Wien & Le Sleaze Parisien

No, that is not German for "wine." It is the German, or if you get technical, Austrian spellling of Vienna. I've been here since about 11:30AM, and now only have a couple of hours left til my flight to Sofia.

The morning started off OK. I caught the 5AM train to Paris and while sitting in the train station overheard 2 girls speaking English. But... I didn't know them. How could there be ANY anglophone in Troyes that I had not encountered?! Turns out the girls are Irish and have been studying in Troyes since September-- basically, the same time we assistants got there. How the heck could we have missed them?! I didn't ask how many other students there were-- it was 5AM after all and I was a bit groggy. It's too bad that I meet them now, just a few weeks shy of coming home.

Paris was fine and dandy. I tried to sleep on the train ride but did not have much success. The RER at Gare du Nord was a nightmare as always. I hate the RER. I am dreading having to battle my way while loaded down with suitcases when I fly back to the US-- this time was bad enough. So we're smashed in like sardines, and naturally there is unwanted contact. A bump here, a foot stepped on there-- this happens when you have 298398587587 people crammed on a car meant to hold about 50. An elbow to the ribs is forgiveable. A man pressing himself against my cute lil derriere and grinding against me is not. I did my best to squirm away, reposition my suitcase to use as a barrier, anything I could but Mr. Rubby was persistent. I repositioned my hand on the bar, he'd move his close to mine, being sure to brush it (1 or 2 times of this would've been a coincidence. 5 or 6 is just downright sketch). Whenever the doors opened and people got on, even if there was much more space on the other side, he squeezed right up next to me. He found a way to me no matter how far away I managed to get (which, sadly, was never very far). Finally the car emptied out a bit and I managed to squeeze away from the main pole thingie and to the side, near the fold-out chairs, and threw my suitcase and laptop on top of it. Then for whatever reason he took to wandering through the car, between the seats and BOTH times he would pass me he would do the whole hand-on-my-shoulder-please-let-me-by thing. Which was unnecessary as there were several inches of space between us, nor did he feel obliged to make this gesture for the people he damn near trampled down. My numerous murderous glares did nothing. But luckily, one stop away from my final destination, I snapped-- nay, snarled-- in crystal-clear English, "Get. Away. From. Me." I'm sure I was baring my teeth. Who knows if he understood English but he definitely understood my message and proceeded to chat up the girl half his age who got on the stop before mine. I wanted to vomit.

So that was my morning. Orly was uneventful as usual. Didn't have to go through their passport control which is always a relief. The flight was fine, I had a whole row of 3 seats to myself. I splurged and ordered wine, hoping it would help me sleep. It did, but not on the flight. I'll get to naptime in a bit. The view of the Alps (at least I assume they were the Alps) was really pretty. Luckily I snapped a few pics.

So, Vienna. By the time I got off the plane, found the baggage carousel, got my bag, found a potty, determined that once again I did not have to go through customs control, and found a place to grab some lunch, it was almost 1:00. As I had mentioned, I was hoping to get a chance to explore Vienna properly since I had so much time here. But I thought it might be impossible since check-in for my flight only started 2 hours before, not to mention I was beginning to feel the effects of the previous night's 4 hours of sleep. I decided I better find out where I needed to be for my flight, stopping in various shops along the way (I need to find my mom a shotglass. She gets shotglasses from every country I go to).

The coolest one so far was the grocery store. A full-on grocery store in the airport! I dunno why but grocery stores in foreign countries always amuse me. And to my delight, this being the land of Red Bull & all, they had a Red Bull cola drink AND... the elusive Red Bull bottles Brad & I searched tirelessly for in Amsterdam. I will definitely try to get some back to France/the U.S. to show my fellow Red Bull junkies. I was also pleased with the selection of California wine. They had a Stag's Leap which is an excellent wine (but under a different name... Stafer? Saffer? But the price label listed it as Stag's Leap-- Jess, explain please!). I don't recall how much it costs per bottle back home but here it was the bargain price of like, 42Euro. I'm certain it is much cheaper back in CA.

Something else weird about Vienna airport-- there is still smoking allowed. Not in all areas but every restaurant (which is pretty out in the open) and even in some corridors between terminals & such. Even for someone living in France, smoking in airports is shocking. I do believe it is the first city I've been to with such a lax smoking policy. OK, maybe Vegas too.

So I managed to check my bag a couple hours early (yay!), grab an info brochure for the direct train into Vienna center, and have decided to check it out when I'm here again in a week. I've navigated the airport, know where all I need to be, and probably won't be as tired. So Vienna exploration will wait til next Wednesday.

I made my way to my gate a good 3 hours before boarding. It was pretty deserted so I found a cushy (?) bench thing and curled up for my nap. I got a good 1 1/2 hours in before I started hearing people milling around. And now... here I am, updating my blog. Yay for wifi!

I'm debating if I should buy something to eat now and go through the X-ray thingie again or just get something on the plane. Only a few more hours til I get chez Keil! :)