Flight summary: I didn't sleep on the flight to Dusseldorf. I slept at Dusseldorf airport for 2 hours, then boarded my flight to Vienna, and kinda slept. AirBerlin was pretty darn good for a budget airline - the food was edible, seat next to me was empty, there were entertainment systems, wine turned out to be free, and the attendants were very nice.
I found my way to my host's flat in the outer neighborhood of Simmering with no trouble. Don't be fooled by the name, it is very cold in Simmering. The building was pitch black, and the door #s were hard to read, so it took me a good 15 minutes to find the correct flat. But I did eventually! I met my host and his housemates, we talked for awhile, and then I went to sleep around midnight. Kinda fell asleep between 12 and 4, then was wide awake until 7, when I finally conked out until 1:30 PM. Shit.
Oh, and to make matters worse, my body began feeling rundown as well, after going over 50 hours with hardly any sleep. At the time I thought I was getting sick, but as I write this, I think it's just me being rundown.
So once I finally got out of the house, I did some touristy stuff. I visited Schonnbrun Palace, and St Stephen's Church. It is quite something to ascend from a downtown metro station only to see a massive church in front of you. Pretty cool moment.
After, I made my way down a shopping street to the Haus der Musik, as recommended by Kenji. I spent a good three hours at this interactive museum, refreshing myself on the Viennese schools of classical music, how hearing works, and trying lots of cool experiments with soundscapes, wave modulation, etc...I went fairly late, so it was pretty empty, although a big group of tourist kids caught up to me and made too much noise (I am a crotchety old person, yes), so I ended up letting them get ahead of me so I could enjoy the rest in peace. My body started to give out, so I soldiered on with ibuprofen.
Upon getting home, my host was back from his exam, and he and I + another housemate talked music, and jammed/rocked out to some SOAD. He then made an austrian soup for dinner. I hadn't eaten since the flight to Dusseldorf, so I had a can of Ottakringer and four bowls of the soup. We talked US (he recently CSed down the west coast) and Austria for a couple of hours, then the housemates and I played some Mario Kart before bed.
I was out instantly around 12:45. And then I woke up at 4:45 AM. And never fell back asleep (writing this almost six hours later). My ill-symptoms hadn't gotten any worse, and they always do if I am actually sick, so I'm pretty sure that there is no contagiousness in me - I'm just rundown. And look at the evidence - it doesn't lie.
But I made the decision to change my booking in Prague. I had 6 nights booked at a crazy party hostel, but I fail to see what good could come of staying in a party hostel during a weekend when I'm recovering from being rundown. In fact, I could potentially make things much worse. And I'm supposed to take the Scrabble tournament seriously, right?
So I changed my reservation at the hostel for Monday-Thursday, where it should be slightly tamer during the week. This of course leaves me with nowhere to stay Friday/Saturday/Sunday night. Worst case scenario: I shell out a lot of money for my own room at the Corinthia towers. Best case scenario: someone still needs a roommate. But I think staying at a calm hotel will work better than a crazy party hostel. Also, I just found out that the temperature in Prague will be below freezing, so even more reason to lay low over the weekend.
I really didn't think I'd have this much trouble adjusting. I guess it really is that much harder going East than West - I didn't have this problem in Thailand! I know I sound like I am complaining an awful lot, but I am glad I am here, and am excited for this trip. I just want to finish adjusting my Prague plans so that I can be at more peace with my updated situation. The 45 degree F weather in Vienna is just fine though, and it's only partly cloudy today - and 50!
Gotta get ready to go now - meeting up with my host downtown for some street food, and then he's going to show me a good viewpoint of the city. Maybe I'll hit up a cafe afterwards, but I want to call it an early night tonight. Gotta get my mojo back, and not let this rundown-ness turn into an actual sickness. Will update.
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