Rain and Trench Foot

I have come to realise that perhaps I would have been better to have left another month earlier, as the weather has ruined more days and trips than anything else.

Vienna is very much the lake District back home in that it would look beautiful and majestic in the glorious sunshine however because more often than not it is pissing it down all you see are the grey clouds, yellow plastic rainproof ponchos and umbrellas turning themselves inside and out in the blustery winds.

After successfully doing all my laundry this morning I ignored my own suggestion of trying to organise Switzerland in advance and took to the streets to see how friendly was Vienna, rain or no rain.

Thanks to the fact that the modern automated machines in the main tube stations have a 'translate to English' button, I easily bought a 48 hour all travel ticket for only EU $10, and even without a full map of the city I was able to get in and out without any real difficulty.

My biggest criticism of most major cities are that the tube stops are not that well signposted and I was following the tram lines on the roads to get back to a major hub in order to catch a tube back out from the town centre back to my hostel.

Back in the hostel I took another look at my poor feet and sorely regretted that I have manage to make both pairs of footwear sodden at the same time and have a nasty feeling that if I don't have a completely dry day then I might come down with trench feet.

Having done history, and also watched Forest Gump a few times, I am keenly aware that healthy and dry feet are important and not to be ignored or overlooked, and so I will only go out tomorrow if my shoes are fully dry and at the first sign of a dark cloud I will be scuttling back to the hostel as quick as soon as possible.

The Wombat Hostel is like our very own nightclub and social bar, and I have figured out that the word has gone out to all the Aussie tourists to converge on here and it is totally overrun with them, in every dorm and room you chose to enter.

The good news is that they are very much a bunch of friendly crowd and there is always someone to talk to, but the flip side of the same coin is that there is no quiet corner and if you have a headache then you really have little choice but to retreat to your bunk with a painkiller, eye cover and ear plugs and hope for the best.

Realising that this could be the last chance to spend some quality time with a large bunch of young and crazy Aussies til January I have decided to forgo a super early night and if my shoes are willing to head on down to the Wombar and kick back a few brewskies.