To Vienna!

I found this website called Ride4cents. It’s a rideshare thing where you find a carpool on long drives. So I was hanging out in Krakow for a while with no particular place to go and I saw a ride to Vienna for 15 euros! I’m there! I signed up and sent the email and in 2 days I was waiting for Maciek by some bus stop on a cold morning. Obviously I didn’t know what to expect and was a little...well I was doubting the sanity of my judgment. Maciek was a really cool guy. He had finished school recently and was going to Vienna for a 3rd round job interview with an engineering firm. I had a super cheap and comfortable ride with an English speaking guide and chauffeur. I really like this digital hitchhiking thing. So after about 5 or 6 hours of pleasant conversation he tells me that maybe this would be the best place for me to get out. He said the city center was that way, and pointed to his left. I set out on a walk. Then I thought, “oh shit. I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing here.” Some of you who know me well enough already know that I am usually in this sort of situation where I am clueless, but this time I was worried that it was too much. I was really cursing myself pretty harshly with that voice in my head that’s always running. I found a bus stop and was looking for that location on my map. But, as I found out a couple days later, I was looking on my map for the word “bus stop” instead of the name of the actual stop. In addition, I was not even close enough to the city center to be on the map of Vienna that I had in my guidebook. To be completely honest and to further embarrass myself, I didn’t even know what language they spoke in Vienna. Yeah, I’m the stupid American.

I walked for ages, and the city just kept getting more beautiful. I went the direction that had the most people and eventually, I knew I had hit pay dirt when I could turn a circle in one place and see three McDonalds restaurants. I was certain I had triangulated the exact center of the city, and quite possibly the center of Europe. God bless American cultural imperialism. Now I could find myself on my useless little map and walk for a few more miles to a hostel that sounded good as described in my guidebook. Once I had the burden off my shoulders of not being totally lost I strolled along down a pedestrian shopping street. I was sure that this must be the most beautiful city with the most beautiful people in the world. I felt unfit to walk this cobbled street. Even the few beggars there were wearing nicer clothes than my slacks and sweater!