:･ﾟ★,｡･Yucky's World ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･: I'm in Austria right now Pt. 2.

Yesterday morning we made our way to the Schlossberg tower with empty stomachs after reading that they had a cafe nestled at the top. We thought, "Wow, wouldn't that be so cute to have breakfast up there?" We were naive. There are many ways you could go. A lift that you have to pay extra for. The Schlossbergbahn, which is a cable car that takes you to the top and the bottom. Well, it's supposed to. We went at opening and guess what... it was closed. And we didn't want to pay the euro just to take an elevator. So we trekked numerous flights of stairs with not a single thing in our bodies to give us energy. There were groups of school kids in front of us, taking the journey up like no problem whilst the two of us huffed and puffed the whole way through.

By the time we reached the top we were so, so over it and starving but you have to admit the view is gorgeous. Sea of red brick-piled rooftops and lush autumn greenery. We had to move up more steep pavements in order to reach the cafe, which wasn't fun. Seeing that cafe entrance was like being witness to the birth of Christ, I swear. It was gratefully so worth it. We ordered an array of cheeses, breads, and salads. Not a preservative or artificial flavor in sight. It's the next day as I'm writing this and I'm still thinking about it.

We sat outside and enjoyed the view. Forgot to mention but there's another way to reach the bottom if you don't feel obliged to walk or take the lift down. There's this crazy underground slide that you can also embark on, but after having eaten I did not want to be a participant. What's funny is that the area where you slide was right by our table, so along with us helping ourselves to soft-boiled eggs and greek yogurt with jam were the intermittent sounds of people's screams echoing from below, adding a delightful ambience to our meal. We took a long, winding road down to the bottom, having to stop every minute or so to rest.

View from the stairs.

What a cool sticker.

The clocktower.

The famous stairs. Looks cool but is so, so tiring.

What I notice in Austria is that they love to be closed at such odd hours. I'm used to America, where everything opens at around 9 and closes at 9, Monday-Sunday. Here it's whatever you desire it to be. Half the places I wanted to go to were closed but only on Monday, some places closed at 1pm and opened again at 2, others were only open between 1-5. Let's just say it's really hard to schedule an itinerary because a lot of places just soar off on vibes. I can't blame them, I would love to be able to go home before the sun went down. Maybe that's why there are so many bars here, because what else are you able to do after work?

Being here definitely does not help my anxiety. I stick out so much, a frumpy mess of short spiky black hair in a sea of tall, thin blondes. I get stared at so often as we weave through crowds, and I wish I knew that it wasn't for the reason I'm thinking. Maybe I'm just sooo cool that they can't help but look. Maybe my stupid haircut isn't actually that stupid.

We ate a sushi place that night (it was actually really damn good) and there was a couple that were seated behind us, and both of them stared at me. Like, the guy was facing me and looking and the girl in front of him turned fully around just to look at me. And after that, they got up and seemingly left. I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to take the situation. Sometimes I wonder if this is all in my head. Maybe they just had somewhere else to be. Maybe what people are saying when they are whispering to themselves as they pass by you is them reciting their grocery lists. Maybe they're not laughing at me.

After the Schlossberg we walked down this long street full of shops, very reminiscent of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. A lot of them didn't really interest me, mostly luxury stores with boring clothes or gift shops with old people soaps. I was quite surprised. Where's all the cool shit? I had heard there was a Flying Tiger, a store I always wanted to go to. I bought a couple things, mostly gifts. Then Lush, where I was sold on many products because the saleslady was really, really nice and I really needed that after feeling like an alien (no pun intended) with everyone else.

There was even a Dunkin', surprisingly, I think our new thing is to visit a Dunkin' every time we travel somewhere to compare. All I can say is, don't order Austrian Dunkin'.