Freakishly Happy

Are we artistic geniuses? Are we mad? There's a very fine line between the two...

Please add interpretations below.

Ranting:
There is no toilet paper ANYWHERE in eastern Europe, at least that I've found. Wait, wait.. I paid 20 cents for 4 1-ply sheets that were not even absorbant at a convention center for home products in Bulgaria. Quite disappointing. You'd think that on the train they'd at least have something, but no. I mean c'mon. You are already situated precariously over this gaping hole, usually with no seat (not that you'd sit on it anyway *shudder*), squatting while balancing yourself while holding a support bar, you behind sort of swinging with the rhythm of the train, which is rather distracting while you are trying to tinkle. And then to top it off, there is NEVER toilet paper You'd think that after what an ordeal it is, the'd throw you a bone. But no. It must be a system run by men. This is the best I can figure.

We took a night train from Venice to Vienna.  It was  a really great night train, and we had a car all to ourselves.  The next morning they served us breakfast and we woke up in Vienna.  Being in Vienna was great. We could understand the language again!

We had made reservations the day before at the Wombat hostel.  We arrived too early, and they hadn't gotten our reservations and wouldn't let us shower.  So we dropped off our packs and headed out to see the city.  We went to two museums and saw a lot of really beautiful paintings, especially ones by Gustav Klimt. 

We sat in the second museum, the Museum of the Session for a long time.  The museum is really low key, and seems pretty informal.  The Klimt paintings come from a concert of Bethoven's 6th Symphony, as interpreted by a conductor I can't remember.  The paintings symbolize Humanity's struggle for Happiness, and the barries that we face in the form of outside evil and in human weakness.

As we were there at least 3 different school groups came in as well. There was a man on duty whose sole job was to insure that no one took photographs.  This was nearly an impossible task, as he'd tell one person, as another across the room got out their camera. Finally after telling 6 or 7 people, he made an announcement that no photos were to be taken.  This still did not deterr the people, including the professor of the school group.  The man was quite amazing as he told every person with a smile that they were not to take photos, and he didn't seem annoyed in the least. We told him that he must be a saint, and he said that with his job he has to be, or he'd go insane. 

We played in the interactive museum for a while, before heading out again.  We found an internet cafe, and chilled out for a while.  (the last time we posted anything).  Then we scouted out an Irish pub. For some reason we had both been having hard core cravings for baked beans and fish and chips.  This craving satisfied we went back to the hostel.

We got back to the hostel and went to our room, but for some reason it had not been cleaned from the previous occupants.  It was pretty icky, and smelled bad and the sheets weren't cleaned, so after a little complaining we were able to get a four bedroom room, and get back 10 Euros, and two free breakfasts. Not too shabby. The only problem was that the beds were bunk beds.  So we pulled all four mattresses off and slept on the floor.

Destroying hotel rooms is fun!

We also did laundry for the first time in 2 weeks. Man oh man!  Clean laundry is fabulous! We'd been wearing the same jeans since we started, and they were getting a little... stiff. While waiting for us stuff to dry we met a chap from Australia, who'd been traveling with some friends for 7 weeks. We talked for several hours. He was a right nice guy, as he was even doing his traveling companion's laundry.  He also gave me a lot of tips on how to get rid of excezma, something he also suffers from. 

We feel into bed exhausted and the next morning set off to a museum we'd missed.  The exhibits were all closed off for a convention, so we had to make other plans. We went and sat at the cafe and worked online for a bit before another craving hit.  We went back to a japanese restaurant that we'd seen the night before for Udon noodles, something that I'd been craving since I'd been sick in Venice.  Man was it great. 

After lunch we hustled back to the train station to grab our bags and head out on the next train to Budapest.