Vienna (It Is What Rome Isn't)

If you read Charles' recent rant about the "eccentricities" of Rome, just imagine the exact opposite of that and you have Vienna.

First of all, it's a stunningly beautiful city. Every building is architecturally elegant, and as you walk through the streets you almost feel like you have taken a step back in time. That being said, it is also a very modern city. I saw about 5 Starbucks shops, and as Charles mentioned before, I indulged in some Kentucky Fried Deliciousness on Sunday afternoon.

Julianna and I took the overnight train to Vienna from Rome, which was a long and uncomfortable ride, but it allowed us the opportunity to arrive in Vienna on Friday morning and have the whole day to explore. That night we took in a show that couldn't have been more perfect. It was a celebration of some of Austria's great composers, such as Mozart and Strauss, but done in a combination of ways. For example, one song might be done with just the orchestra, while the next might be an excerpt from an opera, or a piece from a ballet. All of this was done in an unpretentious and fun atmosphere that made it really entertaining.

But, you know how we travel, and it wouldn't be a Brezina holiday without some problems. Fortunately for me the problems didn't come until the trip home, and so the only thing that it affected was how early I arrived back in Rome (ipso facto it only affected Charles' boredom level).

We decided to fly back to Rome because we found a cheap deal and we couldn't stomach the idea of another 13 hour train ride. We arrived at the Vienna airport on time and checked in with no problems. Soon enough, we discovered that our flight had been delayed due to ill weather in our transfer city of Milan. Apparently a lightning storm was in progress and all the planes headed there were delayed.

At first the delay was only 30 minutes, then an hour. Some people began to get restless, and the attendant told them to go and have a coffee and come back at 1:15. We stayed put, and about 5 minutes later we were told that the storm had passed and we would start boarding right away. Well, needless to say, some people were not around to hear this information, and we ended up waiting for them while sitting on the plane. It was annoying, but they really can't be to blame since they were told to return at 1:15.

Finally, we set off, and made it to Milan with no problems. We asked the flight attendant what we could do about our connecting flight as we were landing in Milan at 3, the same time our flight was to depart! She told us not to worry because all flights had been delayed and we should make it no problem.

Well, as we headed to the board to find our gate, we discovered that this was not true and our flight had indeed left without us. We went to the desk to figure out what we could do. In typical Italian style we stood in two lines, only to be told at each time we reached the front that they were closing their desk and we had to go to the back of yet another line! A+ for customer service!

Finally we got set up with another flight and we were told that our baggage would be on this flight with us, which was yet another lie. On arriving back in Rome we waited at the baggage claim for a very long time, and finally went to the desk to inquire about our luggage that had not appeared. There was a note in the computer that our bags were still in Milan and would be on the next flight to Rome arriving at 10:45pm. At this point it was 8pm, we should have arrived in Rome 4 hours ago, we were hungry, cranky, and suddenly without all of our belongings!

We filed a claim and they told us our bags should be delivered to our house tomorrow evening. I can tell you that I got a call this afternoon and was told that they have one of our bags, and they should be able to find the other very soon!

Despite all of this, I am glad to be back in Rome, back to work, and back to the familiar, even if it is inconvenient.