Right before our bus ride from Budapest to Vienna, we used the rest of our hungarian money, 305 huff to buy 2 hash brown that cost 200 huff each. Yes, the math does not add up so how did that happen?

P: One hash brown please.

Nice staff: 200 huff.

P: I have 105 huff left, can I buy anything with it?

Nice staff: No I’m sorry.

P: Well then please have it, we are leaving today and the money would be useless to us.

Nice staff: Sorry, we can’t take tips.

P: hmm… then can you give us one more hash brown? (wink wink)

Nice staff: okaaaay…. 😀 Wala~ Mission impossible checked.

 

Well, sometimes you just got to ask 😉 Who knew McDonald’s would give out half priced food?

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We were also outsmarted by our smartphones who reminded us of the change of summer time so we did not miss the bus! And since we won’t be here when they change back …we lost an hour IN LIFE.

 

Vienna greeted us coldly, with snow. And we responded with a nice nap before lunch. (The staff in our hotel folded my pajama :’) so considerate. I tested their kindness by putting 3 shirts on my bed, and all were nicely folded when I came home.

 

We arrived city center and the umbrella we bought was completely ripped by the strong wind…

 

So first, we went to an elegantly designed library – The State Hall. Those books were not for checking out because the oldest ones dated back 1501! It was like entering a dream of intellectuals, as if simply breathing in the air in there would pump up my brain with knowledge…yea yea yea only if it is that easy to be smart -_-

   

Snapped back to reality by the exhibition on the sufferings of Austrian Jews. The letter below was written by an imprisoned husband to his wife, affectionately. One of the few exhibits in English because all materials sending out from the concentration camps had to be censored.

It brought tears in my eyes when the words I am perfectly all right flooded my sight. May god bring us together again very soon. It was so heartbreaking.

 

 

 

I also learnt something new on my first day in Vienna by visiting the Esperanto museum. It is an artificial language created with the vision of uniting mankind and facilitating easier communication around the world. Really interesting concept.

Would human beings really love and care about each other more simply because the same language is spoken? Experience told me cultures are just generalizations and they can only give me limited insight at best. Values of individuals are what really connects us.

I have also learnt that many words we use today were created rather recently. Serendipity – the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident, It’s origin is surprisingly Sri Lanka – Serendip. Serendipity, the recurring motif of my life. Seek no more, and you shall find 🙂

 

For dinner we tried some Schnitzel and they were oh so good.

 

 

 

 

Finally the weather was nice again and we visited the (cafe of) Belvedere palace.

    

 

 

Tea oriental chai latte, chocolate cake, mochaccino and marble cake. Nom nom nom 🙂

 

Our plan was to shop but turned out all things were closed on Easter Monday except souvenir shops and cake shops. Sigh, So inevitably we were obliged to eat more cake…

 

 

 

This, my friend, is Vanilla mousse with raspberry !

Seriously, as we were looking for directions, all we saw were these super tricky fonts…who would be able to read them from across the street?

 

Angry little biker on the other side Oh come on, when will the light change ? 

 

 

It might sound like non-stop eating, but believe me, the situation required us to do so.

Dinner, Pan fried shredded potato with sausage and salad, Viennese Soup (it reminded us of Chinese noodles soup) 

Final observation: Their metro was so much more modern and sharp compared to Budapest! I guess after all, it’s kind of like the tunnels of Switzerland and Italy 😉

 

 

Some things just never gets old.