We went to the train station early and found the gate. Our train was there. We feared the train would originate in Munich and all luggage areas would be taken. Instead, it originated in Salzburg and we were the first ones in our car. This time we were going forward so the scenery looked different.
Everything was dandy until I started getting emails that there could be delays because of rail repair. At one point, the train stopped abruptly for a few minutes. I got a total of 9 emails throughout the trip. There were also announcements on the train but they were in German. It turned out we were about 15 minutes late for our stop and they terminated the next stop which was to the airport. They were very apologetic.
I created only one international incident on the train ride. To understand, you have to know that the toilets on the new trains are huge and covered by a large curved door that opens and closes using red and green hand-size buttons. I went to the bathroom and the red lock indicator wasn't on so I pushed the gigantic green button and the huge curved door slowly opened, revealing a young man taking a whiz. He said something to me in German which I didn't understand but he didn't seem angry. I said, perhaps stupidly, "You didn't lock the door." I also said sorry a few times. Not that I was looking, but the guy finished, washed and dried his hands, fixed his hair, and then said, "Now it's free. Sorry I forgot to lock the door."
After we settled into the airbnb, we did a hop-on tour around the ringstrasse. We always seem to get to a city at rush hour so the ride was slow but gave us a good orientation of the city. We are right around the corner from the opera house where all the hop on buses originate. Johnny is right that being by the opera house is probably the best location in old town. We can walk to many of the sites. After the tour, we walked along the main shopping street. It was packed with people and upscale stores.
The airbnb in Vienna is huge. It is equipped with everything including a washer/dryer. The owner left instructions on how to use the washing part and said to hang the clothes on the drying rack. I had asked him specifically about the washer/dryer situation because former tenants had complained and he had said he had a new one installed. I always hate to bug the owner but we really need clothes so I emailed him to ask about the dryer. He answered by saying we were welcome to use the drying rack. His English seems good so I decided the miscommunication was due to the fact Europeans can't understand why anyone would use a dryer. I was right. He said of course we could use the dryer part, just refer to the manual he left.
The drying rack was full of towels and sheets so Lola folded those while I attempted to make sense of the washer/dryer manual. It was in English and still unclear. The manuals always explain what the symbols mean but many of the symbols aren't on the machine. But the picture of an iron always is. On the washing part, it means the machine will make the clothes easy to iron. On the dryer part, it means the clothes will come out damp. This machine was particularly confusing. We were looking up words like trocknen and flusenspulen and of course, pflegeleicht, and nacht, hoping it would all become clear.
Because these machines take hours, we put in a load and went to dinner. There are two good places across the street. One, the Moulin Rouge, is self-serve Italian. The food looks ok but it involved too much work. The restaurant next door to it, the Plachuttas Gasthaus, had loads of outdoor seating and they had heaters so we ate there. Lola had calf's liver; I had veal. Both were great. The service was extremely fast and the food was perfectly cooked.
After that, I put the clothes in the dryer. They'll be finished in a couple of hours.
That was our day. There are no pictures.
At last! Laundry!
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