Day 10 A taste of Italian in Innsbruck
We started today with another hike. It was 36 degrees and we started the wrong path from the start. Even though we were hiking the side of a narrow street, we still made it to the Hungerburg trail and continued a loop on a connecting trail. A shorter 3 hour hike, we still felt wiped when we got to the bottom. We happily rewarded ourselves with some of the best ice-cream in Innsbruck. We were quite hungry still after this, so we stopped at an Italian restaurant just outside of old town. As we walked in the owner gave us a big smile and hug as if we were old friends. He was speaking fluent Italian and we had to interrupt him to tell him we spoke English. He then laughed and grabbed my arm and asked “fitness?”. After some short broken conversation about Canada he gave us each the old fashioned 3 cheek kisses and brought out some red wine. We ordered some pizza however there was no menu so I emphasized that I was vegetarian. We had great high quality pizza with olives, mushrooms, eggplant, peppers and more. It was an incredible little feast.
We headed to the train station slightly earlier than necessary as all the travelling seems to be catching up with us. As we rested in the waiting lounge we met a family of French people from Montréal Canada! Their father only spoke French so our conversations intertwined both languages. I am always happy to practice my French and even happier to hear them tell me my accent isn’t even half bad. Our platform was announced and we headed to the train. Five hours of rest and next stop Vienna.
Our train arrived in Vienna by 10pm. We hopped onto the subway towards our hostel unknowing that there was construction and half the route was closed down. So 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back we went. We emerged from the station into 11pm centre town where a free concert was going on. It was a huge pop festival which I later found out had Conchita Wurst, a bearded Austrian drag star performing. We found a nearby bus station but could not figure out the routes. Once again, we got lucky with some English speaking locals who were also waiting for the same bus. The bus was designed for the detour and took a long time to come. On top of this once we got off the bus we had one more underground and a walk to the hostel. After being lost in Vienna we finally checked in at 1am.
Day 11 Cycling Vienna
We slept in slightly later than we had been the entire trip so far. We went to a local bakery and picked up some delicious, fresh chilli buns to eat with the fruit we had leftover for breakfast. After orienting ourselves with a detour route to centre town; we headed in for our scheduled bike tour.
After visiting a beautiful book store, we sat to eat some pre made food from the grocery store in the dog park and a fluffy black dog came over and sat right underneath our legs. His owner came up and began speaking fast German. Once we switched the conversation language to English, she happily chatted with us about Canada, Europe and her favourite spots in Vienna. She asked me what sports I do because of my “shoulders” and if I was Greek. I get this a lot, however when I told her I was actually just Irish/English she insisted I take a gene test and that I was beautiful (so flattering).
Another 40 degree day filled with exhaustion and surprisingly the 3 hour bike ride felt great. Obviously we went slow enough to coast most of the time so the breeze kept us cool. We learned a mixture of history and the modern Vienna while stopping at some highlight viewpoints.
Day 12 Caio Vienna
This morning we had a buffet breakfast in the hostel. I was quite tired this morning as I was up until 1am trying to fall asleep in puddles of sweat. I was finally able to sleep by wetting my towel in cold tap water in the bathroom and wrapping it around myself.
We took the underground to the city once again and did a small exploration walk. Soaking in the tall pale buildings of the city. We walked through a beautiful park filled with white sculptures and vines. Afterward was a long walk back to the international bus station. Unfortunately we were unable to store our bags this day so our shoulders, backs and feet were sore from hours of carrying them.
On the 5 hour bus ride I first of all fell deeply asleep due to my poor sleep the night before, then had our packed dinner and began to read a book on women’s history I bought at the cute bookstore yesterday.
Arriving in Prague was like a browned Vienna. The same old time architecture however with variations of tans as the colouring. The roofs all orange and the language illegible to my Canadian ears. Our hostel was buzzing as we arrived with people chattering all over the curbs, in the lobby and even on our floor. We are in a 12 bed mixed dorm room this time with a large group of Irish girls. They left quickly out to the pubs as Alex and I rested our heads.
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