23 October 2008: Vienna, Austria

The previous night Benny had invited Niko and me for lunch, so when Niko came back from classes he and I hopped on a tram and went to Benny's place, located nearly on the outskirts of Vienna.

Benny had made pasta with meat sauce, which was complemented by "the most delicious apple juice in Austria," and then we took a tram up a hill to a view which Niko had said was vital for me to see. I suppose. But I'll take the rooftop terrace any day of the week over this view.

Niko had to go to class after this, and he said that Mo was going to a second-hand store and I should go with him because "people are buying stuff so you'll find money." I didn't have any idea what he meant by this, but it was fine to walk around, so I went back to the flat to meet up with Mo and Corina.

The second-hand store was pretty weak, though, and Mo just wanted to buy a pair of sneakers. We literally went to five stores before he found an acceptable pair. He turned down an alright pair for €20, and then a cool pair for €25, and then went to two more stores that had nothing, before finally choosing a pair of black sneaks with huge and terrible blue Nike swooshes on the sides. I mean, it was a pretty abominable selection. Shouldn't Corina have advised him on this?

(Incidentally, the whole episode was pretty fun, even if WAS a bit annoying that it took over an hour to buy a pair of sneakers. But there's never anything wrong with walking around with a couple friends. Though I still didn't have any idea what Niko had meant about finding money.)

After Mo finally made his decision we parted ways and I headed to Ike's to try to recoup my €4. He wasn't there, and though I waited about half an hour he didn't show up. I went back to the flat, had a slice of artichoke pizza-- the first real pizza in almost two months-- and then, because €4 is sadly a lot, I went back to Ike's. But he still wasn't there. And then, because I sadly was still hungry, I went back to the flat and made some more Ramen noodles. Pretty gross.

Niko was out for the night, and I told Mo I was going to walk around Vienna for a bit. I asked if he and Corina wanted to come along, mostly as a kind gesture and not thinking they would say yes. I meant to walk around by myself, as a sort of reflection upon my time in Vienna, but Mo said he did want to come and convinced Corina to come too. So my quiet walk had become a tour. OK.

I had been planning on leaving the next day, in order to spend the weekend in Graz, but we walked across the Parliament lawn and saw a number of tanks and fighter planes being guarded by armed soldiers. Mo talked to one of the soldiers, who said that the tanks and planes and tents were there for National Day on Sunday. I had known that National Day was coming up, but Niko said it wouldn't be anything special and I hadn't thought much of sticking around for it. But I figured soldiers with machine guns guarding army tanks and planes at midnight was a sign that National Day might end up being a bit of a show. And maybe worth seeing.

After some more walking Corina wanted to get a drink, so we found an Irish pub and went in. It was, of course, like every other Irish pub in the world, with Irish beer, Irish signs on the walls, the Irish punk band that everyone has on their itunes, a wooden bar, a foosball table, and soccer on the television. I mean, you've been to one Irish pub not in Ireland you've been to them all.

Anyway, I was walking back to Mo and Corina from somewhere and a girl came up to me to say hello. Or, rather, to say "You're still here, Zach?"

"Yes I am-- and you are?"

It turned out to be a girl who had walked with me from the IDA party to Shannon's hostel, whom I had completely forgotten about and never would have recognized. I told her I was probably sticking around for at least another day and maybe the weekend, and she asked if I needed a tour guide. Well, now I was DEFINITELY sticking around for at least another day and maybe the weekend.

We said we would meet at 3:00 the next afternoon at Stephansplatz, and in my mind that was the commitment to stay, like I said, at least for one more day. As it turned out, though, I committed too soon, because when I went to say goodbye to her I said I would see her the next day and she said "Well, I don't know, I mean I have class and I might need to sleep afterwards." It was absolutely the most abrupt turn-around I had ever seen.

Anyway, I went back to the flat with Mo and Corina. And, at least mentally, I was already staying for the weekend.

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To be perfectly honest, I was a little bit concerned at first about over-staying my welcome. I was on a pretty bad streak of over-staying, what with Ike and Astrid and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and to a lesser extent Greg and Tomi. But I really believed that Mo and Niko enjoyed my being there, and Mo had certainly made it clear that I was "welcome." So it seemed safe. Which meant I would have a second shot at a Vienna weekend, which would hopefully make up for the first one.