Sunday, March 31, 2013
I'm Back!
It was a great trip and I'm not even that jet lagged. (The first day there, however, was another story -- I fell asleep in more locations and physical positions than I would have even thought possible.) I'll probably be blogging about it for many days to come, but here are some quick takeaways:
-- The seats on Austrian Air flights are shockingly close together. I was practically spooning the lady in the seat in front of me. Also, their in-flight entertainment options are basically three movies that just play over and over again in different languages.
-- Vienna is an amazingly beautiful city; even, like, a McDonald's will be located in the most gorgeous building you've ever seen.
-- Vienna has a need for McDonald's, as the local idea of cuisine is taking a piece of bread and putting egg salad and cucumbers or peppers or something on it. They do know dessert though, for sure, and I look forward to the forty pounds I'm about to gain as a result.
-- It can be very cold in Vienna in late March, even if you've only packed three sweaters.
-- They do not like to talk about the two world wars in Vienna, and if you read a little bit about the local history of those wars, it is hard to blame them.
-- They do love to talk in English in Vienna, though, which is good, because my German sounds like one of the Von Trapp children suffered a head wound.
-- Church seems to be one of the major industries of Vienna. There were two giant churches within a block of my hotel. Unbelievably, neither was a snake-handling Baptist church.
-- They don't believe in one-stop shopping in Vienna. You have to go to one store for groceries, another for toiletries, and a third for over-the-counter medications. All of these places are closed on Sundays.
-- You do not need to get to the airport until approximately ten minutes before your flight in Vienna; check in and security are a total breeze.
As I say, much more to come. But I'm here and alive, which is definitely a start.
It was a great trip and I'm not even that jet lagged. (The first day there, however, was another story -- I fell asleep in more locations and physical positions than I would have even thought possible.) I'll probably be blogging about it for many days to come, but here are some quick takeaways:
-- The seats on Austrian Air flights are shockingly close together. I was practically spooning the lady in the seat in front of me. Also, their in-flight entertainment options are basically three movies that just play over and over again in different languages.
-- Vienna is an amazingly beautiful city; even, like, a McDonald's will be located in the most gorgeous building you've ever seen.
-- Vienna has a need for McDonald's, as the local idea of cuisine is taking a piece of bread and putting egg salad and cucumbers or peppers or something on it. They do know dessert though, for sure, and I look forward to the forty pounds I'm about to gain as a result.
-- It can be very cold in Vienna in late March, even if you've only packed three sweaters.
-- They do not like to talk about the two world wars in Vienna, and if you read a little bit about the local history of those wars, it is hard to blame them.
-- They do love to talk in English in Vienna, though, which is good, because my German sounds like one of the Von Trapp children suffered a head wound.
-- Church seems to be one of the major industries of Vienna. There were two giant churches within a block of my hotel. Unbelievably, neither was a snake-handling Baptist church.
-- They don't believe in one-stop shopping in Vienna. You have to go to one store for groceries, another for toiletries, and a third for over-the-counter medications. All of these places are closed on Sundays.
-- You do not need to get to the airport until approximately ten minutes before your flight in Vienna; check in and security are a total breeze.
As I say, much more to come. But I'm here and alive, which is definitely a start.
