9-23-09 Continued Again...

We left the museum on a mission to find some hefty Hungarian food. Basically, we were hungry in Hungary...We found a nice little Turkish joint actually with sweet dishes. No one really spoke English in there so we had to drag the person from behind the indoor counter to the pictures of the food displayed outside in order to point at what we wanted. I had my first Baklava, which was PHENOMENAL! My tastebuds swelled with the deliciousness of cinnnamon and LOADS of sugar! Jack had a really colorful dish and I had rice pilaf as well. We got so lost in conversation that when we finally noticed the time, we realized we only had 25 min to hurry back and catch our train to Vienna! We POWER WALKED like crazy horses with our heavy-as-hell backpacks and made it with three minutes to spare!







Jack's Dish


All was well. On the train I read about Vienna. J gave me a looong massage - one of the BEST I've ever had! It was much needed as my neck and shoulders were real sore from the heavy backpacks. We arrived in Vienna some time at night and luckily found a private room available at one of the two "Wombat" hostels in Vienna. The place was the shit: totally stylish, modern, chill, and loungy. The room was 50 euro but was totally worth it as it was super nice with a big bed, comfy sheets, shower, etc. The place was really clean. Breakfast and a free drink at the hostel bar was included.

Around 11PM we went down to the bar in the basement. The layout was really comfortable and totally hip. The bar was filled with young people from all over. The bartender was playing the beginning of popular songs and whoever could shout out the title and artist first would win a free shot. I knew so many of them, as did Jack, but since it was more of a challenge for the others (the songs were mostly mainstream U.S. hits and the peeps weren't American), we let them go at it. It was fun to watch! Jack had a few drinks and we both ate ravioli. I was soooo happy it didn't bother my stomach a bit!

After we finished, we jetted out to find an Elektro club I wanted to check out. I pictured this really chill, comfoy, laid back scene with loungy couches and a soft red glow...I was eager to reward my ears with the pleasure of hearing some trancy, melodic, foreign electro! We noticed, via our map, that it was within walking distance, which was great because we would get to see more of the city up close. Also, we were pretty worn out and didn't want to go a long way out. All was still well.

Vienna looked beautiful at night. The weather was cool and perfect. We were near Westbahnhof, near the train station. We walked through a big shopping district, which was quiet and empty. Unlike Budapest, which was a bit dirty and very smelly, Vienna was clean and fresh. The air smelled very "green" although we were in the city. We walked passed the sign for the club at first. It was tucked behind a strip of stores - we went under a couple of archways and through a tidy little courtyard to get to it. This small scene reminded us of New Orleans.

We could hear the music outside and saw a TV that showed a bird's-eye view of the DJ spinning. Jack said he loves when clubs do that. The really awesome thing was that the club was almost exactly how I imagined it!...in fact, better. We walked through four rooms with stylish decor and soft, red lighting before we got to the one where the DJ spun. In a more energetic mood I could have danced, but we were so tired we just layed back onto the smooth leather couches and dug the scene. The soft red glow was there, the comfort, the style, the beats, the atmosphere. It was a quaint place, which matched our mood perfectly. No one was dancing, just socializing and relaxing. Jack even dozed off, haha. I LOVED the tracks they played!!!

We only stayed about an hour, but it was a great experience. The next morning we got up at 9AM, showered, freshened up, and packed. We checked out at 10am and headed over to this sleek cafe within the hostel to eat. Breakfast was phenomenal! We were SO EXCITED about the food after eating cheese and bread for like nine years.
Jack had cornflakes, a hardboiled egg, fresh red, green, and yellow peppers, milk, O.J. and 1 1/2 ham and salami sandwiches with cheese spread. We each packed a sandwich for lunch later. I put cucumbers on mine, oh yes. I had a bowl of granola, dried fruit, and yogurt. I had two hard boiled eggs, milk, toast with pb and j and toast with butter and cheese spread. Holy crap.

Then Jack blogged on the internet for awhile (the Wombat offered computers and pay-as-you-go internet) while I stretched and then lounged on this ultra comfy, large cushion mat (see pics) while reading up on the Hungary communism museum pamphlets. Then we hopped on the UBahn to find this ethnology museum that had an exhibit on masks next door. Jack especially wanted to see the mask of Montezuma!