Travelogue: Vienna 2023 Pt 1 – New Jersey, New York, Frankfurt, and Vienna

An Italian lunch, airplane food, and two shots

Hopped the train into the city within a few hours of my waking up in New Jersey and had a pretty uneventful trip into Penn Station where I met up with the Firecracker.

Her: We’re going to Vienna!
Me: Yes, yes we are. You know, I’ve taken this red suitcase with me all over the world since 1999. It’s almost a quarter-of-century old.
Her: Well, you are 50.

We took the LIRR to the AirTrain and then made our way to Terminal 7 where we searched for Condor airlines.

Her: Where is this place?
Me: You got me.

Turns out that it was tucked away in the corner, and we missed it.

Once we got everything settled away, we sat down to enjoy the lunch that my mother-in-law made for us.

Her: That was so nice of her!
Me: Shoot, it looked great earlier – I musta jostled it too much getting it here.
Her: Oh, that’s fine, I’m just happy we have it.

I didn’t think we’d finish the whole thing, but I need to believe in myself more.

Bellies full, we stood in line for security.

Me: This is such a short line, we’ll be at the gate in 15 minutes.
Her: Wait, it wraps around into a whole ‘nother room.
Me: (45 minutes later) I’m sure we’ll make our flight.
Her: (putting hand above her head) My anxiety is here.

Luckily, we made our flight and were pretty pleased with the cleanliness and modernity of the airplane.

The enormous CONDOR sign in the middle of the plane was an interesting touch.

The Firecracker konked out immediately and slept pretty much the entire way to Frankfurt while I was wide awake, but tired enough that I wasn’t productive at all.

The food was 100% carbs – pasta, a roll, and dessert – so I didn’t eat a thing.

Thank goodness my MIL made us lunch earlier, but I was still starving.

Some 10 hours later, we transferred in Frankfurt – the main pic is of me in the Frankfurt airport. I’d been there ages ago with the German girl.

Me: Man, it’s been like…21 years since I was last here.
Her: (laughs) I was barely a teenager then.

At the airport, I immediately bought two shots and chugged them, but to no avail – I still couldn’t fall asleep.

The Firecracker, however, immediately passed out. Of course.

Soon, it was time to board our next plane and, just a couplea hours later, we arrived in Vienna with her feeling pretty good and me feeling like dirt.

We made our way to her friend’s pad right outside the main train station of Vienna, the Hauptbahnhof Wien, so it was a quick 17-minute trip there, and then another 10-minute walk in the dark.

Her friend taped her key to her neighbor’s mailbox, so the Firecracker reached in and pulled it out.

Soon, we were in in her friend’s apartment; the Firecracker wanted to shower, and I just wanted to nap.

She managed to shower but I still couldn’t sleep.

We arrived on the last day of the Vienna Christmas Market and she’d never been to one in Europe before so we bought an unlimited ticket for the week and hopped the tram right into the city center.

This lady named Nena once said something like, Some where, in foreign cities, in the nighttime, you dream of past parties.

That’s true, or at least, you dream of your possible pasts.

I’ll tell you all about the Christmas market and such in the next entry.

Location: back in the states and eating my weight in Chinese food
Mood: busy, busy, busy
Music: Irgendwo in fremden Städten träumst do von vergang’nen Feten In der Nacht (Spotify)
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