2013-07-12: First full day in Vienna, first full day post-bikes

Woke up in our swanky Hilton rooms (Thanks EuroBike!), and had another awesome breakfast.  You had to time it *just* right though, because the previous night we saw a HUGE Contiki Tour group come in.  Nice people, but viewed through the lens of "will there be any bacon left in the buffet?", they're competitors in my smoked meat ecosystem.  My smeatcosystem, if you will.  Nothing personal, just business. 

After trading several hours of my long-term mortality for the smoked meat nirvana in the present, we got ready to disembark Hilton and find the new digs.  It's not that far from Grinzing where Amy and her family lived for the summer in 1984.  We'll get to visit there in a few days...

Rockin' the kitty dress!

The mastermind behind all the fun!

On our way to the apartment!

So I don't have that many pics of the new place, but I'll get them and post them.  SUPER NICE.  Holy crap, Amy knocked it out of the park on this one.  Beautiful apartment, such a cool place to be for the next couple weeks.

Later that evening, we found the main swimming pool (outdoor) and got monthly memberships for everyone involved.  Total deal, and the pool is *awesome*.  Lap pool, a fun pool (with a river and other less-automated wave pool abilities), with lots of deck chairs and things like seats in the water.  Very cool. 

Rick getting his mugshot.

The place is huge - the panorama didn't go so well, nor did it capture half of the pools.

Me and my favorite fish.

We also made a trip to Merkur (sort of like Aldi) and dropped a bunch of dough on rations for the next couple weeks.  Again, so nice to get lunch or dinner out, but equally nice to not eat out ALL THE TIME.  :)

Amy and I found a bottle of Budweiser.  It's just like the stuff in America, with a few small differences.  1). it's actually the original one that the American swill stole, and 2) this Bud doesn't taste like piss-water, like the American version does.  This stuff is brewed in Budejovic across the border in Czech Republic - Amy and I first had it 20+ years ago when we were on a 4-day weekend in Prague (and it was still Czechoslovakia, thought it was already a SHTF scenario for the people there.  The country would end up cleaving itself in two within a year).  Lots of stories (!) from those days - spending the night in an open-air train station in the middle of winter with a dozen or more drunk, homeless, and hostile Czech men.  Ahh, good times. 

But the important part is that the beer is good. 

So many stories could/should end that way, so I'll do my part and leave it at that.

Definitely NOT that Anheuser-Bullshit stuff.