Vienna w/e pt 3: embassy maze in thirsty haze

Unfortunately I forgot to turn my alarm off for this morning so I was greeted, at 6:10am, by the familiar shrill of my phone and stumbled across to find it in my jacket. That was after my first stumble to get some water - drunk before bed means PARCHED early morning - and then afterwards hearing F press snooze on her alarm for about an hour. So the morning was not so restful.

We had to get up at a reasonable hour so F could get her train back to Hoftgarten (the other side of the country) so we fumbled about laughing at ourselves for getting so randomly wasted the night before, and eventually got out the door not too long after we'd promised ourselves. Had a goodbye hug that lingered a little too long from I and, after F told me he'd been staring at me sleep in the morning - I started to wonder just what we'd spoken about the night before...

I had all the signs of a post-drinking body - minus the pounding head, thank god - and hence spent the day wandering in semi-stupor, parched no matter how much I drank, and fighting to keep my stomach behaving itself. This did not help my mission to find the Brazilian Embassy to pick up my passport.

I have already been to the embassy so I thought I'd remember how to get there, but with a stubborn refusal to catch the U-Bahn (metro) because I could sneak onto the tram without paying, I sent myself in spirals around the city, increasingly frustrated that I was following a series of dead ends. What I really needed was Google Maps.

Eventually, I asked a man (who I assume was deaf from his voice and requests to write down what I was asking) for directions and, bless him, he whipped out his phone and found that where I wanted to go was just 5 mins down the road. Hallelejuah! It had almost gotten to the point where I was crumbling from the stress of maybe missing the embassy opening hours and therefore trapping my passport inside forever.

But all was not lost - I strolled into the embassy and Edwardo was there, smiling and holding out my passport as soon as I walked in. My little Edwardo. Then, having also found Lush to buy some more shampoo soap (my hair STINKS of camel and I embarrassingly didn't realise it was so bad until the very public dance class - feel so sorry for the people next to me), I headed back to Westbahnof to get a train home.

Back home, I met a weary-looking L who told me tales of the camel-riding adventures they'd had over the w.e. While I'm sad to have missed THAT, I would surely have traded a sleep-in if given the option. Apparently she fell off Mustafa when he started to canter - that would've been funny to see, although I don't envy her poor bruised body. Maybe all is not lost and it'll be my turn next time. Eek.

So. One week and I am OUTTA here. It will be kinda sad to leave but I think when the time comes, I'll be ready. Already organising trips to Copacabana beach with my new CS friend that I'm staying with, and I gotta tell ya, just imagining the hot sun on my back makes my skin tingle.