trains from airport to city centre
Vienna: walk around the corner from where you get your bag and down a set of stairs. very explicit instructions on buying ticket from a machine. train comes every 15 minutes and takes exactly 16 minutes to arrive at the hub of the metro system.
Rome: walk 9/10 of a mile from the baggage claim (without having to show anything at customs apparently including your passport) and choose the correct one of 3 machines to buy a ticket. if you dont happen to know that Roma Termini is the central station of the city, you are screwed, because there is also Roma Tiburtina, Roma Trastevere, and 3 other stations called Roma. once you buy the ticket you must validate it even though no one will ever check it or take it from you. the trains come about once an hour and take 45 minutes to get in the city. there is no air conditioning and you will not get a seat because yes, everyone else missed the last train, just like you. once you arrive you will be dropped off 15 minutes from the actual entrance to the station in the shittiest neighborhood in the entire city.
four star hotel
Vienna: balcony, marble bathtub, free breakfast and wireless internet, pleasant staff, air conditioning.
Rome: hair dryer.
hair dryer will not shut off.
hair dryer will heat your unairconditioned, tiny room to about 500 degrees.
friendly staff only if you are italian. shared internet on a 10 year old computer inside a former vatican war conference room. free breakfast at 6 AM.
i do not like rome. i am leaving rome tomorrow to go to the countryside where people will cook for me. yay.
This post is a bitch du jour.
This post is philosophical and introspective-y.
