Vienna stories

I woke up early in the Nord Sam campingplatz in Salzburg and met the owner to settle the bill. Normally you pay upon arrival but i arrived under the cover of darkness and used my patented fumble around in the dark like a tit approach to putting up my tent. In retrospect i could have got away without paying as the owner didnt even know i had camped. However hitch hiking has tought me many beautiful lessons. I almost beleive in a watered down version of karma now. My own personal thinking is that if someone does something nice to you, pass it on. Ive never been that superstitious in the past. I did however have a routine before football games in the 98-99 season for Henfield FC. We went on a 13 game unbeaten streak and won the plate that season along with promotion to the horsham mini minor league a. I used to spit into my shinpads before games. lovely huh?

Anyway I digress from the real story. I set off into town and chanced upon a spar and bought some semmel (buns or baps depending which part of england your from) with cheese. I cought a bus into town and had a lovely breakfast at the mirabel gardens.



I then popped on a bus to walersfied where i tramped my way to a shell garage for my hitching. Ive found it saves time to get to the outskirts where cars and lorries are travelling long distances instead of to the local shops. Within 45 minutes i had secured a lift with a Romanian guy and his family. There was little we had to talk about as the language barrier was too vast. My usual tactic of mentioning footballers failed to interest him. I managed to gleam that he had travelled from bordeaux so it must have been one hell of a journey. It was actually quite nice for a change to relax and watch the countryside go past. Austria is not all mountains and singing nuns but it is still rather pleasing.

I got dropped off on the outskirts of vienna at another service station. I love and hate these places. In europe they always charge you for the loo. Paying to eat and drink makes sense but paying to get rid of the bits and bobs you dont need is going to far in my book. In estimation trips to these Mr sheen wonderlands has probably cost me between 7-10 euros so far. Thats atleast two mcdonalds or a trip to the cinema.

Anyway i asked about and the nearest train station was three miles away on the other side of the autobahn. Lucky for me there was a service tunnel going underneath so i got to do my own version of the great escape before climbing an embankment the other side and hoping a fence. Feeling all macho I swaggered to the station and into vienna.

Vienna is immense. Ive seen town halls less ornate then backery's in vienna. The scope of the place is huge too. Unlike the old town in salzburg you know that vienna is a real functioning city and not a place preserved for tourism. It just happens to be fully functioning, interesting, vibrant and colourful whilst looking good. I met up with a girl called July who i was to be couch surfing with. Couch surfing is essentially sleeping on someones couch for free. Its good because its all built on trust and you meet real people who live in the city your visiting.

Im off for food an edit later perhaps. Rich xxxx