Recollection

What follows may be a rather dry account of the past week-and-a-half. I am currently on the train from Vienna to Munich and having finished reading "At Swim-Two-Birds," find myself with the option of either studying physics or procrastinating.

I arrived in Prague from Moscow via Munich in the evening, and found the apartment I was staying at with relative ease. On the bus from the airport, I struck up a conversation with three college-aged guys from North Carolina, two of whom were studying in Prague, the third of whom was studying in Copenhagen and visiting the other two.

The next day, two people of interest arrived in Prague: my brother, and Obama. My brother's arrival should have proceeded Obama's, but by nature of my brother's missing his connecting flight, their arrivals were temporally reversed. As a consequence of the 5-hour air travel black-out period over Prague due to Obama's arrival, I had to figure out what to do with myself in Prague sans my brother. By chance I chose to use the internet at a cafe where I met the three North Carolina guys from the day before, and spent the rest of the day sight-seeing with them. I failed to use the internet that day.

My brother arrived in Prague in the mid-afternoon, however his luggage arrived only in the early evening, and I expected him to arrive several hours later. He spent about an hour roaming the street around the apartment I was in, and it was very lucky that he appeared outside the door at the exact moment I set out to meet him at the airport.

Impression of Prague: generally favorable as a result of its being picturesque, easily traversable, and comfortably touristy.

We caught the train to Budapest via Bratislava in the morning several days later despite appearing at the train station several minutes before the train's departure at a different station. Afer finding our hostel, we ate a Hungarian meal and walked around the beautiful city.

Memories of Budapest: climbing to the Citadel (not necessarily worth it, and quite a hike). The trams. Cracking a beer stein. Almost getting caught in a church procession.

Non-memories of Budapest: ...just kidding.

The train ride to Vienna was considerably shorter and uneventful. We went early in the morning as a result of my misunderstanding that 7.10 on Easter Sunday meant 7.10 in the morning, but benefitted from a full extra day of exploring Vienna. After walking around Vienna and noting the agreeable size, beautiful layout, and concentration of musicians, my brother and I agreed that it was our favorite city of the three.

That night, we arranged to meet with a friend of ours who played in a piano trio with us. Before leaving, I went down to the hostel bar, where I met another person (a girl this time) from North Carolina (they're everywhere!) and another girl from Canada. Afterwards, we set out for the "Bermuda Triangle," a neighborhood in Vienna so named for its tendency to trap people with its plethora of pubs. After our friend joined us, we spent a few minutes catching up and the rest of the night meeting friendly Germans and failing to meet not-so-friendly Austrians.

The highlight of the next day was going to a Heurigen on the outskirts of Vienna. To the surprise of the wait-staff, my brother devoured two schnitzels, and we both enjoyed "new" wine--wine made by the Heurigen itself.

Viennese experience checklist:
Heurigen. Check.
Opera. Check
Real Sacher Torte: Check.
Chill at a cafe: Check.
Hear Vienna Philaharmonic. Fail.