LAST DAY AND GETTING HOME…
I finished most of my packing Monday night, as I had to be out of my apartment by noon on Tuesday.
After leaving my apartment, I took my big suitcase and my carry-on suitcase down to the restaurant that the landlords own so I could store them for awhile. You see, my flight home was scheduled for Wednesday at 12:15pm from Munich. If you remember from an earlier blog post, I flew using miles this time, and could not get all the way to Vienna just on miles. So I could choose Munich or Frankfurt, and well, Munich is closer to Vienna, so there ya go.
I didn’t want to have to spend any money on a hotel, so I figured I’d get the over night train to Munich, which left just before midnight and would arrive in Munich at 6:15am.
However, this left me with MANY hours to kill in Vienna while I waited to go to the train station. I didn’t want to leave my back pack with my lap top in the restaurant, so I carried it with me. And it was heavy.
Since I was taking an overnight train, I needed to get a seat reservation. There is a train ticketing station in the third district (saving me from making a trip all the way to the Westbahnhof), and that was my first destination.
After getting my seat reservation, I wandered over the to the Stadtpark. The weather was pretty nice out, so I figured I’d sit on a park bench for a while and take in the spring weather. Before leaving my apartment, I had made myself a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (one for lunch and one for dinner), so I ate a sandwich while relaxing in the park. I actually sat there for quite awhile – maybe an hour and a half. I watched the people go by, including a large group of Japanese tourists who all seemed very interested in watching my sandwich-eating in the park. Not sure what that was about. Maybe they thought I was a celebrity – haha!
Next, I walked towards the center of the city (the long way) and headed back up to my neighborhood, to the restaurant under the apartments. My bag was just too heavy for all that walking. (My shoulders are still killing me.) They weren’t busy, so they let me just sit at a table relaxing, while I played around on my computer. I was there for a few hours, then decided to head into the city again. I sat on a bench in Stephansplatz and ate my next PBJ sandwich and an apple that I still had from Sunday from Milos’ ship. Of course, I couldn’t resist doing one more walk up and down the Kärntnerstrasse and the Graben, taking it all in.
Even though I’ve been in Stephansdom several times, I decided to wander in, and I’m SO glad that I did. There was a rehearsal going on for Bach’s St. John’s Passion. Hearing the choir sing in that glorious space was truly other-worldly. What an amazing way to end my last day in Vienna. I stayed for quite awhile listening to the rehearsal. (And wondered if I should work more on learning the solos for the St. John Passion, as this was the second time I was hearing it in three days, in two different countries at that. And it was the same part each time, as I got to hear “Ich folge dir” in both instances. Haven’t done that aria since college…)
Anyway, after a good amount of time went by, I figured it was time to head out and meander back to the restaurant to get ready to pick up my stuff.
When I got there, I needed to sit for a little bit and rest again, so I pulled out my iPhone and hopped on the internet one last time. I was able to have a quick FB chat with Milos, and then I was on my way. Now with ALL my heavy bags. Thank God the UBahn stop is right outside the door! Hallelujah!
My train was leaving from Wien Meidling, which required a few train changes on the UBahn. (Accompanied by awkward luggage handling on my part.)
When I got on my train, I was in a room with two other girls. One of them had a giant suitcase as well, so we helped eachother get them all the way up to the overhead shelves. (This girl is my new friend Sonja! Yay again for new friends!) We had some other people come and go during the trip. (Including an older gentleman who was telling us about his accordion gigs in Salzburg.) But in the end, it just kept coming down to the two of us left in the room. However, Sonja does not speak English, so my brain certainly got a work out on this train ride, as I had to say everything in German. And comprehend everything she was saying as well. Good practice though! After a couple hours of chatting, we decided to try to get some sleep. And after arriving at our destination, we decided we would become Facebook friends.
Again, the Munich train station is no where near the airport. I had put aside JUST enough money to be able to take this bus back to the airport, and after about a half hour drive, we were there.
But I couldn’t check in before the three hour point before my flight, so I’m hanging out in a Starbucks writing up this blog! Haha! It’s 9am, so I have just 15 more minutes to wait before I can check in. I can’t believe it’s time to go home already. I just can’t. Seriously, the time went by SO fast.
I already started typing up my big overview blog which will be the next one I put up here.
Anyway, a good day to you all from Munich! And to my friends back home, I will see you soon!
(And apologies in advance for any typos in this one – I’m working on only one hour of sleep…)
