Well, I got my wienerschnitzel, which was nice. But with apologies to Pam, I didn’t get to eat mehlspese at Demel. It was mobbed. On Friday, everything in the Innere Stadt was a mess of tour groups, rude German tourists, and cringe-worthy Americans. Kohlmarkt and Kartnerstrasse were so packed that I was literally claustrophobic outdoors. I did manage to successfully use all forms of Viennese public transport (U-Bahn, tram, and bus) and got to all the parts of the city I really wanted to see. Somehow, though, I kept ending up at the Hofreitschule Spanische everywhere I went–but alas, no Lippenzauner were on display. Only the local daily giving away a car.
By the time I met David at 5 to head to the train station, I was ready for Italy–just a hort, luxurious first-class sleeper train trip away. We even got to use the first-class lounge at Sudbahnhof, which was great because the main station was crawling with freaks. Unfortunately, the biggest freak was the conductor on our sleeping car. In the interests of marital bliss, I’m opting to elide most of the details of the trip, save these: trauma unfolding the beds, no dinner, and the angriest I’ve even seen a grown man fighting an inanimate object (other than Dad). But then again, I was with David finally, the honeymoon began in earnest, so how bad could it be?
We got to Florence at about 6:15 am, kicked around a while waiting for the B&B to open, etc. The B&B is nice, though dragging our bags to the 3rd floor (that’s 4th floor for us Americans) was, well, a drag. We went for breakfast while our room was made up, and decided to climb the 463 steps to the Duomo before the crowds arrived. Brilliant idea, amazing view, but one hell of a climb. Sweaty, exhausted, and in desperate need of a shower, we went back to the B&B for a well-deserved rest.
I’m almost out of time here, so I’ll leave our amazing meals for another post. Paulette, we wept for your absence at lunch yesterday–I’ll leave it at that. And also, our lack of love for the Uffizi Galleries–complete and unedited.
Anyway, molti baci agli nonstranieri nonfamosi!