have to visit this museum. It's not too far from Schönbrunn (you can just walk there) and believe me, it's by far the COOLEST museum I've ever seen. We didn't have to pay for the entrance, as we all were 18-years-old students (you get free entrance in some museums if you're under/or 18 and students usually pay less). Basically, it shows how technology evolved during the years. You get to see all different types of trains, airplanes and in general anything that evolved/changed as time passed, like kids' toys, cars, ships, musical instruments - ANYTHING, really. And you know what the best part is? You can touch things and try out different experiments with different machines. It's so - freakin' - cool. You can make experiments with water, light (both artificial and solar), and there are also a couple of machines in which you can lift a person or make a person go round! It's not one of those boring museums and I really enjoyed it. :D
● Just for the LOLs: there was a blond guy at the reception of the museum that I... kind of liked. At some point my friends had taken my camera, but I didn't know they had taken it, so I went to the reception to ask if someone had found a camera. And, well, I didn't know how to say it properly in German, so I asked the guy, 'Can I speak English?' (to which he answered, '...yes, of course!') XD Oh gawd, I must have sounded totally retarded. Anyway, I gave him all my details and he was the first foreigner who could write my name correctly without me having to spell it for him! ♥ Both name and surname. (Usually foreign people write/say 'Frederica' while my name is actually Federica, without that extra R. And my surname is made of two separate words, so sometimes people ask me if my surname is written separately or not.) It's not something that must be overlooked, you know? Given the fact that my name and surname are very difficult to pronounce/write for foreigners.
Anyway, at the end of the day I got my camera back from my friends. So I went to him and said, 'Mister, my friends found my camera, so you can write me off the list, okay?' and he looked happy for me. At first I wanted to tell him he could keep my email if he wanted, but... in the end I decided not to say that. XD; He was kinda cute, though.
● Then we went to have dinner in a restaurant near Schönbrunn. We ate the typical Wiener Schnitzel, yum! :D And, gawd, the owner of the restaurant was kind of weird. He had understood that we were Italians and so what did he do? He put on a CD of Eros Ramazzotti. Eros-freakin'-Ramazzoti. And I wanted to listen to some German songs! I mean, just because we're Italians, that doesn't mean we like Eros Ramazzotti (I actually hate him with a passion). D: At least they were old songs, so they weren't that bad. But please people, don't just assume we like Eros Ramazzotti just because he's Italian, 'kay?
But that's not all. The owner came to us and asked where we came from. We said that we were from Italy and then he added, 'Südtirol, ja?' and we just said yes to satisfy him. XD Lol, sometimes messing with people is fun! So now if somebody asks, I'm from Südtirol, okay? XD Lol.
DAY 2: STEPHANSDOM, HUNDERTWASSERHAUS, KUNSTHAUS, PRATER & DONAU
● On our second day we met up with a girl from our school that is from Austria and had breakfast together. The she showed us around a bit and we saw the Stephansdom and the Stephansplatz, which is full of shops and what not.
● Hundertwasser was a genius. Pure genius, I tell you. To put it in very simple words, the Hundertwasserhaus (House of Hundertwasser) and the Kunsthaus (House of Art) are two houses that are art themselves. You will probably understand what I'm saying better with pictures (which I haven't uploaded on my computer yet), but if you google those, you should get what I'm saying. Not much to say about those. The Kunsthaus was actually a museum made of Hundertwasser's paintings and what not. His style is kind of like Klimt's. I don't like Klimt that much, so I was kinda neutral to the paintings, but I liked his other works. Especially the two houses. Genius.
● Just for the LOLs: we went to get our tickets for the Kunsthaus and the guy immediately understood we were Italians. So he said, 'Ahh, sempre italiani!' ('Ahh, always Italians!') with a big smile and a kind of know-it-all tone. XD; Just... what?
On another note, our Italian students card seems to work in foreign countries! And it's really funny, because in Italy is actually totally useless! XD; Yay for unexpectedly useful card!
By the way, do you have any idea of how much the Hundertwasser's cap costs? 128€. At the souvenir's shop. 128€! For a cap! Or, should I say, for the reproduction/copy of a cap. That's a bit exaggerated, don't you think? I wanted to buy a shirt that said, 'Die gerade Linie ist Gottlos' ('The straight line is Godless'), but it cost 30€ and I didn't want to spend that much on a shirt. Sorry, Hundertwasser. I still think you're a genius, even though a copy of your cap costs a bit too much, in my opinion.
● Prater! The Prater is actually a very big park. Vienna's famous Ferris wheel is found there. We relaxed a bit, walked around and took photos. There was also an incredible luna park there and it looked so much fun! We wanted to go on the Ferris wheel but the cue was pretty long, so yeah... we just took photos. And walked around the luna park for a bit and got chills watching people who went on very scary attractions. XD
● Just for the LOLs: While we were at the Prater, there were lots of people with dogs. One of my friends was scared of dogs, while I love dogs (and animals in general). At some point, a dog was coming near us. So, jokingly, I told her, 'Don't worry, I'll protect you!'... and the dog actually heard me, because he went straight to get me instead of my friend! XD And I was like, 'Ahh, help! He heard me!' XD We all laughed so much!
● And then, of course, we went to see the Blue Danube! Alas, the Donau. You can see it easily from the Donauinsel. You just take the subway, line U1, and it takes you there. Yeah, we used the subway a lot. And there we met an Italian guy! I swear, people who are Italian or can understand Italian just come near you when they see that you're Italian. Italian language attracts people, like a magnet! XD Anyway, he just told us how to get to the other side of the Donau and then left. Very random, I shall add.
● Then we dined in the first restaurant that we found open in Stephansplatz. We ate a soup called Frittatensuppe. It's really good and there's nothing strange in it, so if you go to Vienna, you're on the safe side with this soup! :D And then we just kind of went around Vienna at night.
DAY 3: S. FREUD MUSEM, RATHAUS, PARLAMENT, WAHLMARKT, SECCESSION, NIGHT OUT & STRANGE MEETING
● Sigmund Freud Musem. Very interesting. We studied Freud this year in our philosophy program and I liked him. I learned some new things I didn't know, too. And did you know that Freud was actually a very romantic guy? Like, he once wrote his wife (this is not an exact quote because I don't remember it exactly, but the final message was this):
The next generations will take us as a good example of a couple, because we had the courage to love each other without letting other people's opinions interfere.
Isn't that sweet? ♥ It lets us see the human/romantic side of Dr. Freud.
● The Rathaus (town hall) was beautiful. It looked like a zen garden. Very relaxing place. But the best part of the day was the Parlament. We bought tickets for a guided tour inside the Parlament. Our guide was the best! XD He was a very nice man! He was cross-eyed and laughed every time he finished a sentence! XD Also, we were paired with a French couple and he was having some difficulties switching from French to Italian, so we helped him with some words a couple of times. In the end we just spoke in German, so he didn't have to speak Italian. :D But he was so sweet! And the Parlament was so beautiful! I took lots of pictures. Also, I liked the fact that he laughed at the end of every sentence. XD Like, '...so Austria became a republic in 1918.' *insert cute laugh here* XD So funny and cute!
● Then we took the subway and went to this big market on the street that they call Wahlmarkt. It's endless and you can find pretty much everything there. Not much to say about it, except that is... well, a market. XD Oh, and we also saw the Seccession.
● And now, for the exciting part... GIRLS' NIGHT OUT! :D On one of our guides there was a description of a bar where they played the piano, so we decided to go there on our last night in Vienna. It was near the MuseumsQuartier, so we just took the subway. At the bar, we took some desserts and something to drink. I took a slice of Sachertorte with cappuccino. Yummy! We spent a nice evening there (we only stayed until 11:00 pm).
I guess there was some sort of karaoke thing at the bar, too. At some point, a woman took the microphone and sung a German opera piece and she was actually pretty good! But then a man took the microphone and started to sing very absurd German songs, such as the German parody of 'A Wonderful World'. XD; Gawd, we couldn't stand him. At some point we even wanted to take the microphone and sing the Italian national anthem! XD We didn't do that, although we should have!
● For the super-LOLs: while we were on our way to the bar, I literally bumped into a guy on the street! I don't know how I did that, seriously. One of my friends was on the phone and I was kind of minding my own business and then at some point - BUMP! - I just bumped into a guy that was walking ahead of me! I was so embarrassed! Luckily he managed to keep his balance and he didn't fall on the ground. I was so nervous, I said, 'Oddio! (yep, in Italian! It can be translated as, 'Oh god!', 'Oh my!', etc.) Entschuldigung! (in German: 'Excuse me')'. I even used the wrong German word, so nervous as I was (I should have said, 'Das tut mir leid', which is 'I'm sorry'). Anyway, I don't know what exactly happened afterwards. He got his head up to look at me and then, when he looked at me in the eyes, he just... blocked there. He stopped his movements the moment he saw me. I'm not sure what happened myself... I was just kind of expecting him to do something. Anyway, after a few seconds of locking eyes, he just said very quietly and casually, 'No, no... tranquilla.' IN ITALIAN. (Can be translated as, 'No, no... don't worry.') At this point I was even more embarrassed. I mean, I spoke in Italian, convinced that he wouldn't understand me and he was actually ITALIAN. So I just... ran away. Yeah. That was so embarrassing. Italian people seem to just pop out of nowhere in Vienna.
DAY 4: SHOPPING, DEPARTURE, APOCALYPSE
● Anyway, on the morning of our departure we just did more shopping in Stephansplatz (don't worry, we didn't buy much, just a couple of things. I'm not really a shopaholic). We had to leave our hotel at 11:00 am, so we just went in a little park near the train station. Little did we know there was going to be an apocalypse to get back home.
To put it simply, we inverted the time of the train with the one of the bus. So we lost the bus that was supposed to take us from Villach to Udine. We went to the info point in the train station and the person that worked there told us that our ticket was still valid for any train of that day. So we took a train to Villach and my friend asked her dad if he could pick us up in Villach.
But that's not all. When we asked a man that worked for the ÖBB how many hours would it take for the train to reach Villach, he said it'd take 2 hours. That sounded a bit strange, but we believed him because he worked there, so he must certainly know these things, right? Wrong! A girl that spoke Italian had seen that we were panicking, so then she came to us and said that the train would actually take 4 hours to get to Villach and not 2 like the other guy had said! What the heck, it's your job to know these things and you give us the wrong information?
But it's still not all! On the train the ticket-inspector told us that the ticket was not valid for that train! We said that they had told us differently at the info point and he looked troubled. We were really scared and at some point we feared that he would fine us and kick us out of the train, but, to our big surprise, he didn't! He was annoyed, you could tell. He kept saying, 'Das ist nicht gut...' ('This is not good...') and he even cursed quietly at some point (me and my friend lol'd at this XD), but he was nice enough to let us stay on the train, even though we really couldn't. He didn't even fine us. Such a good man!
Anyway, we had a bit of an adventure on our trip to come back, but we managed to get to Villach in the end. After that our friend's father just gave us a ride to Udine. And we lived happily ever after.
That pretty much sums up my trip. I kinda miss speaking German, though. And taking the U-Bahn (subway) as well. But anyway, Vienna = Awesome. ♥