October 28th, 2008
Vienna smells of autumn
The sky is grey and overcast, just as the weather predicted. It’s probably in the lower 50s, the air is damp. It reminds me a lot of Pittsburgh in the fall. The air is heavy with autumn. Last night after arriving at Vienna I fumbled around a bit and bought a ticket for the s-bahn, connecting to the subway at Wien Mitte. The train from the airport to the city reminded me a lot of the one in Paris: oddly shaped, orange on the inside, an odd seat layout; a slow amble from through the suburbs. Vienna feels a lot safer than Paris though. Train cars are not connected, people can’t migrate from car to car panhandling. Almost everyone I’ve seen so far seems to be affluent and relaxed. A lot of faces remind me of people I know back home: blindingly blond hair bobbed short, fair bone structure, and smooth, white skin.
The hostel I’m staying in is fabulous. There’s a bar, plasma TV with CNN, bathroom per 6-bunks, and a locker in my room. Very upscale and clean. I think I’m paying about twenty euros a night.
Last night it was so quiet I could hear the blood in my veins; very, very unnerving for someone who’s been living in noisy cities for so long. It reminded me a little of my grandmother’s in that way: the pitch black darkness, the silence, the dry air. Riding on the flight from Moscow, and the train to Vienna, I felt more exhausted than I can ever remember, like ready to throw-up exhausted. Still, I had a hard time sleeping, and my body tried to get me up at five. I forced myself to stay in bed a good seven and half hours, now it’s nine. I have to get moving, I only have forty-eight hours in Vienna.
