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Hello everybody!
Here I am in Innsbruck, Austrian Alps, Austria.
Took an early flight on the morning of october 16th from Vienna to Innsbruck. The flight was extremely comfortable, took 1 hour and was even cheaper than the train.
Unfortunately, it took me more than 2 hours to get to Steffi's house from the airport, instead of the normal 25 minutes... Funny thing - Bus drivers in austria don't speak english, at all... :(
I was supposed to take the F bus from the airport to Wohnheim Saggen (last station for that bus). So, like a good tourist I got on the F bus right after landing and told the driver "Wohnheim Saggen?", he replied "Ja, 1.80Euro", so I paid him and sat down.
We reached the last stop, and everybody left the bus including the driver who went outside and started smoking... "Is this Wohnheim Saggen?" I politely asked him, "Nein, Bla Bla Bla" was his response. Well, I imagine he said something more intelligent but since I can't understand german all I heard was "Bla Bla Bla". Then he told me "It's ok, stay on bus".
So I did... as he began driving again i notices we're heading back to the airport.
As soon as we arrived to the airport, the driver asked one of the security personnel to translate him to english for me. He then explained that there are 2 F lines, and that he made a mistake when he told me it's ok.... But now the bus will leave to Wohnheim Saggen in 5 minutes.
So once again, I was on the same bus with the same driver, this time confident that I'm going to the right place. "How many stops?" I asked him, "3-4 more stops" he replied.
12 stops later he told me "This is Wohnheim Saggen",and pointed at the nearby building, so I left the bus. The sign on the station, however stated something entirely different... nonetheless - I sent Steffi an SMS "I'm here".
10 minutes later she arrived and told me that the bus showed up at the station but only the driver left it for a smoke... She asked him if no one else is on the bus and he told her "Oh, the tourist - yes, I told him to get off at the previous station". "Why did you do that?? he was supposed to get off on the last stop!" She said. "Well, I thought he wanted to get to Wohnheim Saggen (a name of a building), not the station itself"...
Oh well, at least I'm here now and all is well. I spend the first day touring the city with Steffi (she bought black shoes). It was cold but the city is beautiful and the mountains (when they are not hidden behind the clouds) are amazing!
At night we went drinking with some friends - It was really nice. This time I had "Zipfer", the local beer.
Today (17.10) is Sunday so Steffi had the day off. Unfortunately the weather was really crappy (you could barely see the mountains surrounding Innsbruck) so we had a quiet day just playing board games and card games with Steffi's friends.
Tomorrow I'm planning on climbing some of the Alps near by. This should be an interesting adventure as I would be doing it all by myself and the weather should be very cold (might be snowing on the mountains as well). Anyway - I do have to test my equipment before the serious hiking I'll be doing in South America, so why not start in a friendly european city with coffee shops in the middle of the mountain trail?
Wish me luck, tomorrow I'll be freezing on my way conquering (just a little of) the Austrian Alps.
If I don't get back in one piece- I love you guys...
Gilad.
P.S.
Mom, dad, I was only kidding - of course I'll get back in one piece, it's no big deal. I think...
- comments
Daniela I know the beer's nice in Austria, but you absolutely have to try the wine once you get to Krems!!! ;)
me again :p and I hope that the train ride to Krems won't be as adventurous as your bus ride... do think they speak English though ;)
giladhiz The wine tasting is up to you :)I'll manage with the train. I think...
Claudio Hi Guilead- Nice hearing from you! Looks like you're having a great time in Innsbruck. If you are still there you may want to try a Trek up in the Hafelekar Mountain. I did that some 25 years ago (My God, is it really that long ago...) and had great fun. Best regards, and I'll keep following your progress there... - Claudio
giladhiz It's great to hear from you Claudio!I'll keep updating as much as I can... especially from Argentina.Don't worry, I will upload pictures of good steaks... :)