What a Long Strange Day it was... Wednesday & Thursday

Well it was a blur!  We were up early Wednesday morning and had multiple things to do before we departed.   Arriving at the airport at Washington Reagan we found that our flight was delayed to New York.  The clock began ticking…  While sitting in the lounge I bumped into one of my students from 25 years ago.  Small world!   

It was getting to be touch and go if we were going to make our connection at JFK, but the mechanic showed up and we were rolling!

The flight from JFK to Zurich was extremely nice for Trans-Atlantic trip.  Flying on frequent flyer miles I took a chance and book two aisle seats, and the roll of the dice paid off.  Janet had three seats to stretch out and sleep and me two.  After watching the worst movie ever made, “The Wolverine”, we both faded away. Next time our eyes opened the sun was rising over a sleeping United Kingdom.

We breezed through passport control in Zurich and headed for a café for a morning cappuccino and pecan pastry to die for.  

With a three hour layover we strolled the airport, and the Christmas magic we were seeking began to
find us.  Time flew by as we waited for our flight to Vienna.  

Once again we found being in Zurich a very expensive proposition - 9.80 Euros for two bottle waters (not including tax).  I guess that is about $6 a bottle.  That takes bottled water to a whole new place.

Finally we arrived in Vienna shortly after lunch.  Since we were strictly carry on, we got our Wien Karte (public transportation pass) and headed into the city.  Well I can tell you if we were on the Amazing Race we failed miserably.  After arriving at the central train station we decide to walk to our hotel.  Yeah, it was a kilometer away, but we needed to walk.  An hour later and still going in circles, we accidently stumbled into the hotel after multiple people giving us bad directions.  However since it took us so long to get there our type of rooms have already been taken, so we got upgraded to corner room with lots of space.  So there is something to say for getting lost in freezing weather and pulling your suitcase.

We dropped bags and headed to our first Christmas market at St Stephan’s.  The city was alive with people walking the streets in the waning daylight at 3:30 pm.  The smells of chestnuts roasting, sausages grilling, and Christmas spices filled the cold crisp air and we returned to life from a day of travel. 
 

Each small booth offered some sort of Christmas item.  Below are ornaments made with cinnamon and other spices.

After a Turbo Punch we found a small Italian restaurant and had a wonderful meal.  When we finished dinner Janet and I slowly walked back to the hotel stopping at another Christmas Market for Gluhwein. Janet came to the realization that Christmas Market translated to English means “a reason for outdoor drinking”.  

By 9 pm we were dead and called it day.  We had not been in a bed for almost 32 hours – it was time to call it day.