Day 12: Vienna and Arrival in Telc
The night train from Venice to Vienna was surprisingly pleasant. We had paid for a very cheap 6 person compartment, but luckily only had 4 people in ours. We shared it with a very nice older couple from Peru. The man even helped us lift our very heavy suitcases up the top bunks and took them down for us. Up until then, my only other experience on a night train was from Hanoi to Sapa in Vietnam, in which there was was one toilet for the entire train, and that was literally just a hole in the floor. This train was very smooth and the service was great. We got a free breakfast included, as well as hot tea, which I greatly appreciated.
We got moving at 9 last night and I tried to read my textbook, but got through exactly one page before falling asleep on top of the book. It was a fairly comfortable bed, all things considered, but did get very cold in the night. We arrived in Vienna around 8 this morning and took the subway downtown to Stephansplatz, the main square. I had just gotten used to Italian and the switch to German was much less easy to guess our way through, but we were aided by a most helpful free map from the station.
Emerging from the underground, Vienna was stunning upon first sight, especially since we were immediately hit with a close-up view of the Stephansdom cathedral, one of the tallest churches in the world and the heart of the Habsburg Empire.
We briefly peeked inside, but didn't stay too long as many people were coming in to pray before work. Turning back out, we took a long and directionless walk around the centre of Vienna with just a couple simple goals in mind: free toilets and cheap food.
In retrospect, there were probably better spots in the city to search for those goals. We were two bedraggled girls dragging backpacks and suitcases in two day old clothes in the first district of Vienna. It did, however, provide some beautiful sights. Vienna is the European city I've seen that is most like Toronto, in that it is very modern. There are many more large buildings and skyscrapers than I was used to seeing in Europe; the streets are very big with not as much cobblestone. Still, the history and architecture overshadows North America by far. It was beautiful and grandiose, similar to Paris, but even more modern (although to be fair, I was only in the first district).
Unfortunately, the prices for everything were astronomical (i.e. 6 euros for a coffee and a butter roll). We ended up walking for a while and stepped in and out of a dozen cafés, but it was a pleasant walk despite the suitcases. The city is so clean and well-kept, with the best bike lanes. The weather was lovely. The drivers in Vienna were also the politest ones I've ever met. They're so consistently respectful and stop to allow pedestrians to cross even when they have time to rush through.
Finally, at a very large intersection surrounded in every direction by large and elaborate buildings, we spotted the fanciest McDonald's ever, which for the first time in my life, was a very welcome sight. With the classy white stone exterior, it actually seemed to fit right into the neighbourhood. We got some food and drinks (a slice of apple pie and chai latte) and sat by the large window to eat and write. It offered a great view of downtown.
We left just past 11:30 and walked around some more, passing by the Vienna Opera House and the Museum of Fine Arts -- both of which took up an entire block. Since we had to meet up with our class at the Vienna International Airport at 1:30 to begin our history course in Central Europe, we headed down into the underground at noon.
The subways in Vienna, similar to their streets, are the nicest and cleanest I've seen in any city. It definitely made for a good first impression. As we were trying to transfer trains correctly, a woman stopped and asked if we needed any help. She said she wasn't in a hurry and gave up 15 minutes of her time to go out of her way and assist us. She led us to our platform -- which was not close -- explaining the system and tickets very patiently along the way, and helped us buy our tickets, even making change with her own money when I didn't have a small enough bill for the machine. She brought us right to where we needed to wait for our train and was so willing and gracious in lending a hand, asking for nothing in return. Before embarking on this trip, I'd been warned again and again of pick-pocketers, muggers, sleeping on night trains, people stealing cameras or phones or bags -- all valid warnings, of course -- but everyone I've met here so far has been so welcoming and helpful. It's really reaffirmed my belief in the innate goodness of humanity.
We arrived at the airport smoothly and after some frustrating confusion about where exactly we were meeting, we finally got on the group bus with our classmates, going from Vienna up to Telc, Czech Republic, and kicking off five weeks of a history course in Central Europe.
After two weeks of trains, I was not happy to be back on a bus. The ride (leaving an hour late) was far less smooth and comfortable. I started out writing in my journal but fell asleep while writing. Actually though, the pen was still uncapped in my hand; I've no idea when I drifted off. Despite the discomfort on the bus, it was the most beautiful view I'd seen. There was greenery in every direction, as far as the eye could see -- the dark green of tall trees that formed mini-forests, the bright, lively green of young grass that made up the fields and hills for miles and miles on end. It was the kind of scene that I wanted to spread my arms out and run across in a dress, while belting out ballads from famous musicals. Interspersed with the green were small clumps of houses, all colourfully painted, with neat piles of chopped wood in front. Almost no one was in sight for the entire ride. We drove for hours and the fields and trees just seemed to go on forever all around us; it was like something out of a painting.
My favourite part about the scenery was the bright yellow flowers that were planted against the green. There were large blocks of them everywhere, grown so densely that it looked like a solid gold carpet. I don't usually like yellow as a colour, but this shade was as though the sun had birthed the flowers itself. It was so vibrant and rather mesmerizing. I'm not sure what kind of flowers there are, or what they're there for, but it made for a beautiful patchwork. I'd never seen such great, seemingly infinite expanses of fields before, and it really showed how big and different our world is.
We got to Telc at 6 and checked into our dorm rooms, which had just been renovated this year. I was so surprised at how modern, spacious, and clean they were. After a brief clean up and orientation, we had a buffet dinner that included Caprese salad, scalloped potatoes, grilled vegetables, chicken cutlets, grilled salmon, and so much more. It was a very satisfying dinner to end a long and tiring day.
We only got to see a little bit of Telc on our walk to the restaurant and back to the dorms, but it felt very safe and calming. The air smelled like flowers and we are right by a pond and garden. On the way, we also caught a glimpse of the square with the famous arched doorways.
Overall, it was a day of vastly different environments. I've now gone from navigating in English, to French, to Italian, to German, to Czech in just 12 days. On one hand, I am quite sad to not get to freely explore as I've been doing in the past couple amazing weeks, but I am also looking forward to learning the history of the places I'm visiting. We will be travelling to a different place every three days, and I'll be free to continue exploring Europe after, so still many more adventures to come.
