Beer in Austria

Murauer Marzen, Austria

Eurail Pass

We are scheduled to take a high-speed train on 8:30 at Westbahnhoff station in Vienna. With one transfer at Frankfurt, our entire ride is exactly 12 hours to reach our meeting point, Amsterdam. With such a long travel, we will use Eurail pass, a train pass for non-European resident. You can set up the detail according to your itinerary, such as number of country to visit, duration, and number of days, and travel across 22 registered European countries at a reasonable cost. Some rides such as sleeper cars will have additional fee, but it is most efficient to use when traveling on a high-speed rail for an entire day. We ordered a Global, Flexi, pair pass, which allows us to travel around all registered countries, on any ten days we choose within two months, but travelers must be together when using it. This also gives ticket holders seats on class 1 automatically if you are over 25.

Two days in prior to our departure, we went to the counter to make a reservation for our seats, but were told that it is not necessary. This never is reassuring, so my mind kept going back ad forth in between the excitement of riding the Class 1 and a worry about whether the ticket really is valid. When we found our train, we just hopped on and took the first seats available that appeared non-reserved, but with our shoes still on in case we are asked to remove ourselves. The train leaves the station, and the conductor came around to check the tickets. With a confirmation, I felt relaxed enough to finally look around and enjoy the comfort. A wooden table, output for electricity, and reclining seats. Attendants bring meals and tea from the dining car if needed, and everything is fully served to our likings. Seven hours on this ride seemed easy, and it was.

 

We arrived Frankfurt, and the transfer was just as easy as hopping off the first train. Unfortunately all seats were reserved on the Class 1 cars, but we gladly took seats on Class 2, and was nearly as comfortable. We arrived Amsterdam Centraal station at 20:30, and were able to meet my friend by 23:00. We barely did but kept our schedule within  the limit. Well done, team!!

The hills are alive but not in the city...

Only three hours on a high-speed rail to Vienna from Budapest; this maybe the shortest transportation time through our journey. We stuffed our backpacks into over-sized locker at Wien Westbahn station, and took the metro to the center of the city. It started to rain as we stepped out onto the street, with our rain gear deeply buries in our backpacks not present. Although we have enjoyed the little rain we have had during our travel, we can certainly enjoy a museum day like this.

In Vienna, we were fortunate to be accepted by two Couchsurfing hosts for both nights we planned on staying. We went out with the first host at night for meatballs, and asked about places to see in his homeground. There seem to be more places to visit than our time allows, such as fine arts, music, and architecture.

 

 

 

 

 

The second day turned out to be a fine weather, and so we went out for an eight-hour walk. In the evening we went over to the second host's apartment. The couple our age also invited their friends, and our endless conversation about everything took place over pumpkin soup and kaiser schumaan, a pancake-like sweets.