Vienna ... yawn

We took our time departing Innsbruck for Vienna. The train didn't leave until 11 and we already had our tickets. The train station was just downstairs, literally under the hotel. We took our time at breakfast, checked out and found our platform.
The train ride to Vienna was not nearly as picturesque as the one coming into Innsbruck. Within about 10 minutes of our journey, the alps were behind us and rolling hills the only thing of any interest to break up the scenery.
It was a loooong trip, about five hours and there was no breaks in between. It was a direct ride and by the time we rolled on into Vienna, we were both starving.
Off the train and we were left to tackle the simple matter of finding our hostel.
Sam was the expert on this one and we followed his map to our digs, maybe 800m up the road.
It was said to be the oldest hostel in Austria, if not Eastern Europe. It was owned and run by a couple in their 70s who had both travelled extensively when they were younger. They set up the hostel about 35 years ago and it must have a capacity for a least 100 guests.
Checking in, we had a private double room with ensuite which was not actually in the main hostel building, but another across the street, The Yellow House. We had access to all the facilities of the main building which included to our delight a laundry (amazing what excites you after months of living out of a suitcase), an immaculate kitchen, a huge common area and dining room plus a bar.
It also had a selection of guitars and a piano for any musos keens for an impromptu jam session.
The staff were helpful and there were a stack of people staying there.
We were excited to be staying in such a cool place and were looking forward to exploring Vienna the next day.
Meanwhile, we had discovered about 8pm that the Ibis in Innsbruck had overcharged us. We had booked on Wotif and had been charged for our first night on Sam's credit card and then charged again for our full stay on arrival, for two nights. Like I said we had questioned it at the time but seemed satisfied with the reception chick's answer.
But now here it was, in black and white on Sam's bank statement and we knew they had stuffed up.
We got on Skype and called the hotel to complain but only got some guy who said he could't help us and to call back in the morning.
I might also mention here that while we had intended to go to Salzburg between Innsbruck and Vienna, to do the Sound of Music tour, I had taken one for the team and told Sam it was OK to skip it.
I wish I had't.
The next day, we had intended to leave the hostel bright and early but it was closer to noon by the time we sorted out our call to the Ibis.
This time we got the manager who had already been informed of the situation it seemed. She was very apologetic and said the mistake had already been rectified and our credit card refunded.
Sorted. We headed up to the train station to buy our ticket for the next stage of our journey to Zagreb.
The plan now was to train it to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, spend two nights there, visit the Plitvice Lakes and then head down to Split to start our eight days sailing tour.
Buying our tickets was much easier than expected if not pricey. But the ticket lady was helpful and nice and that always goes a long way with us.
We hopped on the underground to head into the city, about which we didn't know much.
This was probably our second mistake.
Vienna is boring.
We had expected opera and classical music stuff and some sort of horses that prance and stuff but the whole city was sterile, dull. It had no vibe, no atmosphere, no nothing.
We wandered around the main square of the old town and found the museum quarter, which as the name suggests is full of museums.
We even found the plague monument mentioned in Lonely Planet and still we were disppointed.
The place simply had nothing that interested us. Even the food we had already sampled during our time in Innsbruck and we ended up having McDonald's for lunch.
By 4pm, we were back at the hostel, blogging, waiting for happy hour to start and pretty much biding our time until we could leave.
Our train tickets to Zagreb were not good until the day after tommorow so we were stuck in Vienna for at least another full day.
Despairing of what we were going to do, we consulted the Lonely Planet for suggestions, thinking maybe there was a possible day trip out of the city to some amazing place with a castle and a moat or something.
It was called Slovakia, and yes, it was a whole other country. Vienna is so boring it doesn't even have any cool day trips, you have to leave Austria to do something good.
Slovakia's Bratislava sounded like it fit the bill - a beautiful old town with a castle and a moat (Sam has a thing for moats) and it was only an hour's train ride from Vienna.
Happy that we could escape the city and clock up another country to our tally, we had the plan sorted.
After more cheap beers at the hostel bar, we went to a local pub just metres up the road recommended to us by the hostel where we could get schnitzel and chips for six euro.
The schnitzel was good but I didn't like the beer there and we headed back to our room after dinner.
But then the next day, disaster struck.
We were getting ready to go out, moats and castles waiting, when I found a grey hair.
Actually several.
I am 26 and I found grey hairs - in my head if there was need to clarify.
It was a devestating moment. At first Sam tried to pretend they were not really there and then conceded that maybe it was caused by me going back to brunette (?).
Boys simply don't understand. Already most people we have met on the trip are younger than us by several years, having seen more of the world than we have at this point and now I'm going prematurely grey.
I was about due for a minor stress meltdown.
Consequently, by the time Sam coaxed me out of it, it was after midday.
We decided to go to the train station anyway to see when the train to Slovakia was leaving and how much the tickets were.
But it turns out they didn't leave from that station and it would be a pain in the arse to get there.
So back around we turned to look for lunch.
For several weeks now we have been craving something that isn't pizza or pasta. Thai or Chinese seemed like the perfect alternative to Italian/European food.
There was a Chinese restauarant across the road from the train station we had seen the day before and we headed to it, unbothered by how much it would probably cost us.
We ordered what seemed like a banquet for two, there was so much food and we took our time eating it.
Sam ate and ate and ate til he was fit to bursting and then, still wanted coffee.
Turns out a mocca in Austrian is an expresso and not a mocha, chocolate and coffee, so Sam had to drink mine as well.
He was a very full boy by the time we got back to the hostel.
With more washing to be done, not knowing when we would have a chance during the next few weeks, Sam hit the laundry again while I caught up on the blog.
We gave happy hour a miss tonight though, as tempting as the beers were at two euro a pop for half a litre.
We had to get up super early the next day to go to Zagreb. The train left at 7.03am but not from the station nearest to us. We would have to catch the underground a few stops along to our station to get our direct train to Zagreb.
We also had to pack, something that should have been made easier by the fact that this afternoon we posted the beer steins and Killepitsch back to Australia. Turns out there was two kilos of weight in that alone I had been lugging around. Still my bag seemed no lighter without it.
Hopefully Zagreb would have more to offer than Vienna had, a city of disappointment.
Alysia (September 5,6,7)