Day 13

After having cranberry juice with breakfast on this morning we all packed up and headed to Vienna, Austria. Again it was a full days travel but it didn’t seem to last as long as others as we played a fair amount of Presidents and Arseholes – the only card game that anyone played on the trip. In Vienna we set up our tents and what not and then a group of about twelve of us went to the beach volleyball court that was there and surprisingly had a really good competitive game (I think I would like to have that as my sport this semester – at the moment it is grabbing me even more than netball!). After a quick shower – the one that I was in only had cool water and you had to hold your hand on the ‘go’ button to get any water – we were off to the theme park, and to race Patrick the French bus driver at the go carts as he had been talking up his skills all day, saying that he would beat us all even if he started at the back of the field. As it was, he did. It cost 10 Euros for ten minutes, but the track was of a decent size and they were proper carts. I started in about fourth position and used the first lap just to get a handle of the cart and to know the track – this is when Patrick over took me and everyone else. After a while I had sussed out most of the corners and was flying along, overtaking two other carts and despite sliding out a little wide on two of the hairpins and I was catching up to Patrick who maintained that he was slowing down to make things more fun. Anyway, I finally got close enough for a heated battle when I prematurely made a passing move on him on one of the hairpins, spinning his car around and stalling mine. The operator came over to start us back up again and although I don’t speak French, I’m pretty sure he was saying to me ‘That was silly, and if you do that again just one more time, your out’. We continued the race and there were not anymore incidents like it.
After this I went on a giant spinning ride where you got a great view of Vienna, but also a crazy contorted view of the theme park rapidly spinning by and the clouds and sky whipping past you upside down. I then walked around with a largish group of people until we decided to have tea, and most of the people went to a pretty expensive restaurant but Caitlin, Jaya and myself just got some cheap Carni food. It was here that I saw a group of people with an Iraqi flag dancing and singing and chanting and they ran past us and it tweaked that they may have won the Asian Cup – good on them. So for the rest of the evening I walked around with Caitlan and Jaya and had an enjoyable enough time looking at the rides and games. It wasn’t until we only had about 25 minutes to go that I really wanted to go on another ride, this time a dancing fun house walking one. I knew that neither of the girls would be up for it so I shouted them tickets and they couldn’t refuse. I’m glad I did though, it was awesome, sliding floors, crazy lasers, and rooms that turn the whites of your eyes and teath a neon yellow (perfect conditions for doing the thriller dance), all finished up with a long slide and a walk through a spinning barrel which I managed to do the Catherine wheel in for the first time. By the time we finished it was 9:25 and we needed to be at the bus at 9:30, which was five minutes walk away – perfect timing. Apparently not according to Jaya and Caitlin who were a little edgy – and I suppose with good right, when we got to the bus everyone was already inside sitting down and we headed off straight away.
That night it rained, and I went to bed early listening to it – and woke up that morning still listening to it. The inside of the tent was a little damp in places where the fly had touched it but nothing serious – certainly not as bad as the boys who somehow had their tent flooded. Within 10 minutes of being up the rain subsided and after a banging breakfast of cereal, sausages and baked beans we headed into Vienna. Christina gave us a quick guided tour past the new royal palace, Spanish Horses stables, Jewish monuments and then we got free time. I spent it with a small group going to a Hotel where a famous Chocolate cake originated. Apparently back in the day the King of Austria was having a big do and wanted a nice dessert, but his head cook was away, so the cooks apprentice stepped up and said that he would like to try something new – and he did, and the king loved it. It was a chocolate cake with marmalade inside it. Now there is a chain of hotels carrying the apprentices name and the cake is sent all over the world. This hotel café where we sat was very high brow and we all felt a little out of place with our rain jackets that we still had and our back packs – but it didn’t bother us too much. Incidentally it was here where I first discovered the small hole in the crouch of my jeans. After this we walked up through the main drag of Vienna which was the most like any Australian Streets that I have seen – not outstandingly European, to the place where Ducky (our cook) had recommended that we eat lunch. It served schnitzel larger than the size of the plate that it was served on, and was quite enjoyable – although I could have done with a bit of sauce or gravy.
The next stop was to the other Austrian palace for forty five minutes before going to the schnapps tour. I opted not to go the schnapps tour so got to stay for about two hours, which despite my first thoughts actually turned out to be one of the most enjoyable times on the trip. After everyone apart from me and four Korean girls left I walked through the hedge mazes, played on their musical fountains, and amazing play gym equipment and had a ball banging a tune out on an oversized xylophone type thing to the rapturous applause of a couple about my age who must have been watching me…I was a little embarrassed, so I made a discreet bow and quickly walked off. I then headed up a hill at the back of the gardens where you could oversee the palace and all the intricate flower patterns and fountains in the massive gardens and the rest of Vienna in the background, before ambling down through the thick forest on one side. Here I got close to squirrels and had a lovely stroll under the dense canopy, before walking past a couple of more fountains and then going out the front of the palace to wait for the bus that took us back to the camp site, where we played a little more volleyball and then got ready for our Mozart concert.
Only about a third of the group opted to go to the concert, but those that had, had made an effort to dress up suitably. Despite wearing my collared shirt I felt a bit second rate walking into this massive red carpeted building knowing that I had a substantial hole in my pants. As we waited around for the show to start, another even smaller Contiki group arrived and began taking pictures of themselves. Stags being the gentleman that he was offered to take the shots so that they could all be in it, and then we started to be ushered into the music room. Carl started talking to one of the quite pretty Contiki girls so I put myself into ultimate flirt mode and headed over to have a chat as well – however all of my ‘so where are you from’ ‘how are you liking the trip’ lines did not seem to intrigue this girl in the way that I had anticipated and I could sense that she wasn’t really interested. Before shuffling off I noticed that the design on the red scarf that she wore on her head was treble and base clefs – she probably knew her music then and was a bit to rich for my blood anyway.
The music was entertaining enough although I had expected there to be more than just ten people on stage – I recognised some of the songs and the dancing and singing was certainly entertaining enough. However the highlight of the night was when Slobbs asked which one on stage was Mozart. Slobbs was awesome – one of those people that you just find yourself laughing at regardless of what they do or say. He seemed to be a good honest bloke.