9 June

We took the metro to the international train station, bought food and drink for the train ride, swapped our Forints for Euros, and headed for Vienna. Budapest probably deserved another day, but Janene must keep moving. We met an Aussie girl on the train who gave us some insight into Vienna. She was going to Italy later, so I gave her my Italian phrase book.

We found a hostel fairly close to the station, settled in, then rode the Metro to Schönbrunn Palace and strolled through the extremely nice gardens. After a sandwich from a local shop and catching up on email, we wandered the neighborhood until about 2300 hrs. An assortment of really interesting folks come out around here after dark, like "gentlemen" in ladies bikinis, with bright pink Mohawks. However, we are struck by the orderliness of Vienna, especially after the chaos and filth of every town of any size in Italy. Traffic moves in an orderly manner, with minimal honking. The sidewalks are as broad as the street, there are separate bicycle lanes, trash is nowhere in evidence, and pedestrians wait at the corner for the light to change. The only way to cross a street safely in Rome is to attach oneself to a nun, or preferably a group of nuns. Otherwise, you just bail out into the street and hope for the best. It reminded us of the old Frogger computer game.

Hungary to Austria

train schedule

train route

train to Vienna

wind turbines

Schönbrunn Palace

5:45 pm
5:46 pm	5:47 pm
	5:47 pm	5:47 pm
6:02 pm	6:02 pm	6:02 pm

6:06 pm

6:06 pm

6:08 pm

6:17 pm

red squirrel	6:39 pm	another red squirrel
Western Naiad Fountain	6:49 pm	Vienna Fire Dept