Adventures in Europe: Vienna, Austria

As I left my hotel in Kosovo this morning, I had a funny experience with my manual rental car. I have had a tense relationship with manual cars while traveling, but so far had been quite pleased with how well I had managed while driving in Kosovo. Sadly, this final experience shook my confidence again; I had parked on a significant slope and had to reverse to get out, but found I was sliding forward into a hedge every time I let the clutch out, regardless of how much gas I was giving it. Fearful that I was about to plow through a hedge and potentially over a two metre drop, I had to recruit the friendly hotel waiter to bail me out. He did not speak English, but it was easy enough to communicate my problem and he had a good laugh with me as he (without any difficulty whatsoever) backed my car up.

I flew from Pristina to Vienna (on a plane mostly full with NATO peacekeepers) and reached Vienna in the middle of the afternoon. Later tonight I will carry on my train trip across Europe on the sleeper train to Amsterdam, but I had a few hours in Vienna first. After locking up my backpack at the train station, I took the metro downtown. It was beginning to rain, so I limited my time outdoors. In 2021 when I was in Vienna I had visited St. Stephan church, but had not climbed the tower, so I decided to do that today.

Three hundred and forty-three steps later, you get some great views, even on a grey day.

Back down on earth, I went for a hot chocolate at one of Vienna's classic coffee houses.

I spent the rest of my time in Vienna close to or in the train station, including the ÖBB lounge, which sleeper train tickets give you access to. Tomorrow I will be waking up in the Netherlands and fly home from there to Edmonton.