03-Feb-2007 Uncategorized

lost in vienna

Well, I’m not really lost. I have a Hertz rental car with a NeverLost system in it. Right now I’m sitting in an internet cafe taking a break from trying to find the Wombat’s hostel. Other than that search, my biggest problem right now is figuring out how to use German keyboards. The Y and Z are reversed and it is somewhat maddening. If you see future typos from me that have words like Za and Zes and Yero then zou know whz.

The journey to NYC on Delta was uneventful and boring. My flight into Vienna on Austrian Airways was quite cozy and the flight staff managed to bring me the vegetarian meal I’d requested. That practically never happens. My suitcase did NOT make the transfer in New York even though we were sitting on the gate for 90 minutes waiting for a storm to subside. The takeoff featured two cameras that you could watch the ground and forward view of the aircraft. Really cool if all goes well. Really bad if all goes awry. The Hertz pickup counter was a little unusual. There was a board with 5 names on it (mine included). I am driving a Ford something or other manual transmission. For someone who learned to drive stick on a DeLorean, I have had very few issues. Traffic signs are pretty easy to figure out. I spent my last euro on a phone call to Amy with whom I’m spending the week. She was up until 5 AM so I will hang back trying to locate Wombat’s (as I’ve already mentioned) in the meantime. More later my friends. Hello to mom, dad, my sister with her newly LASIK’ed eyeballs, and to the QA grand master Kiran and the rest of my people in Minneapolis. Photos coming soon.