A Night With Nickleback | Day 14

Since I lose most things in my life I made sure to get the printed train ticket I had gotten back in Vienna for the train ride. The train was at 10:55am and I had gotten up early enough to get some breakfast. I had pre-paid for the breakfast so might as well use it. I put my slippers down and headed for what was to be surely my standard breakfast. Florina had hoped to see me before I left and she was working that morning in the breakfast room. I walked in and she had spotted me and came up to say hello and good morning. We chatted for a moment and then she returned to work. As anticipated, I got my standard breakfast of eggs, bacon, croissant, and apple juice. I enjoyed my breakfast but then was time to head up for the last few things to pack and then off to the train station. I said goodbye to Florina and she gave me a hug and said she hoped to see me again sometime. I said to her likewise and chances are I will be back! I packed up the last little bit of stuff and head down to meet the car. This time I went through the Bolt app as I was taking no chances. The car took me to the train station and when we arrived we must have come from a different direction because none of it looked familiar. I asked him if this was the station and he said it was. I double checked my ticket to make sure I had come to the right station and I had. I trusted it and walked toward the station. The street level had a bus depot which wasn’t there when I arrived. Like I say I’m not sure if this was a different side of the station but nothing was familiar. I looked at the elevator buttons and one said underpass. When I looked across I could see all of the platforms on the street level so figured you must go down and then access the platforms from underground. The underpass was packed! In fact everyone was walking in every direction and looking at the various boards to see which train and platform was for them. There was an elderly couple that I had rode the elevator down with and we were both heading to Vienna. We both stopped to look up at the board but our train hadn’t been posted yet. The husband turned around and asked if I was on the same train as him and we actually weren’t. There were two trains heading to Vienna but 2 minutes apart which was interesting. When my train number and platform were posted I was a bit relieved. I was at the right station which was lucky haha. I walked to platform 15 and was about 20 minutes early. There were just a few people sitting on benches but the closer it got to the train arriving more and more people filled in. There was a digital sign above the platform that displayed the train number and city it was heading to buy ours was blank. I waited for 10 or so minutes but still nothing was being displayed. I decided to ask the girl that was next to me if she was heading to Vienna, and she was. She worked for Viking Cruises and had some time off so she was heading to Vienna to catch a plane with her other work friend to Romania where she was from. If I thought I was stressed out about this train stuff she was next level. She even said that she stresses herself out and looks over her documents a thousand times and still believes she is in the wrong place. To add to the stress, her friend was on the other train that the elderly couple was on and they were both getting connections and meeting back up at the airport. Pretty soon her stress fell on to me haha but finally they posted our train and destination on the board.

Before our train arrived there were many pigeons flying about the platform and pecking at the plants on the track. Sure enough a sound could be heard from further down the track and it was just a train engine doing mach 5 and just obliterated some of these birds. Feathers flew everywhere and got caught in the drag of the speeding train engine. I certainly wasn’t the only one who saw that and some of the folks started laughing and looking at each other at what they just saw. I wish I could have snapped a photo of that one. Finally our train arrived and this is something that has happened before but it just blows my mind. The train arrives and there are more than a few people getting on. I had a first class ticket and of course my car was on the complete other end of the train. I ran down the platform and there was no valuable to valuable in my bag to stop me from just chucking my bag on. I was seemingly the last one on the train and wasn’t on there two steps before the train started to pull away. What blows my mind is how short of time they allow you to actually board the train. It is by far the most stressful part of this whole trip. You would like to imagine that if one of the train attendants sees you running down the platform he would hold the train but that isn’t a given. You wait 20 minutes for the train and then when it arrives you have 3 minutes to find your car and board. It blows my mind and I fail to understand why it needs to be that stressful. Sweating, I found my way to my reserved seat as I had learned on a previous train. Instead of the setup on the last train from Munich to Vienna, this one had private rooms with 3 seats on either side and a small table against the window. My seat was against the window and on the opposite side was an older couple. They must have boarded from a previous station because they were already settled. I sat in my seat and got my ticket out ready to show the ticket collector. He got to our suite and started with the other couple. There was some kind of problem and it appeared that the couple hadn’t bought a first class seat. They went back and forth for 10 or so minutes and then got it worked out. I believe that they had just paid the difference for the ticket. Knowing I had my ticket I was unconcerned and knew this would go quick. The ticket collector turned to me and I handed him my ticket. He looked at it and then looked back at me and in poor english said “you have other ticket?” I told him that is my ticket that I got from the ticket office. He again said “you need other ticket for travel.” I didn’t know what to tell him except that is my ticket for my reserved seat on this train and I wasn’t given any other ticket. He then looked at the husband to see if he could help explain. He wasn’t much better and said “uhh ticket is for seat but not uhhh,” the proceeded to make some hand gestures and said “trip.” Wasn’t sure what to tell him either as this was the ticket I was given. The ticket collected kind of huffed and tilted his head back looking at the husband like can you believe this idiot. He then said I would have to pay 50 or 60 euro to get ticket. I told him “I’m not sure why as I have an interrail pass.” He huffed again and said “Show me.” The internet was slow and it didn’t seem to be loading. He shrugged his shoulders and said “I come back, 3 minutes.” I pulled up my Eurail app and went to my pass and there was a button that said “Show Ticket.” I assumed that would show me the same ticket that I had bought from the train station a few days ago. It, however, displayed a QR code. I walked out of the cabin and showed that to the ticket collector. He scanned it and all was good. No one ever mentioned that you will need to show that pass. You can understand my confusion when I was printed a seat ticket for that particular train. That would be like you getting a ticket for you seat on an airplane but then you also need to provide a ticket for the journey. It made 0 sense to me and again you can see my confusion. Now that I know that I will be prepared for the rest of the train trips. Also, I had gotten my first class ticket from Munich to Vienna and they never asked to see my Interrail pass. I said to him, “I’m sorry about that I didn’t realize that was what you were asking for.” He replied, “No problem for me just problem for you.” I sort of chuckled and gave him a fist bump and went back to my seat.

Now that the great ticket debacle was behind me I just sat for a few minutes. I had catching up to do on my writeups and photo editing so I spent the remainder of the 2 hour journey on the computer. The countryside out the window was more on par to what I thought it should look like vs the countryside in Romania. There were green hills and little towns all along the way and the weather looked a bit colder outside. We pulled in to the Vienna station and the dis-embarkment process is not much different than the getting on process. We all waited in line to get off and when it is your turn there is no one to help you get your bag down the three steep steps to the platform. Again there is no valuable to valuable to not check your bag off the train. Finally on the platform others pushed their way through to get on the train because I know they feared being left on that platform. I rolled my stuff down the platform and found an elevator the main level. I walked through the familiar station that I spent 6 hours in a few days ago and found my way to the Uber line. There were plenty of Ubers so when I ordered mine it was already there. I climbed in and off we went to the K+K Palais. Vienna was different than any other city I had been to this far. All of the architecture was like something from a movie. Bucharest especially, but Budapest as well, had a gap between quality of buildings. Vienna did not. The city was very clean and extremely nice. I arrived at the hotel and they had a grand staircase in the middle of the lobby. There were two attractive young girls working the front desk and they smiled when I walked in. I checked in and they handed me a fairly large plexiglass key. Would be hard to lose this thing as it was the size of an index card and about a quarter inch think. I found my room no problem and was a bit petite compared to the other rooms. Got my stuff situated and had to have a sit on the bed for a few. The evening was filled with a concert. Not just any concert, but a Nickleback concert! After laying down for half hour or so I decided to go out and find some food before the show. I had done the normal google search and someone had said that this place only a few blocks from me had an awesome burger so that was the direction. The walk was only about 10 minutes and I came to Beer Street and it was a cool little spot. They had a small bar with about 6 seats and both inside and outside seating. I parked myself at the bar and they had quite the selection of beer. There were about 26 beers on tap and an unknown amount of bottled beers as well. I tried an Austrian IPA, which for the life of me I can’t recall the name. It was tasty though and while I sipped on that I ordered a burger. I went with a burger called “Jack the Ripper.” It essentially was a bacon burger that had bbq and a Vienna sausage. The burger came and gotta say it was nothing like what I expected. It in fact was a bacon burger but the sausage was literally two mini vienna sausages just on the burger. Not cut or anything just a sausage plopped on top. Needless to say all the juice made the bun disintegrate and the whole thing fell a part. I ate half and one of the sausages but couldn’t continue. Was a far cry from the “best burger ever” claim the reviewer had said. It was ok but the bqq sauce was really sweet, and then just a random sausage on top, and it all falling a part it was marginal at best. The bartender and beer were great so if I was to go back it would just be for a beer but not so much the food. I’m sure there are other things on the menu that are really good just I happened to have found one that wasn’t. I paid and ordered an Uber to the concert venue.

The Uber driver, Nabil, was awesome! He was funny and played a tour guide as well. We drove through the Hofburg Palace which is the US equivalent to the White House. Across from that is the history and art museum of Vienna. The complex was insane. There used to be a wall surrounding the Palace but it was taken down and now there is a road that circles it. If you just kept driving on that road you would go 5 miles and return to where you started. It was pretty rad. We arrived at the Wiener Stadthalle which is their largest concert and entertainment arena. I was still pretty early for the show but instead of having another beer at Beer Street I decided to find a place near the venue. There were tons of people of all different age groups waiting for the show. There was a small cafe next to the arena called Hit Cafe. It was had beer, wine, and pastries with indoor and outdoor seating. I walked in and got a Hefeweisen beer that came with a lemon in the bottom. I sat by myself out on the patio and drank my beer for a bit and then thought to walk inside. I had bought a floor ticket which was a tad expensive but the actual seats were about $30 more so opted for the floor. I walked in and they had assorted walk up bars and food stands mostly selling pretzels and sausages. Beer prices in America are outrageous. I’m not sure how we have let it get as out of hand as it has but someone needs to reign that shit it. I walked up to the bar anticipating concert prices of $22 for a tall boy beer like I had paid at Sofi Stadium. To my shock it was $6.50 for a larger than a pint beer. I couldn’t believe it. I walked up and said I would have one Heineken and she said $9.50. I was confused because the sign clearly said $6.50. I asked about the price and she said, “yes it is $6.50 but there is a $3 deposit on the cup.” To confirm I inquired that at the end of the show we bring the cup back and they give you $3 back? She said, “yup thats how it works.” GENIUS! I was taken back by that and thought that was pretty neat. Now would see if thats really how it worked out at the end of the show but until then what a strategy. I found my way to the floor and the place was drastically smaller than I had thought it would be. The venue only held about 16,000 people but I would say it was only about 3/4 full. Seeing that there was no need to stress about getting a good standing spot I walked around checking out the rest of the venue. It seemed like the show was about to start so I found my way back to the floor where I stood maybe 15 people from the stage. The lights went down and the opening act came out.

Lottery Winners was the name of the band who opened for Nickleback. They are from Manchester and it seemed like this was their first big tour. The lead singer was quite funny and had some “skits” and jokes along the way. They were pretty good and the crowd really responded to them. They played maybe about 6 or 7 songs and killed it. At the start of the show the lead singer said he wanted to feel what it was like to have an opening applause like he was Chad Krueger so if he left the stage and came back would the audience pretend and cheer for him like they would for chad haha. At one point someone from the crowd wanted him to sign their shoes. He pulled them up and the entire band signed the black boot and then he pretended to chuck it deep in to the crowd. He was pretty funny and the whole set was really entertaining. They wrapped up their set and was time for Nickleback. The venue employees people just like at baseball and football games. They walk around with carriers around their neck filled with cups of beer. One such person came wandering through the crowd and I looked down saying “ooo beer!” The girl asked if I wanted one and said “sure do!” It was $6. Pure magic haha. I turned in my previous cup and she gave me a fresh one filled with beer. Nickleback started and they absolutely killed it. Their show is so much fun and they have so many songs that are singalongs that it is nearly impossible not to love it. They brought out t-shirt canons and shot them in to the crowd. They had a handheld camera that was attached to the jumbotron and they took video of the crowd all singing along. At one point in the show they told the story of how Lottery Winners got to be invited to the tour. Chad said that during Covid they came across a TikTok of a band doing a cover of Rockstar but in a sea shanty style. They played the chorus from that TikTok and gotta say it was really funny. Chad said that shit made them laugh so hard and they absolutely loved it. When the tour came about to hit Europe they decided to reach out to the Lottery Winners and see if they were interested in being the opener. Needless to say that was an immediate yes. The lead singer of Lottery Winners suggested that they perform a song together and Chad said absolutely. That was just a feel good story and its cool to see a band get actually seen by a band and then offered a tour gig. The Lottery Winners reappeared and they played a song by Oasis, who is also from Manchester. It was super cool and the crowd loved it. The concert wrapped up and enjoyed every second of it. Who would have known that at the start of the year I would have seen Nickleback twice. Now that the show was over it was time to see how this cup thing worked out. There was a line for the beer stand and people were armed with their cups. Some people had multiple cups with one person having about 10. I was waiting in line and someone who walked by just gave me their cup. So it looked like the dude with 10 or so was just collecting cups from people who didn’t want to hassle with the line. That was insane to me because if it really worked out how that girl said it would then people were just walking away from $3. It was my turn and sure enough I handed her my cups and she gave me $6 back. I paid $12.50 for 2 beers and got $6 back so was like I got a free beer. What an awesome idea by this venue. I mean this promotes no littering when you are finished with your beer because you are literally throwing money on the floor. I wonder if those cups get recycled somehow which I’m sure they do. America needs to get their shit together because Europeans are killing us in these ideas.

The Uber price was high, but was to be expected. I did what I normally do when shows are over and looked for a nearby pub. I came across one called The Habit Pub. It was pretty crowded but luckily enough found a seat at the bar. The bartender brought me one of the Austrian beers which was pretty tasty I gotta say. I drank that for a little bit and the other bartender, who looked like he was in charge, came over to ask if I wanted another. He didn’t have an German accent so I asked where he was from. Turns out he is from New Zealand and had moved to Vienna a bunch of years ago and is now married with kids and own the pub. We chatted a good long while about most everything. It was really fascinating learning about how real estate works and how he came to own the pub. It was closing time for the pub so I ordered an Uber and ventured back to the hotel. What an awesome first day in Vienna and tomorrow I have a ticket to see an opera called Salome at the Vienna State Opera House! Until tomorrow Vienna!