We awoke, feeling slightly the worse for wear, on Thursday morning ready to board a train to Otrokovice, and head to Vienna via Breclav. The entire trip took roughly four hours with connections but was remarkably smooth. We went with a group of the conductors from the workshop to the train station and then shared a compartment on the train on the three hour ride into Vienna.
When we arrived in town we all said our goodbyes and parted ways. I was sad to say goodbye but I was very excited to get the last leg of our vacation, and time together with Kaia, underway. After arriving in Vienna we took an incredibly easy U-Bahn connection to a stop just a few blocks away from our hotel (the Schweitzer Pension) on the northern edge of the old town inside the ring.
After checking in and getting our bearings Kaia and I decided to head out to explore the city on our way to see Die Fledermaus at Theater an der Wien that evening. We took a walk through Hohermarkt (a busy square) on the way to Stephansplatz (the square with St. Stephan’s Cathedral). Once we arrived at St. Stephan’s it began to rain and the skies opened up as we continued our way down Kartnerstrasse. Luckily we had Kaia’s trust 50 Kc umbrella so we were not totally drenched. We took a moment and ducked into the U-Bahn Station to get our bearings and finally decided on dinner at the Naschmarkt right in front of the the theater. We had our first non-Czech meal in two weeks and our taste buds exploded (I had forgotten about ginger and spices other than salt)!
After dinner we went to Theater an der Wien and enjoyed a very entertaining performance of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. We met up with a couple of the conductors at the intermission and talked for a bit. I also had my first completely German speaking transaction when I ordered a couple of bottles of water at intermission. It was great. After opera we headed back to our hotel and collapsed, soundly, into bed.
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