Wet in Wien

Whenever I come to Austria it rains. Non-stop. I am sure that Vienna is a lovely city, but all I can see are wet, dripping people and wet, dripping awnings.

And wet, dripping me.

My hostel here offered free laundry however, and now my clothes are clean. Finally! I arrived at 11:30, picked up the laundry at a quarter to 1 (am!) and put it in the dryer and fell asleep. I woke up at 3 absolutely freezing. I had been sleeping in a tank top and a curduroy skirt, as everything else was in the wash. SO cold. Luckily, when I went downstairs my dryer clothes were warm and dry. I stole some extra sheets for the bedroom, but it was still the coldest night yet.

I was awoken in the morning at 8 by everyone leaving, and I lay there shivering until 9, when they came to tell me checkout is 9am.

I am back at the hostel now, to pick up my heavy bags and to head to Baden. Hopefully if I ever come to Vienna again it will be dryer.

I am sick of McDonalds hamburgers and salads. It is often the only palce around that has seats - the Europeans seem to fancy eating standing at a table. I am sick of Beggars. One came up to me while I was eating crackers for breakfast and asked me for one. I gave him 3 - being hungry is no fun, and he got all angry - he had only asked for ONE. Like I wanted it back now. The other day I offered some of my extra food to a beggar and she was just a woman sitting down. Humiliating!! (for us both). I am sick of the rain and the wet clothes and always having so much to lug around and the constant heavy purse (money, documents, camera, vid camera), and of not knowing if I will get any sleep and I want to go home. 19 days. I should have been more excited about a day in Vienna, but all I could thin is... 4 more steps to the corner, 5 more steps to that bench...

I did pop in some important church. The doorway was swarming with beggars. Inside it cost to climb over the church and it cost go climb below the church, and the only way to see the middle of the church was to pay a guide to go there. Rediculous. Salzburg is a much more sensible city.

Thinking about it, it rained last week too. Rainy tuesdays. Did I meantion that at this hostel, the Porzelleum, the rooms were clean, but when I looked under the mattress (last week I was at a place with bedbugs) there were TWO bugs there. One sort of looked like I thought a flea would look. I slept with the light on. There were no elevators, and my room was on the 3rd floor (remember that ground level is ZERO). The internet here is not cheap, but elsewhere in the city it is something like 1.50 for each 10 minutes (!) Everywhere else in Europe it is 1-2€/hour.

There isn´t much more to write. Travel is suppsoed to be fun, but this is not fun anymore. I don´t know when the fun stopped, but I just want to go to Fountain Park Pool and sit in the dry sauna and be warm. Then go home and have a big bowl fo Tomato soup. That would be heaven!