wien

just arrived back from vienna midnight last night. the trip was great. it was insane there -- all football, all fans, all crazy. i had never been before so it was quite nice. i got a bit lost when i arrived, because i had 6 different hostels and addresses written down, and i couldn't remember which was the one. i stumbled along a nice, drunk austrian guy, who, while trying to help me, tore my map in 3 pieces... but he did find my way, so for that i was grateful, despite the map.

i finally found the hostel ruthensteiner, checked in, and was on the hunt for somewhere to watch the spain vs russia match. i met these spanish guys from the hostel, they were sitting in a corner of the hostel talking crap about people, and i went to say something to them in spanish, which shocked them a bit... so then they invited me to stay & hang out with them... i went with them to watch the match at some bar. it was pouring rain in buckets, so everyone was soaked... of course spain won, so the streets were filled with spanish fans, flags, and chaos -- despite the rain. i was lectured all night for my support of italy, and was told it was a sin against my mother that i didn't support spain from the start.



friday morning i awoke at 7am and headed to the czech embassy.. groggy eyed, i waited for the gates to open with several others. finally the opened at 9, and i was second in line.. no sooner was i called, then the lady helping me retorted for me to leave. i looked at her dumbfounded, and explained the situation, slowly and clearly. there was a fight, and she basically put me in time out. i was asked to sit on the side, and she disappeared... for over an hour. meanwhile, there was only one other line open -- to apply for visas, so i receieved many a harsh stare, gaze, whatever you wish to call it, from the people that had followed behind me in the line. finally the visa application lady realized everybody just wanted to pick up their visas, so she started to help them. i was soon after called up, but by a different lady than before. she explained the situation to me, handed me 2 passports with visas, and told me i should be happy i got them, as it was an illegal stunt i pulled, and the other visa would have to be redone, something about one day insurance coverage. i tried to hassle her enough where she might have given it to me, but it ended up she shooed me away. i think that will be my first and last czech embassy experience.



i tried to save the rest of the day, as it was still early.. walked around the city, scouring for architectural gems... in the end i was lead on too many false paths, though i did see quite a bit. again i met with the guys friday night and they presented me with a spanish jersey, no.9 - fernando torres.. they said that would start my support for the spanish team. and it was one of the guy's birthday at midnight, so we all went out to celebrate. we had a nice salutary shot at the bar of the hostel, then headed to the wombat hostel's bar for the rest of the night. these guys cracked me up, the whole night 2 of them were hitting on girls left & right, but saying all these things to them that weren't so nice or just making stuff up in spanish -- of course none of the girls spoke or understood spanish so they thought they were saying all these romantic things, so it was pretty funny to watch for a while... and i realized i was exhuasted from the night before, that morning, and i would have to again wake up early saturday to check out.



saturday i woke up early to check out, then just roamed the city for the whole morning, then headed to the stadtpark for the afternoon -- where i feel asleep for an hour or so... i didn't realize i got a lot of sun till after i arrived in prague. red red red! i made friends fast with 2 czech guys as we were waiting for the bus, talked about football and the czech republic.. and i ended up sitting next to this girl from new york on holiday and had a nice chat about life, travel and all that jazz. it was already pretty late when i got back, but we headed to see a friend play some music, though i think it was soo late by then he had already finished. regardless, we had drinks, caught up, and had a great time.