Vienna
Arrived in Vienna and back into Western Europe. Got to the hostel and met a guy named Jack, who I had met two weeks earlier in Prague, I don't know the odds on that happening but I'm going to guess they are pretty high. The hostel is tiny, literally a converted 3 bedroom apartment. The place only sleeps 13 people total. The managers only attend the place in the mornings and other than that we're left to our own devices. This includes introducing new hostel comers to the coziest hostel ever and giving them a run down of the things to do in Vienna.
Vienna is a very chill place, very laid back with heaps of museums and old stuff to check out. The day after arriving I went for a walk to the museum district and checked out the historical and natural museums. There's also a bunch of contemporary and modern art galleries, but the thought of going to an art gallery full of "art" I could have painted myself with my left hand annoys me.
Went to the palace the next day. It's a public holiday today so everything except the palace and museums and closed today, Saint Mary's birthday or something. The palace itself is pretty cool, it's got a huge garden, zoo, a maze and a big hill you can climb to view the entire city. There are horse pulled carriages that do tours around the place, as I was about to climb the hill to the look out I heard a thunderous noise and yelling. I turn around to see two horses pulling a carriage, spooked and bolting as fast as they can. I was probably 10 meters away as people were diving out of the way, the guy on the carriage is standing and pulling back on the reins, there's a little old asian lady in the back holding on for dear life, they bolt off into the distance, to fast for me to take a photo. I found them, minus the Asian lady, about an hour later outside the front of the palace. I was going to ask the guy what happened but I had to enter the palace at a specific time.
Last day there I just went for a walk, several hours later ending up on the other side of the city, I was having a pretty relaxing day. Went to dinner with the hostel newbies that arrived that day, Tom, from Melbourne, Jess, from Sydney, Becky, Las Vegas, and two girls from Connecticut who's names escape me right now, another group of single-serving friends i'll never see again.
Taking a 10 hour train to Venice at the moment. I wanted to go to Salzburg but couldn't find accommodation, later found out there an opera festival in town and everything is booked out. I've been on the train 6 hours or so now and we're moving through the mountains. This scenery shits on anything I've seen. I've tried to take plenty of photos but there seems to be some evil force working against people with cameras. Every time something photo worthy appears, by the time you ready the camera something gets in the way; trees, poles, walls, buildings, other trains, tunnels, the list goes on. Though I've become quite good at grabbing the camera and taking a shot in a second or two, will be interesting to see how they turn out though.
