For our last day in Vienna we first started with the typical coffee (topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings) and a tasty cookie. Then we went across town to Julia's friends place and ate a hodge-podge breakfast including hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes with mozzarella, guacamole and a very strong garlic spread. I tried a little bit of it all and it was all very good, even better as a combination. Our mission for the day was to see Beethoven's grave which was in the middle of this very cold, very damp and misty graveyard holding more than 3 million former Viennese residents. He was surrounded by the graves of Brahms, Schubert and Mozart (even though the body isn't actually there). Since I had matches from the wine house we went to the night before, we lit one of the candles that was there... then I moved it far away from the others just in case it burnt all the way down and the pine cone/needle stand burst into flame. I didn't want to be responsible for burning down one of the most amazing composer's gravestones.

We did walk further into the graveyard towards the end that had been damaged by World War II bombing but it was just too cold out to have any interest. We ran for our tram and decided to call it a day. We had been so lucky with gorgeous sunny weather up until then and we'd just rather remember Vienna that way instead of freezing inside some monument or another. Dinner was a casual affair and packing went smoothly so before we knew it, it was 7:15 and Julia was leading us out of the apartment and to the correct train station. It was sad to leave Julia, but having her visit in Scotland and visiting her in Austria has made it quite obvious how small the world really is. I'm confident I'll be back in Vienna again soon and this time I'll know to get off at Friedensbrucke on the green line and take the 33 or 5 for two stops. Learning cities--and having friends to visit in them--is so lovely!

The thrill of being on our own in a foreign country returned once we lost sight of Julia, but of course she had gone over which stop we were to get out at and then described how to get to the Westbahnhof train station already. We had been following two guys with large backpacks similar to ours until they turned around and asked us, in very American voices, if we knew where the train station was. How disappointing, but we pointed them in the right direction and got there fine on our own. The train compartments were just like in Harry Potter! Of course this was a night train though, so the seats also converted into beds, and we were going to Venice not Hogwarts... but the excited was there nonetheless! Christi and I had the place to ourselves for around four hours in which we watched movies for awhile then turned on music and started dancing for the amusement of anyone that might be watching from the blur of the outside scenery. After awhile we switched to calmer music and caught up on anything and everything going on in our lives which is when another woman joined our compartment. At that point we decided to call it a night and crawled into the top bunks. I didn't sleep so well because I was the lightest sleeper in the compartment and so kept getting woken up by the conductor knocking on our door for various reasons--mostly to do with the woman who joined us since she was getting off at an earlier station. I think I'll be better at sleeping on my next night train since I know what to expect now, but despite the lack of sleep I still had a great time. Breakfast was a couple of rolls and a not-so-good cup of coffee, far outstripped by the beautiful sunrise we watched whilst munching.

Venice montage; click to enlarge

The first view of Venice from the train was amazing. It felt and looked like we were just floating over the ocean, passing boats and little greenery-filled islands. As we exited the station we were greeted with such a typical Venetian scene, canal and all. Walking through the streets on our way to the hostel was a treat as we were rewarded with cute little bridges, statues and picturesque crumbling buildings around every corner. I couldn't help taking pictures of most everything. Making it to the hostel was lovely though because the down jacket I was wearing--necessary in Vienna-- combined with lots of walking and Venice temperatures was causing me to overheat. Our hostel is beautiful and seems to have once been a museum of some kind. It has high ceilings with very lovely sculpture on the walls and a wall of windows overlooking a side canal, complete with balcony. We were cooked a breakfast (our second one!) and ate with the rest of the hostel occupants then set out to explore.

Following graffiti signs always leads to an adventure

With a goal of getting the very easy and obvious Venetian activities out of the way first, we set off towards San Marcus Square. There are so many neat shops in Venice and with all those distractions we were already hungry again by the time we got there so we darted down a side street and found a pizza place. The food there was delicious, but they had this one song on repeat the whole time we were there and I thought I was going to go crazy. The waiter was also tall and intimidating and to top it off, he started humming and singing to the annoying song that was playing.

Just a guy helping his friend put stockings on a mannequin, nothing to see here

Stuffed again and happily fighting off a food coma, we walked 'round with all the other tourists in the bright sun. The Bridge of Sighs had been completely covered in some weird blue scaffolding/advertisement and the Basilica was big, gold and quiet... but of course the Square did not disappoint. We ended up getting gelato in cones which soon attracted the attention of many pigeons. Soon they were flapping around us which was fun... until one of them landed right on my gelato!!! I waved my arms around but he left two little pigeon toe-prints in my Tiramisu gelato and of course I wasn't going to brave the germs of foreign birds (no bird flu!) so I allowed the other pigeons to decimate the rest of the cone. One of them wrestled most of it away from me and I dropped the last bit on the ground and once the swarm subsided there was nothing left except a little smear of melted gelato. It was quite hilarious though and I'm glad I had a good San Marcus pigeon experience.

I'm in the hostel now on a big comfy orange couch and wondering how it is possible that I only arrived in Venice this morning. I'm off to take a nap now since Christi and I are going to go out later.