Hello again! Lots more to tell so here is another blog post. Saturday night was Karin and Devid's engagement/stag/hen party. To be honest I was really not looking forward to it but as it was taking place in our flat I had no choice but to go. It turned out to be quite nice actually. Verena came, so it was great to see her. I actually really miss living with her, she is so amazing. I met some other new people who were very friendly but I still felt kind of out of place. Devid cooked some African food which I LOVED. It was so spicy. I was tired and went to bed before everyone had left (but not til 2.30!) and I felt OLLLLLD.
But there was a reason... I had to get up early to go on a day trip on Sunday! Joe, Abby and I met at Franz-Josefs Bahnhof as there is a supermarket there which opens on Sundays. A very strange concept to the Austrians, but it is obviously a very popular idea because the queues are always massive. We got to the train station either 55 minutes early or 5 minutes late, I am undecided which. After a scenic train ride, during which I realised the countryside in this area is incredibly flat, we arrived in Neusiedl am See. First thing we saw as we stepped off the train was this "map"
We should have realised that this was a sign of things to come. The day was an adventure to say the least! Abby had been to the lake during the Summer, so she knew how to get there. Well, this turned out to be a HUGE LIE. We headed off in what felt like the right direction and after about 20 minutes we stopped by a play area to eat our picnic. In the distance we could see something vaguely lake-like. Joe made a joke doubting that we would ever actually get there. At this point we had no idea how close to the truth he was. So, we continued on our merry way. Turns out differences between American and British English are plentiful enough to provide entertainment for many, many hours. We came across a turning which felt like it might lead to the lake. It may well have done, but we came across the following sign:
(No Entry. Warning: Hunting)
Needless to say, we carried on regardless, Joe helpfully shouting "don't shoot us, we're human!". We turned back and then decided to follow the train tracks. After maybe half an hour we came to another train station. and a very long, straight road which we proceeded to walk down. We passed the Beauty Farm (?!) and Age Art (a shop for old people?) and then came to the "Tierpreparaetor". Abby said "Oh! I remember this totem pole (see below), we have to turn off to the right here, we did this before."
Ten minutes later we reached a dead end, at which point Abby realised that this was what happened the time she was there before. So back we went to keep going down the long road. We took the next two turnings, neither of which was right. We got to the end of one and we could see water and boats but sadly they were through a locked gate. We came to this:
and Joe and I thought this might be the Neusiedlersee. But then we saw this:
...and we weren't so sure. When we came to this:
...it all became too much because they all looked lakey but somehow they weren't quite what we were expecting. To cut a long story short, 3 hours after setting off from the train station we arrived at this:
...and we decided this was probably what we'd been searching for. Was it worth the epic journey? No. We sat on a bench for 10 minutes and had a drink (wine) and then went to the cafe. It was pretty bleak. A really fun day though, we laughed so hard, mainly at Abby. Really we would have appreciated some prior warning about her spectacular lack of directional sense but it was hilarious so we can't stay mad at her.
We eventually returned to the city (after making plans to come again in the winter when the lake is frozen because we want to ice skate to Hungary) and went for burgers at an Irish/Australian/English speaking pub which I think is to become a Sunday tradition. I have no complaints about that. This was followed by a drink in the Museums Quartier and a sleepless night because of the government spending cuts meaning that whether I want to or not, spending a second year as an assistant is pretty much out of the question.
Today (Monday, the first real day of my Herbstferien) Abby and I went shopping for Halloween supplies. I am not going to tell you what I am going to be because it is going to be a surprise. We came across an Indian restaurant and decided that we had nothing better to do than go for lunch there. This was a wise choice as it was very good. This evening I intend to watch some films, probably Disney, as it is freezing and I do not feel like going out.
Well, after that post of epic proportions I will bid you all a fond adieu!
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