It was Sunday March 17th when I left Budapest. I am finding that I really need to note dates, because the days are melding together and I am not even a third of the way thru my trip! There was no WiFi on the train from Budapest to Vienna so I am even more behind on posts than I’d hoped. It’s remarkable how accustomed I have become to WiFi in Europe; internet access is everywhere. Public nodes in train stations, airports, hotels, cafes, restaurants and tourist locations are available; I just connect and then use a VPN application to protect my data. Suddenly lacking an Internet connection for my iPad or laptop was a bit arresting. I did have the Internet via my iPhone, but that would be a lousy way to write a blog post so I decided to just enjoy the ride. There were a number of Americans on my train: several groups of travelers and a couple solo travelers like myself. I did not ask but from what I overheard, I guessed that they were on some Spring or semester break and traveling thru Europe. It was a little odd to hear English and American English at all!

The train ride to Vienna was only two and a half hours long; it seemed that a lot of the ride was along rivers and lakes or near farms. Plenty of chickens, goats, cows and other animal life to see. Well-kept orderly buildings lined the tracks for the most part, though I could tell when we entered Austria – more colorful buildings, tidy even if old structures and no rundown sheds. 

The Vienna Hauptbahnhof is a fairly new large and modern station and a very busy station as well. It took me a while to figure out what exit to use from the platform and which street exit to use. The Zeitgeist hotel in Vienna, where I had reservations, really was about a 5 minute walk from the station. It took me longer because I made a couple wrong turns but I made it to the hotel, checked in, dropped my bags in my room and headed to the hotel restaurant for a burger and fries with wine. No dessert though, the restaurant did not have the national dessert – the Sacher torte. Several glasses of wine later, I returned to my room and worked on blog posts. My right knee has been painful and a problem for a couple days now. I’ll see what rest and NSAIDs can do for me.