Vienna w/e pt. 2: butterflies & kebab store raves

I woke up at 10:30am. I could've died then and been happy because of this. My alarm did not sound. I was not lurched into consciousness by tolling church bells. No hungry animals were angry that I slept so late. I was... free. And it felt good.

I bounced out of bed and got some tips from E about where to go on a budget tour of Vienna, and F and I headed in. We walked around for a while, and I just can't describe how beautiful this city is. Words do not do it justice. We wandered into the first district - I can't believe I hadn't been there yet - and it was one glorious building after another. Even with the cold, overcast weather I was smiling.

F and I were snap happy, catching horse-drawn carts sidling past 1000-year-old monuments and ancient trees adorning grounds once trodden on by aristocrats and royalty. Then finally we found the butterfly house (schmettlingerhaus in German, hehe) and went inside to get some piccies of the pretty winged creatures flying about the humid enclosure. Gotta admit, not AS many as I'd have wanted and less bodily contact with them than desired, but there were the odd moments we had one land on us.

We then headed back to the apartment, made some food and then got ready for another dance class. E had a headache so didn't join us, probably a good thing since it ended up being the most random of drunken nights possible. The dance class was not free, as E had thought, and the thought of shelling out 35 euros ("Tell her she's dreamin...") was a little too much to handle. So we left and turned into the first random pub we saw.

Turned out to be quite funny... we got a table a little out of the way and the locals just kinda stared at us for most of the time. Then we got a little drunk playing darts (me losing every game - score!! haha) and the locals started buying us Jager shots. Aye aye aye. And it was all downhill from there...

Actually, if the evening WAS a hill, I guess this would've been where we grabbed a couple of pieces of cardboard and flew headfirst down the slope, arms flailing and legs kicking in all directions. We then would've landed in a kebab-flavoured bush at the bottom and munched our way out while also cutting some mad dance shapes.

Let me back up a little. After a while, the first pub we went to closed and we were bitterly disappointed, so the owner and some regulars took us around the corner to another local, and the owner basically used the night's earnings to shout us drinks. And it comes full circle. Haha...

After a drink there and some disconcerting looks from the Hungarian wife of the customer we were with (serving behind the bar), we left feeling drunk and fairly satisfied that we'd had a totally unexpected but fun evening. But the night wasn't over yet.

On the tram home (gotta love these trams, free tour of the city... naughty naughty) we made friends with some randoms, then I started complaining to another random black guy that they were trying to pick us up when we just wanted to talk, and by that conversation's end he was all, "So... you wouldn't give me your number, then?" Ahh, FUCK'S sake.

Before going back to the apartment, I was defo in need of a kebab so the randoms took us to his mate's kebab stand and we made him turn the music up so we could have a mini-rave outside the stand while we cooked my kebab. Possibly the reason the kebab took a million minutes to get ready. It would've been the most action his stand had seen in a while. He quickened up, though, when I stormed the stand and demanded he cook FASTER. Haha... would have LOVED me.

I survived the walk home with just one bash into a wall and one mistaken front door, and F swiftly took herself to bed while I cooked dinner for myself and the other flatmate I. We had some good chats and then I ordered F to take out her earphones and sleep. Didn't get much resistance there. I think it was still before 10pm at this stage. Ahh, the beauty of starting early...

Overcrowded train?? LET'S GET BOOZED!!

On the way to the train station, we spun out trying to avoid a little black bird. I love snow. Did I tell you that already??

Once at the station, I faced an 11-hour train ride to Bratislava. I armed myself with a book (about silence, no less, WTF??), a sense of calm (ha!) and an urgent need to sleep. I managed the first half of the ride relatively unscathed. Kept having to change seats because I didn't reserve one so all the rich ass mo fos had to sit in their places. Workin for the man. haha... I shouldn't blog when I'm drunk. Or stoned for that matter.

Anyway.

Last few hours of the journey I got up to give MY seat over to aforementioned rich jerk and was met with a flurry of Prague alightees (made that one up) heading to mostly Bratislava I would imagine. Well. Someone had sent the memo out and it was official - eastern Europe was snowed in and no mother fucker was gonna take the bus. If in fact it was running at all.

So the train was packed. What to do?? Well, you find some people your age, sit down on the floor and make friends. You then, after many minutes of speculating whether they actually deserved it, break out the chocolate. Then, completely unprovoked, the girl also takes out her far superior chocolate and offers to all. We joke that all we need is wine at this time and boy turns to his bag and breaks out a bottle of white. Things are looking up.

We spend many minutes trying to open this bottle. It's hard man. Finally, with a toothpaste, we crack through and it is the beginning of the end. Four bottles later, the train grinds to a stop and we're at Bratislava. At Bratislava, we convince girl to stay for a drink before going to meet her friend. She's already drunk. It is sweet rubber arm action.

We walk into the pub and my English boss, E's girlfriend I says "oh hi, so you made it!!" Turns out she had messaged me to meet at that very pub and we happened to walk into it, me armed with several drunk randoms including one Slovakian TV presenter asking me for English lessons (hahahahahaha - I can hardly teach myself) and ready to party. Last time they spoke to me I was all tired n shit n not looking forward to the train ride. But turns out it was A-OK!