Monday April 28 - Tuesday April 29 2008

Faceache left us to gather our thoughts and come to terms with the size of our room. 30 minutes later she returned to collect our passports for the night time border patrol - we'd be heading through the Czech Republic and then on to Austria - and to convert our slimline accommodation into sleeping quarters, via an intricate series of winches, levers and pulleys. She also got us to specify what we wanted for breakfast, which entailed handing over an A4 sheet containing a long list of items, of which we were allowed to tick six. I chose the "Selection of Traditional Austrian Cheeses" and five other things. Brodos ticked fewer than six, partly because he's a picky eater, and partly because the small breakfast would give him something to complain about in the morning.

We played on our DSes for a long time before finally bedding down for the night.

I have no idea how much sleep I got, but it wasn't much. It's quite hard for your body to get used to the sensation of being conveyed sideways across the land at high speeds, and the frequent starting and stopping makes it harder still. I was probably conscious as we passed through Prague in the early hours of the morning, but I'm still not sure if that means I'm allowed to say I've been there.

We were awoken at around 7am by a knock from Faceache, roughly an hour before we were due to arrive in Vienna. She carried food, which we gratefully accepted. The meal was nowhere near as exciting as it had sounded on the sheet. Brodos' breakfast amounted to a few scraps of meat and some rye bread, so he wasn't happy. My meal was larger in volume, but did not contain the Selection of Traditional Austrian Cheeses that I had been promised. There was only one cheese. Evidently Austria wasn't big on variety.

Luckily I had also been given a Selection of Traditional Austrian Breads (a roll) a Selection of Traditional Austrian Fruits (an apple) and a Selection of Traditional Austrian Desserts (some yoghurt). I ate them all.

As we neared Vienna, we washed and dressed ourselves as best we could - aided by the discovery of a wash room down the carriage which I forgot to tell Brodos about - packed up our things, bade a semi-fond and barely-acknowledged farewell to our sour faced friend and stepped onto Austrian soil. True to form, this was the first time either of us had been here.

There wasn't much time to see the sights, so we snuck across the street for a couple of photos of Vienna, killed five minutes in a Selection of Traditional Austrian Shops (a newsagent) then reserved some seats on the train and headed to the platform. 11 hours lay between us and Belgrade. Unlike our previous journey, however, we would entirely conscious. We braced ourselves for boredom and climbed aboard.

Next week: Where's the buffet car? We've got no food!

Read from the start:
A Geek Adventure

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