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a BAHN-ding experience

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The city of Vienna has a fabulous public transportation system. In order to get around, one can take the bus, Strassenbahn (street car), U-bahn (subway), the CAT (City Airport Train), or the Schnellbahn (Schnell means fast). 

To get to the Stake Center where we have voice lessons, for example, I take the U1 (red line) to Schwedenplatz from Karlsplatz, then I take the Strassenbahn 1 to Wittelsbachstrasse.

Last night after eating another excellent dinner at the Schottenring cafe of chicken, vegetables, potatoes and (as always) Litungswasser (tap water... unless you ask for this type of water specifically, they will give it to you in a bottle and also charge you- and Vienna has GREAT tap water, so its not really a problem), Rebekah, Britain, Carli and I headed for Rebekah's house to relax and watch a movie (since we don't have class on Friday). [this was around 7 pm]

We got on Strassenbahn 1 to Schottenring U-bahn station, transferred to U-4 (the green line) and headed to Ober St. Weit (which usually takes about 25 minutes). However, when we got to Landstrasse stop (where I usually transfer to U-3 [the orange line]), the driver informed all the occupants of the vehicle that they needed to get off of the U-bahn because it was going to turn around and head toward Heiligenstadt. (mind you, this is ALL in German)

We think there may have been some accident that prevented him from driving past Landstrasse. We still have no clue what exactly happened.

So we get off, very confused, and try to wait for another U-bahn to head in our direction. Yet again, we see another U-bahn train pulling into the wrong side of the platform and heading off toward Heiligenstadt. So we decided to look for alternate modes of transportation. 

Luckily, at Landstrasse there is a Schnellbahn. None of us had taken the Schnellbahn before, but it seemed like the best option. We went to the Schnellbahn platform and looked all over the maps for ways to head toward Huttledorf, close to where Rebekah lives. First we got on the S-bahn 2 headed to Handelskai, where we would connect to another Schnellbahn going to Huttledorf. 

We barely missed the S-bahn leaving the platform for Huttledorf and had to wait another 15 minutes in the freezing cold air for our next one to come! In this meantime we told each other strange things about ourselves, like about how Carli has co-authored a book and its on Amazon, and how my mom has given Justin Timberlake a shot in the butt, and how Rebekah ALMOST got kissed by a crazy German stalker when she was 18, and how Michael McLean has slept in Britain's bed. 

Finally the Schnellbahn to Huttledorf arrives and we climb in. This was a very smooth ride. We like the feel of the Schnellbahn, but we decided that the Shnellbahn isn't exactly so "Schnell". It took us another 1/2 hour to get from Handelskai to Huttledorf, then we had to transfer again to the U-4 to go back to Ober St. Weit. We just barely missed the U-bahn leaving for Ober St. Weit and had to catch the next one. 

So around 9 pm we finally got to Rebekah's house. This journey took 2 hours when it was only supposed to be 25 minutes. 

Oh- and did I mention that this WHOLE time I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad? We left the cafe, and I thought- oh, we'll just go to their house in a half hour and I'll be great. BUT NOOO. And public restrooms here you have to pay for! I don't want to pay to pee. So basically by the end I was doing a little dance everywhere I went (due partially to this, and partially  to the fact that I was freezing cold). 

Once we got to her apartment we watched Spiderman 3. It was interesting- it has those really good one liners about being a good person and making good choices and taking responsibility for your actions... but I was extremely tired. 

So at 11:30, we head home. I was afraid the U-4 was going to be down again, but luckily it wasn't! I rode all the way back to Landstrasse in a matter of 20 minutes, rode the U-3 to Rochusgasse, the next stop, and then sat and waited for the bus to come pick me up at 12:09.

The end. Oh my life is so dramatic. 
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Comments

Sean and Bethany said…
haha that sounds so crazy, but fun! :) tonight i'm going ice skating with the nursing/accountant joint major party...where they promote hooking up between all the academically motivated girl nurses and boy accountants. ;) wish me luck!
oh, did you know our family has a DOG! hannah is going to be such a sweet mother for it.
Friday, February 20, 2009
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