Vienna (Day 1)

I woke up late, around 10 and we decided it was time for breakfast. We had missed the boat on the hostel breakfast (4 Euro) and decided we could get something better at a bakery and probably for less. So we headed out down the street and sure enough, about 40m down from our hostel, there was a cute little bakery. The decor was very Browns upper class bakery! We settled in for some indulgence. I had a chocolate croissant, a cheese and bacon twist (take that Bakers Delight) and a plain roll to finish. Mary and I ordered a Mocha, which turned out to consist of an Espresso shot and a glass of water… Not what we had in mind, but after a bit of a giggle, we added a great deal of Sugar and it was bearable.

After breakfast we came up with the idea that a cooked meal for dinner would be nice, and cheap, which the girls needed, so we set our in search of a supermarket. We found an Aldi, about 500m down the road and brought a whole heap of goodies, including Yogurt (Drool!) We may or may not have got a bit carried away. We were served by the worlds fastest barcode scanner, she got all our items scanned (about 20) in under 15 seconds! It was amazing. She was the only register open too, and there wasn’t a backlog… Take that Safeway Moonee Ponds!!! We brought two paper bags to fit everything in, they cost us 27 euro cents, because here they don’t supply plastic bags. As we walked out the front doors, we realized our mistake! It was raining. None of this Melbourne drizzle, nope it was big droplets and looked like it wasn’t easing up for a good few hours. We took one look at the rain, and one look at our paper bags and crossed our fingers for the best. Now in Melbourne, you could get a three or four blocks with complete cover, excluding maybe crossing a road. In Vienna, there is no cover. Shops do not have verandas! We ran, hugging the bags all the way back to the Hostel. We got into the guest kitchen just as the holes in the bags started exposing our goods. We made it just in time.

We unloaded our treasures and used the bags as signs on our food to label our name and date. The kitchen had a reputation for being a free for all, for freeloading backpackers. No name, fair game! We struggled for room in the fridge, but eventually, everything was where it should be. We headed upstairs and read and napped for about an hour. We had discussed all afternoon how cool the hostel was, and how we wished there were places like this in Melbourne. Then an idea hit us.

We decided that we wanted to open a hostel in Melbourne. We spent the whole afternoon brainstorming our ideas to have a bar, a function space (for external hire), a boutique office complex (for business diversity) and a really cool bar for the backpackers. We figured out and idea number of beds and rooms and the minimum running costs. We figured out average prices, the details of the room, the linen policy, and how many years it would take to pay it off at a very estimated set up cost. After about 2 hours, we were exhausted and decided it was time for a nap/beer… Nice correlation huh? So we started with a few beer during happy hour… 1 Euro!!! And cooked dinner of shell pasta and meat/tomato sauce with Parmesan cheese! It was the best meal i have eaten in weeks! Home cooked are the best. Inger and Mary and I sat there for about half an hour after the meal feeling quite full, and unable to move! We cleaned up after much procrastination, and headed downstairs to the bar for another beer. Mary retired to bed, and Inger and I played a few games of pool, before she too decided it was bed time.

I was hanging with a whole lot of people off the bus, including Erin from Berwick, so I decided to stay a little longer. I had a two or three black russians which i had to explain how to make them to the bar tender. He ended up having one too and loved it. It got to 2am and we decided it was Kebab time. So we wondered down to the 5-6 stores and grabbed one. It was really good, although not quite as good as Mr Funny Kebabs on Flemington road on a Saturday night, but almost. It was then time for bed.

Tomorrow i will see the sights, i promise!