DAY 43 – VIENNA 30/01/2009
Our last day in Vienna was still quite relaxed, as we only really wanted to see a few things before we left. We attempted to search for an 'amazing' Holocaust museum, only to discover it was a rather underwhelming concrete block monument, at which point Keeley remembered the museum was in Berlin, not Vienna. Undeterred, we got on a city circle tram, which was in fact not the city circle tram. We realised this and got off before we got too far from the city centre. We were actually pretty close to the Praterpark so we had a look at that, but it was all shut down for the winter. Apparently rollercoasters and wet/icy tracks don't mix. We paid a quick visit to the Stadtpark in the hope of seeing some ice-skating that had been mentioned in the hostel, but alas, nothing. From there we went to the Haus der Musik, by far the best thing in Vienna. For 8.50 € we experienced five floors of interactive exhibits, including learning about how our bodies process sound, tested our hearing threshold (mine was just shy of 17kHz), made some 'synthetic' notes, saw a couple of cool animated symphonies, warped our voices (and other sounds) and saw some very detailed exhibits on Mozart and other famous (and forgettable) Austrian composers. It was really good.
From there we saw the impressive Hofburg palace (?), although we're not really sure what it is, printed some postcards and sat in a brilliant pub/brewery called 1516 (the year it was founded) and tasted excellent beer and wrote postcards. A rather satisfying end to the day was the HUGE platter of Turkish food we had for dinner, which sated us before our 15-hour bus ride to Rome.
DAY 44 – ROME 31/01/2009
The bus ride to Rome was surprisingly entertaining, mainly because the bus driver got lost three times in the Austrian town of Graz and we did "three point" turns that a bus was never designed to do. Nonetheless, we did make it alive and even managed to sleep quite well despite the lady in front of me reclining her seat the whole way back yet not actually sitting in it for most of the trip. The countryside in Italy is much prettier than the views of Eastern Europe we have become accustomed to, with forested mountains and lots of small villas and townships nestled amongst it. I also saw a couple of ruins, but I have no idea how old they were. By virtue of our excellent organisation, finding the hostel from the train station where we were dropped off was a breeze. It's in an inner-suburban area, with pretty good access to trains and a couple of supermarkets. It has everything we need, really, a bed, a bathroom, a kitchen and free brekky in the morning. It's nothing stunning, but the staff seem friendly enough.
The rest of the day was slower than I would have liked, so I did some planning while Keeley watched a movie. Rome is packed full of ancient and Renaissance buildings, so there's plenty to see, but we're really only interested in the main sights – the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Roman Forum, etc. We did try to see the Pantheon, but it turned out it was closed for mass. This is disappointing, but at least we saw some of the city. Most of the buildings are pretty run down, and the sandy coloured paint doesn't help. The attractions themselves are in pretty good condition for their age though. It does feel like there's so much happening here that nobody can really be bothered with the upkeep of the buildings, which makes it feel tired. The weather is the exact opposite – practically balmy compared to the cold of Austria. Today I only had to wear a t-shirt and jumper and was very comfortable. It's nice to see proper sunshine again too.
One other thing caught our attention – they really do ride Vespas in Rome. Lots of them. And we've never seen so many Smart cars. It must be because they're easier to park, because Romans just park wherever it suits them – on footpaths, across pedestrian crossings, on funny angles. It's a free for all.
Big day of sightseeing tomorrow, so I should get some sleep.
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