The seats reclined pretty far down but were still damned uncomfortable, especially with a couple uptight Americans next to us, waking up at many stops, being passport checked by cops and having the Americans leave the compartment at 6am. Finally we landed around 9am, found the closest hotel so we could wifi Steve and then went back to the station to book tickets for tomorrow to Prague. Our trip is ending quickly so we are starting to do some serious country hopping. Strolling randomly through Vienna, past the busy shopping area and into some huge and beautiful buildings we found Volksgarten (big garden with roses and all). One of those parks where you’re not supposed to step on the grass because it’s a historical site. So I did and even got a picture as evidence. Nobody cared and many were having picnics and sunbathing. Found a film festival and ate some delicious food. Drank a bitter spritzer! It said bitter, but it was red and had an orange, so it’s gotta be tasty! Wrong. It was bitter and gross and I chugged it. Then after complaining of tiredness I told Dad I would get a Red Bull. Once I opened it Dad said he wanted to take a nap.. so I showed him my drink and he seemed to silently agree to walk a little more first.
Finally made enough pleading noises to get us to the Aquarium zoo and it was awesome. We got to touch the coy and see jelly fish, sharks, snakes, porcupine fish, mambas, bats and monkeys!! Little bitty monkeys that some little boy fed hamburger bun and then got to pet them! I was a good person who did not feed them any food (I didn’t have any) and followed the rules and did not pet them (seeing I was without food they would not come near me). Then we walked up to the very top of the aquarium zoo tower and saw all of Vienna (this zoo was built as a skyscraper… very eerie and full of tons of water). Vienna is really, really full of buildings. Massive buildings that fill entire blocks and each of them works of art, literally as far as the eye can see (and at 10 stories high the eye can see a long way). On the way down the tower we found another room with more monkeys and bats. I didn’t mention before that both halves of this huge exhibit containing monkeys and lots of other types of birds and even some bats were completely open. There are signs saying don’t touch or feed the animals but everything is fully open with birds flying at our heads, bats flying around and monkeys climbing onto benches and the walkways trying to get food from people. I’m not even clear on how all these animals are able to cohabitate but they seem to. There are even water exhibits within these huge open areas — filled with alligators, biting turtles and all kinds of fish. Awesome insanity. Oooh there was one space for children to poke their heads up into a bubble and look into an aquarium that simulated the ocean. So I joined and fit better than they did, the little shrimps.
After leaving the wonderful and exciting water zoo I dragged dad down into the next door torture museum. It was terrible and way creepy. Wax people in all kinds of torture devices, with an English version of the device descriptions to help us experience more horror. I cannot believe I got Dad to pay for this. Not only was it terrible and depressing but it was ridiculously short. If I’m going to pay to be horrified I want it down properly and for a long enough amount of time. Some of the torture devices we saw include but are not limited to the following: thumb screws, stocks, being burned at the stake, being boiled alive, the iron maiden, the iron maiden chair thing, the wheel and many more that I don’t care to remember. Having escaped the torture of the torture museum, we found a hidden grocery store and bought some wine and cheese to go with our crackers. Headed back to the hotel for Dad’s nap and my internet surfing. Currently chilling on very comfortable beds in the nicest hotel we’ve been in on the whole trip. Lovely and relaxing, can’t wait to experience a soft bed.
