We got up early this morning to grab some quick breakfast and then we summoned an Über to take us to the airport. Yes, it surprised me too. I envision Über as a 30 year-old hipster in Oakland driving a Prius, but it has evidently expanded quite a bit. After about 45 minutes and a distance of over 20 miles, we arrived at the airport, where we had to pay the grand sum of a whopping $13...including tolls. Not too shabby.
On our way to the airport, we got to witness the progress on the world's largest christmas tree. It's still not quite there. It's like they went all in on the trunk and then realized they didn't have enough material to do the actual tree portion and now it just looks like an ear plug. Once at the airport, we had to go in a few different lines. There was a security line to get to the check-in counters, which was a bit confusing for folks like us. Overall though, we made it to our gate without too much difficulty.
We did some last minute shopping, or really our only shopping since we hadn't encountered many shops selling tourist chotchkes. I ended up buying a cricket jersey. Believe it or not, I have played cricket in the past -- with Sri Lankans naturally. After a delay of more than an hour, we boarded our Austrian Airlines 767 and were on our way to Vienna. I took this picture during our descent. The sun was setting and it was barely 4:00. It is after all, the shortest day of the year.
We took the train into town, which took us just 15 minutes. Then we were hit by a blast of cold air as we entered a literal winter wonderland. Air travel is a fascinating thing. One day you're looking at elephants in the jungle, and the next you're making sure you don't step in slush from the last snowfall. After checking in to our hotel near the city center, we got some dinner at a casual restaurant nearby. It seemed popular with the locals. Nicole and I had a wiener schnitzel with potatoes and beer. It was our first meat in more than a week...unless you count the ham and cheese panini served by Austrian Airlines, which Nicole described as the best meal of her life.
After dinner, we took a taxi to one of the christmas markets in the city. We went to one by the rathaus (city hall) because it was the closest. While the lights and decorations were very photogenic, it was difficult to use my fingers to take pictures. We were not equipped for temperatures below freezing. While we were "cold" in Japan, Vienna took it to a whole new level. My back was hurting from shaking. Even the locals looked cold.
This cold, wet, chilled feeling we were having is the very reason my family started going to Hawaii in the winter instead of say . . . Berlin. We skimmed the stalls. Nicole got an ornament for our collection of countries.
As much as we wanted to linger and enjoy the sites, we felt as though we were climbers on Everest who had not adequately prepared for the hostile environment. Wearing t-shirts under lightweight jackets, we were destined to become ice cubes.
We quickly shuffled out of the Christmasmarkt and into an Über that took us back to the area of our hotel, where we thawed out, and prepared for yet another long day of flying. If I am able to adjust back to Pacific time in relatively short order, it will be a Christmas miracle.
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