A Night in Vienna

I had originally planned on spending 3 days in Vienna, like Bratislava. But somewhere between staying in Budapest for a full week and taking two days in Serbia and Croatia I lost a bit of time, and thus, had only a night in Vienna.

For this, I called up Nina from Kiev, Katrin from Istanbul and Bernhard from Tbilisi, all of who are Austrian and live in Vienna. Nina was somewhere else in Austria at the time, Katrin was in Germany, but Bernhard, and Leslie, were in town, and agreed to meet me at the train station when I arrived.

I arrived at 18:57 on the evening of July 16, at Vienna Südbahnhof Ost. Leslie and Bernhard were indeed waiting for me on the platform. They subsequently took me on several forms of transportation to my hotel/hostel, on Columbusgasse 16. I checked in and dropped off my stuff, and we went out to dinner.

For dinner the lovely couple took me to a ‘real Austrian’ dinner at a place called 7 Stern Brau, which was mostly sausage/wurst and spicy beer. Everything was cheesy, fatty, or carby. Very Austrian.

I was then escorted to one of the couple’s favorite bars, a place in the middle of nowhere called Travel Shack Vienna: Traveler’s Bar & Meeting Point. It was just that; a bunch of drunk foreigners having a good time. I enjoyed it immensely.

The menu itself was worth going. If you are sensitive to strong language, look away now. These were its shot choices: Blow Job, After Eight, Black Forest Cake, Mozart, Snickers, Baby Guinness, B52, Cock Sucking Cowboy, Slippery Nipple, Facebook, Jack Sparrow, Skanky Smurf, Hand Job, MILF, Fin on Fire, Fortune Cookie, Tutti Frutti, HARIBO, Strawberry Kiss, Pancake, Menstruation, Wet Pussy, Leg Opener, Lindsay Lohan, Red Headed Slut, Apple Pie, Black Jack, Big Red, Pink Shit, AC/DC, Dirty Hooker, Substi, Spider-Man, Porn Star.

Probably the two highlights of the bar was the weird girl with the piercing all over her face who just talked and talked and talked before falling over onto the floor, and the stump. The stump was a game that should not be at any bar, ever. It consists of lighting tapping several nails into a tree stump until they stand unassisted. Then you and your friends take turns taking whacks at the nails with a hammer. Whoever gets their nail completely into the stump last buys the next round. It is, as you might imagine, incredibly dangerous, and yet so much fun. I played several rounds.

Later that night I headed back (1:30am), with directions from Leslie and Bernhard, after saying goodbye to them at midnight. I had a difficult time finding where to go, though I did stumble upon the right bus stop. I had to wait for a while for the night bus, but it did arrive, and I did get on. Getting off is a different story, and I missed the stop, I think, though things were blurry at that point.

I ended up having to go to the bathroom an unbearable amount, so I peed in an alleyway before asking directions from some passing Austrians. They pointed me in the right direction and I found the hostel around 3am. I crashed until 9 or 10.

I packed up my crap and headed to the station around 11:45. I had some slight confusion getting on the right S-Bahn train, but figured it out. Everything seems more difficult when you have 50kg on your back, you know.

I got to the station at 12:05. Bought my tickets to Prague, departure 12:33. I took a seat in a car that apparently had reserved seats, so I had to move (but left my bags). I ended up sitting in a compartment with two American guys, whom I would bump into a few days later at a restaurant on my last night in Prague. We talked for a while, but ended up moving into a crowded compartment with 4 American girls (Kat, Madison, Kayley, and one other), another American guy named Gavin and two Austrians. There were only 6 seats. But it was a fun train ride.

We arrived in Prague at 17:20. I had only spent a night in Vienna, but I had a fun time, and though I did nothing touristy, didn’t go to a single museum, and barely saw any of the city in the light, it was still a good outing. I enjoyed myself, but not as much as I would enjoy Prague.