Toronto - Vienna - Timisoara (Day 13)
Can I start another entry with the last day in city <fill in the name please>? It did start in the morning, this time I managed to leave the alarm clock button on the musical alarm and the music was much better to wake up to than the loud beep beep beep the previous morning. The general getting ready on limited sleep, going down to a buffet breakfast, and getting back up to take the luggage and check out before 11am. There was plenty of time to sightsee from 11am until 6.30pm, walked around Toronto in the opposite direction and rested in a park for a couple of hours watching the chipmunks gather food. The drive to the airport was pleasant, and the taxi driver very informative. He kept on pointing out buildings which were not there three years ago and the new apartment blocks that were being constructed. Also found out that in Canada there is paid maternity leave for one year!
No queues to check in at the airport this time! Waiting, waiting, waiting, catching the bus to a new terminal along with the flight crew and walking onto the plane based on the row numbers. As I was entering the plane one of the persons from the flight crew said to me "I remember you from the bus" I answered back "I remember you too", and then he mentioned that it was a long way to travel from Sydney. To this moment I am still puzzled as to how he knew I was from Sydney. Backtracking I remember having my passport out on the bus, but... Unfortunately he wasn’t working in the section that I was seated and I didn’t ask him how he knew. Next time I’ll walk around and ask instead of pondering on such things.
I like how they allocate seats on flights, being right at the back there were plenty of empty seats around and I ended up with two seats for myself. I could have watched two movies at the same time. Ice Age was supposed to be one of them but it is a movie that I doubt I will ever end up watching! This time it wasn’t playing even though it was in the guide.
Arrived in Vienna earlier than expected which gave more time to wonder around during the 4 hour stop over. The previous times that I have visited Vienna I have caught the express bus from the airport into the city. This time there were advertisements everywhere for the CAT (express train into the city that takes 16 minutes). Had to try the CAT, knew how the bus worked and needed to expand the knowledge. Bought a return ticket and took a pamphlet that was located at the ticket machine.
While reading through this pamphlet at the train station, even the train station looked great decorated with the CAT colours (all I remember is the lime green right now), I noticed that if you buy a return ticket it is valid up to 30 days. Why o why? Sitting on the train and moving from wondering how the cabin crew knew I was from Sydney to why a return ticket on the CAT would be valid for 30 days, in the distance I saw the light. The ticket inspector man, he would know! He moved like in a dream, crimping tickets along the way. I asked if he spoke English and he said "a little". Then I asked "why are the return tickets were valid up to 30 days" and he replied back with "it’s not a bad thing" in a pleasant questionable tone. I defended the fact that it is indeed not a bad thing, but that I was curious as to why. This is another question that was left unanswered.
The CAT trip was fun, the train itself was comfortable, had an onboard WC, upper and lower areas, and you needed to press the open doors button if the doors were closed. Got off the train and used the chapel tower as a guide to the city centre, walked and took very few photos (too many people and areas under construction). Caught the CAT back to the airport, and somehow got the same ticket inspector, who once he reached my seat said "I remember you, the 30 days.. ". Yes, that is me. Got to the airport and had lunch, waited on the most uncomfortable chairs that I have ever sat on (they haven’t changed in three years, still metal, cold, and uncomfortable in a boring waiting area of the airport) until the propeller 14 row airplane (!!) took off and landed in Timisoara an hour later. In Timisoara it was afternoon, I had been a awake for many hours.